Three cities best illustrate Syria's Ancient History (that is prior to Classical or Greco-Roman Period): Ebla, Mari, and Ugarit. It is quite possible that future excavations will unearth more.
Mari is located at the southwest bank of River Euphrates near modern Abu Kamal. It was accidentally discovered in August 1933 when a group of nomads, in the process of performing a burial, found a headless statue bearing cuneiform inscriptions. The next step was to delegate an expedition led by the French archaeologist André Parrot in December of the same year. Further campaigns at Tell al-Hariri would eventually identify the ancient city of Mari and make possible sketching an outline of its history.
The city was founded near the end of the fourth millennium BC. It was one of the most flourishing towns in the Pre-Sargonic Era occupying a strategic location between Babylonia and the Mediterranean Sea. Though Semitic, its was a tributary of the Sumerian Culture. Mari was destroyed for the first time in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC but was able to bounce back until it was definitively razed by Hammurabi of Babylon who had its inhabitants killed or sold into captivity.
The above statue is of a worshiper from Ninnizaza's Temple, the third millennium BC. It is 54 cm high and made of alabaster.
Mari is located at the southwest bank of River Euphrates near modern Abu Kamal. It was accidentally discovered in August 1933 when a group of nomads, in the process of performing a burial, found a headless statue bearing cuneiform inscriptions. The next step was to delegate an expedition led by the French archaeologist André Parrot in December of the same year. Further campaigns at Tell al-Hariri would eventually identify the ancient city of Mari and make possible sketching an outline of its history.
The city was founded near the end of the fourth millennium BC. It was one of the most flourishing towns in the Pre-Sargonic Era occupying a strategic location between Babylonia and the Mediterranean Sea. Though Semitic, its was a tributary of the Sumerian Culture. Mari was destroyed for the first time in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC but was able to bounce back until it was definitively razed by Hammurabi of Babylon who had its inhabitants killed or sold into captivity.
The above statue is of a worshiper from Ninnizaza's Temple, the third millennium BC. It is 54 cm high and made of alabaster.
Gérard Degeorge
Syrie
Art, Histoire, Architecture
Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts
1983
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