Emar and Ebla

The past three days have taken us to Emar, Ebla, and the regional city Idlib.

Emar:
Imar/Emar is an ancient site (3rd and 2nd millenniums BC). Roman and Islamic ruins here also. The ancient sites WERE located on the W bank of the Euphrates, but thanks to a dam project by the previous president in the 70's, most of the site now lies under Lake Al Assad.

We went to see:

1. The acropolis with temples to the storm god (probably Baal) and Ashtart(?), the "western" version of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. The temples make a great pair with a procession-way between them leading to the edge of the acropolis. We were lucky enough to visit around 5pm when the sun was setting and it is very clear that the procession way lines right up with the setting sun. Temples badly destroyed but enough left to get E excited.

2. Parts of the lower city, still high enough up the hill to be above-water. Emar is exciting because when the French conducted excavations in the 70's (quickly, before the dam was built) they claimed the site was only from c. 1400-1200 BC, even though texts from around Syria mention an Imar/Emar from c. 1800 BC and earlier. In the past ten years, Syrian and German excavation teams have gone back and found the older city below the French team's Emar. So we got to check out some of the older layers of the cite.

3. The palace. OK, we didnt really see the palace, because the hill it was on is now an insland in Lake Assad. But we here it is now the home of a thriving rabbit colony and even some snakes.

4. Lake Assad. The director of the Islamic excavations was nice enough to take us around the site and claims that the waters of Lake Assad are swimmable and even drinkable. We waded. E and M have now officially been in the Euphrates. And the water is fantastic.

5. Archaeological debris. M thought he saw a small skull and bones down in a pit, but now admits that he was letting his archaeological imagination run wild.


Ebla:
Ebla could be called the earliest "big city" in Syria. It has tons of texts, art objects, palaces, temples, stairs, fortifications, and goes back to c. 2400 BC. Sadly, there is no running around in the ancient buildings, but the Italian excavators have the site pretty well labelled with paths to follow and three different "tours." Many buildings, many local children running around, many good views, and many restorations. 30 km away, the city Idlib has a museum with some of the find from Ebla. The old museum, which used to be right outside the ruins, is no more.