Ebla, today's Tell Mardikh in Syria, was a city-state in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.

It is located approximately 60 km southwest of the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The earliest settlements in this area are known from the end of the 4th millennium BC. This state reached its main expansion in two periods, around 2750 to 2200 BC and later from 1800 to 1650 BC.

The city likely served as a mediator in trade between Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Anatolia. Extensive archives of texts written in cuneiform in a West Semitic language have been found here. This remarkable complex of approximately 17,000 cuneiform tablets was discovered in 1975 by an Italian expedition. The pantheon with the main deities El, Ashtar, and Hadad also corresponds to West Semitic influence.

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