Starting as a small settlement in the Early Bronze Age (c. 3500 BC), Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria.

The third kingdom also flourished as a trade center; it became a subject and an ally of Yamhad (modern-day Aleppo) until its final destruction by the Hittite king Mursili I in c. 1600 BC.

[8] The city benefited from its role as an entrepôt of growing international trade, which probably began with an increased demand for wool in Sumer.

[11] I. J. Gelb considered Ebla as part of the Kish civilization, which was a cultural entity of East Semitic-speaking populations that stretched from the center of Mesopotamia to the western Levant.

[27] The written archives do not date from before Igrish-Halam's reign,[28] which saw Ebla paying tribute to Mari,[29] and an extensive invasion of Eblaite cities in the middle Euphrates region led by the Mariote king Iblul-Il.

[33][41][45] According to Archi, these are "the twelve Syrian cities long allied with Ebla that (presumably) assisted in some way during the expedition against Mari: NIrar, Ra’ak, Burman, Dub, Emar, Garmu, Lumnan, Ibubu, Ursaum, Utik, Kakmium, and Iritum (Irridu)."

Furthermore, the following cities were under Ebla’s hegemony at that time, and annually delivered tribute: Dub, Dulu, Harran, Ibubu, Iritum, Kablul, Sanapzugum, Ursaum, and Utik.

[47] The holder of the office possessed great authority; the most powerful vizier was Ibrium, who campaigned against Abarsal during the term of his predecessor Arrukum.

[20] Archi accept that the Ibla mentioned in the annals of Sargon and Naram-Sin is the Syrian Ebla but do not consider them responsible for the destruction which ended the Archive period.

[82] Texts that dates to the seventh year of Amar-Sin (c. 2040 BC),[note 9] a ruler of the Ur III empire, mention a messenger of the Ensí ("Megum") of Ebla.

[96] In the epic, an Eblaite assembly led by a man called "Zazalla" prevents king Meki from showing mercy to prisoners from Ebla's former vassal Ikinkalis,[93] provoking the wrath of the Hurrian storm god Teshub and causing him to destroy the city.

[note 13][86] A basalt votive statue bearing Ibbit-Lim's inscription was discovered in 1968; this helped to identify the site of Tell-Mardikh with the ancient kingdom Ebla.

[111][112] Alternatively, Maratewari could well be the last king according to Archi,[113] who also argued that the "Song of Release" epic describes the destruction of the third kingdom and preserves older elements.

It was a small village in the phase designated "Mardikh IV" (1600–1200 BC),[110] and was mentioned in the records of Alalakh as a vassal to the Idrimi dynasty.

[141] The first kingdom's government consisted of the king (styled Malikum) and the grand vizier, who headed a council of elders (Abbu) and the administration.

[120] Most duties, including military ones, were handled by the vizier and the administration, which consisted of 13 court dignitaries – each of whom controlled between 400 and 800 men forming a bureaucracy with 11,700 people.

[171] The Eblaites imported Kungas from Nagar,[note 18][173] and used them to draw the carriages of royalty and high officials, as well as diplomatic gifts for allied cities.

[80] The third kingdom's iconography and royal ideology were under the influence of Yamhad's culture; kingship was received from the Yamhadite deities instead of Ishtar of Ebla, which is evident by the Eblaite seals of Indilimma's period.

It is estimated that around 40,000 persons contributed to this system, but in general, and unlike in Mesopotamia, land stayed in the hands of villages, which paid an annual share to the palace.

[184] Ebla derived its prosperity from trade;[184] its wealth was equal to that of the most important Sumerian cities,[185] and its main commercial rival was Mari.

[note 19][75] Trade continued to be Ebla's main economic activity during the third kingdom; archaeological finds show there was an extensive exchange with Egypt and coastal Syrian cities such as Byblos.

[202] Other deities included Damu;[note 21][203] the Mesopotamian god Utu;[13] Ashtapi;[204] Dagan;[205] Hadad (Hadda) and his consort Halabatu ("she of Halab");[206][207] and Shipish, the goddess of the sun who had a temple dedicated to her cult.

[211] However, much of the initial media excitement about a supposed Eblaite connections with the Bible, based on preliminary guesses and speculations by Pettinato and others, is now widely discredited and the academic consensus is that Ebla "has no bearing on the Minor Prophets, the historical accuracy of the Biblical Patriarchs, Yahweh worship, or Sodom and Gomorrah".

[211] The claims led to a bitter personal and academic conflict between the scholars involved, as well as what some described as political interference by the Syrian authorities.

[213] Haplogroup-wise, one Early Bronze Age (2700-2500 BC) individual carried haplogroup E1b1b1b2a-M123, a lineage likely linked to the diffusion of Afroasiatic languages.

[185] Thirteen full and fragmentary lenticular cuneiform tablets were found in the palace throne room, thought to have been there versus the archive because of the city's fall.

[223] They also provide insight into the everyday lives of the inhabitants,[224] and contain information about state revenues, Sumerian-Eblaite dictionaries,[209] diplomatic exchanges with foreign rulers,[225] school texts, hymns and myths.

[230] The tablets show evidence of the early transcription of texts into foreign languages and scripts, classification and cataloging for easier retrieval, and arrangement by size, form and content.

[237] Ebla's discovery changed the former view of Syria's history as a bridge between Mesopotamia and Egypt; it proved the region was a center of civilization in its own right.

[239] By 2013, it was under control of an opposition armed group called Arrows of the Right, who took advantage of its elevated location to use it as an observation point to watch for incoming government air attacks, as well as attempting to protect the site from looting.