Studia Eblaitica 5 (2019)

The aim of this new international journal is to contribute to developing the study of the interpretation and understanding of the ancient cultures of Syria, remaining as open as possible to the different methodologies and problems that characterize present-day research. Thanks to the generous policy of international collaboration pursued by the cultural authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic, the increase in archaeological research in Syria, particularly from the 1970s on, opened up a series of new perspectives on the study of ancient Syria. The discovery of the Royal Archives of Ebla was decisive in this renaissance, as well as the role that Ebla played in establishing the very foundations of cultural development in ancient Syria. This project originates at a time of serious crisis for Syria, whose plight does not even spare the country's magnificent, thousand-year-old cultural heritage. It is also intended as the strongest of hopes for a not-too-distant future of peace, prosperity, harmony and justice for the whole of the Syrian people. From the contents (altogether 12 contributions): Alfonso Archi, Wars at the Time of Irkab-damu, King of Ebla Amalia Catagnoti, The Subdivision of the Month at Ebla According to the Liturgical Calendar TM.75.G.12287+ and the Royal Rituals (ARET XI 1-3) Valentina Tumolo, The Early Bronze Age Seal Impressions on Jars from ¿irbet ez-Zeraqon. Preliminary Remarks on Pottery and Images Paolo Matthiae, The Middle Bronze Palaces at Ebla: Architectural Spaces and Administrative Functions Silvana Di Paolo, Isolated Monuments in Highly Urbanised Landscapes: The Farayji Stela in Central-Western Syria Stefano De Martino, The Hurrian Song of Release and the Fall of Ebla Jesse Michael Millek, Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment