Ebla and Yamkhad: Evolution of the Old Syrian Kingship Ideology through Visual Communication in Middle Bronze I and II

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the development of the Old Syrian concept of the Ebla kingship since Middle Bronze I, when Ebla was the dominant political power in all inner Upper Syria, to Middle Bronze II, when the rise of Aleppo at the time of Yarim-Lim I produced the formation of the powerful Yamkhad kingdom. The analysis of the Eblaic figurative documentation allows to follow the ideological evolution from the early concept based on the figure of the polyadic goddess Ishtar Eblaitu to the late concept based on the adoption of the great deities of Aleppo, Hadad and Khebat, as patrons of Ebla kingship.