Mari (Cuneiform: 𒈠𒌷𒆠, ma-riki, modern Tell Hariri; Arabic: تل حريري) was an ancient Semitic city-state in modern-day Syria.

[note 1] The city was built in the middle of the Euphrates trade routes between Sumer in the south and the Eblaite kingdom and the Levant in the west.

The Amorite Mari lasted only a short time before it was destroyed by Babylonia in c. 1761 BC, but it survived as a small settlement under the rule of the Babylonians and the Assyrians before being abandoned and forgotten during the Hellenistic period.

They also revealed the wide trading networks of the 18th century BC, which connected areas as far as Afghanistan in Southern Asia and Crete in the Mediterranean.

[3] It is believed that Mari did not grow from a small settlement,[4] but was founded c. 2900 BC during the Mesopotamian Early Dynastic period I as a new city to control the waterways of the Euphrates trade routes connecting the Levant with the Sumerian south.

[5][11] Also kept was the outer circular embankment measuring 1.9 km in diameter, which was topped by a wall two meters thick capable of[11] protecting archers.

[31] The war reached a climax when the Eblaite vizier Ibbi-Sipish made an alliance with Nagar and Kish to defeat Mari in a battle near Terqa.

He (Dagan) gave to him (Sargon) the Upper Land: Mari, Iarmuti, and Ebla, as far as the Cedar Forest and the Silver MountainsMari was deserted for two generations before being restored by the Akkadian king Manishtushu.

[51][7][54] Akkad disintegrated during Shar-Kali-Sharri's reign,[55] and Mari gained its independence, but the use of the Shakkanakku title continued during the following Third Dynasty of Ur period.

[note 11][71] Yahdun-Lim started his reign by subduing seven of his rebelling tribal leaders, and rebuilding the walls of Mari and Terqa in addition to building a new fort which he named Dur-Yahdun-Lim.

[73] He then expanded west and claimed to have reached the Mediterranean,[74][75] however he later had to face a rebellion by the Yaminite nomads who were centered at Tuttul, and the rebels were supported by Yamhad's king Sumu-Epuh, whose interests were threatened by the recently established alliance between Yahdun-Lim and Eshnunna.

[60][74] Yahdun-Lim defeated the Yaminites but an open war with Yamhad was avoided,[76] as the Mariote king became occupied by his rivalry with Shamshi-Adad I of Shubat-Enlil, the son of the late Ila-kabkabu.

[91] Zimri-Lim started his reign with a campaign against the Yaminites, he also established alliances with Eshnunna and Hammurabi of Babylon,[84] and sent his armies to aid the Babylonians.

[95] The expansion was met by the resistance of Qarni-Lim, the king of Andarig,[96] whom Zimri-Lim defeated, securing the Mariote control over the region in c. 1771 BC,[97] and the kingdom prospered as a trading center and entered a period of relative peace.

[100] The relations with Babylon worsened with a dispute over the city of Hīt that consumed much time in negotiations,[101] during which a war against Elam involved both kingdoms in c. 1765 BC.

[105] However, by an act of mercy Hammurabi may have allowed Mari to survive as a small village under Babylonian administration (according to Marc Van De Mieroop).

[106] However, by that time, Mari was known to be located in the so-called Land of Laqe,[note 13] making it unlikely that the Usur family actually controlled it, and suggesting that the title was employed out of historical reasons.

[4] I. J. Gelb relates Mari's foundation with the Kish civilization,[111] which was a cultural entity of East Semitic speaking populations, that stretched from the center of Mesopotamia to Ebla in the western Levant.

[124][125] During the Lim era, Mari was divided into four provinces in addition to the capital, the provincial seats were located at Terqa, Saggarâtum, Qaṭṭunān and Tuttul.

Each province had its own bureaucracy,[125] the government supplied the villagers with ploughs and agricultural equipments, in return for a share in the harvest.

[133] Mesopotamian influence continued to affect Mari's culture during the Amorite period,[134] which is evident in the Babylonian scribal style used in the city.

[134] The society was a tribal one,[136] it consisted mostly of farmers and nomads (Haneans),[137] and in contrast to Mesopotamia, the temple had a minor role in everyday life as the power was mostly invested in the palace.

[148] Prophecy had an important role for the society, temples included prophets,[149] who gave council to the king and participated in the religious festivals.

[4] The city also contained districts devoted to smelting, dyeing, and pottery manufacture,[13] using charcoal brought by river boats from the upper Khabur and Euphrates area.

[120] Some groups were direct beneficiaries of the palace instead of the communal organization, including the metal and textile producers and military officials.

[153] The Amorite Mari maintained the older aspects of the economy, still largely based on irrigated agriculture along the Euphrates valley.

[120] The city remained a trading center for merchants from Babylonia and other kingdoms,[154] with goods from the south and east transported on riverboats bound for the north, northwest and west.

Other goods included copper from Cyprus, silver from Anatolia, wood from Lebanon, gold from Egypt, olive oil, wine, and textiles, and even precious stones from modern Afghanistan.

[156] A Bedouin tribe was digging through a mound called Tell Hariri for a gravestone that would be used for a recently deceased tribesman, when they came across a headless statue.

[156] After the news reached the French authorities currently in control of Syria, the report was investigated, and digging on the site was started on December 14, 1933, by archaeologists from the Louvre in Paris.