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Rita Dolce

1999

“Political Supremacy and Cultural Supremacy. A Hypothesis of Symmetrical Alternations between Upper Mesopotamia and Northern Syria in the Fourth and Third Millennia BC,”
in L. Milano, S. de Martino, F. M. Fales, G. B. Lanfranchi (eds.), Landscapes, Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. Papers presented to the XLIV Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Venezia 7-11 July 1997.
Vol. 2: Geography and Cultural Landscapes. History of the Ancient Near East/Monographs.
Padova: Eisenbrauns, pp. 103-121.

P. 108b: the new excavations at Tell Mozan raise questions about the “territorial and ideological borders of its expansion” (i.e., of the kingdom of Urkesh). The first main issue is the significance of Urkesh for state formation in the 'Land of Subartu', particularly considering the lack of any Hurrian components in Beydar and the Southern Khabur. The second issue is that of the relationships between Ebla and Urkesh (“never mentioned in the texts found in the Palace G archives”).

P. 109a: the proposed answer to the second question is that Ebla “played a secondary part until it gained the upper hand over its eternal rival Mari, in late ED III”. It was at this time that Ebla entered in a close relationship with Nagar (Tell Brak) through an alliance with the city of Khaddu (possibly Tell Malhat ad-Deru, n. 57). It is possible that Urkesh might have “had a very important role just before the decline of Ebla, and it may even be the case that it played an indirect part in its decline”.

[G. Buccellati – June 2002]