The archive from Ebla’s Palace G covers around 50 years of history and terminates ca. ten years before Sargon’s destruction of Mari (ca. 1350 bc). The royal dynasty of Ebla includes the two short reigns of Igrish-Halab and Irkab-Damu, and the long reign (ca. 30 years) of Ishar-Damu. Previous rulers are attested in a list regarding the cult of around ten ancestral rulers, covering a period of roughly a century, thus covering the whole of the Early Dynastic Illb. Another list mentions further 26 kings, although it is not entirely reliable.
Alongside the last kings of Ebla, the archive records a sequence of viziers. At the time of Igrish-Halab, the office was probably not yet established, but a couple of individuals (Darmiya and Tir) emerged as the most influential in the Eblaite administration. Arrukum was a vizier under Irkab-Damu, while during the reign of Ishar-Damu, Ibrium stayed in office for around 20 years. His son Ibbi-Zikir and grandson Dub-buhu-Adda succeeded him. However, Ibrium remained the most influential figure in this period for his reforms and the establishment of his own dynasty parallel to the royal family of Ebla.
Despite the lack of ‘historical’ sources (celebratory or narrative), the administrative records provide a considerable amount of information on Ebla’s commercial and military activities. The evidence indicates that initially Ebla was under the supremacy of Mari. In fact, following the victorious campaigns of Iblul-Il, the king gained control over the Euphrates Valley and Ebla itself, which had to pay substantial tributes. The situation dramatically changed under Ibrium. He led several campaigns against rebellious vassal-rulers, and more demanding campaigns against Abarsal (at the time of Arrukum), Halsum, Kakmium, and the powerful Armi (on the Upper Euphrates).
Apart from continuing campaigns in the north, Ibrium’s son and successor Ibbi-Zikir led some military expeditions to the south (against Ibal). He also fought against Mari through an alliance with Nagar and Kish (which sent their own military contingencies). The war ended with a battle near Terqa, where Mari was defeated and its supremacy removed. Alongside the military and territorial expansion of Ebla, Ibrium and Ibbi-Zikir also increased the kingdom’s commercial activities, with a ten-fold increase in investments compared to previous periods. The Eblaite kings expanded their policy of inter-dynastic marriages, first with allies and vassals, and then with the great powers of Nagar and Kish (but never with Mari and Armi).
Having defeated Mari, Ebla never sought to destroy it, and preferred to seal an alliance. This decision was possibly made for commercial reasons, since Ebla was not able to control commercial relations with the east on its own. Moreover, Mari was in a crucial position to control Kish, whose rise under Sargon initiated that expansionistic policy which would characterise the dynasty of Akkad. However, due to a series of events unknown to us, Mari managed to recover from the defeat and to attack Ebla, conquering it and sacking its palace.
This is the most probable hypothesis for the destruction of Ebla. Another suggestion is that Sargon destroyed Ebla, but this seems less plausible. First of all, Sargon himself, celebrating his conquests in the Middle Euphrates, declared that he stopped at Tuttul, while the god Dagan granted him access to the west (Ebla above all). Therefore, Sargon only gained access to the commercial networks of the west. After all, the destruction of a wealthy city such as Ebla would have been celebrated in an entirely different way. Moreover, when, a couple of decades later, Naram-Sin declared his destruction of Ebla (evidently the city that was rebuilt after the time of the Palace G archives), he would state that the achievement was unprecedented, something that he could not have said if Sargon had destroyed the city first. Finally, we know that Sargon conquered and destroyed Mari only a decade after the fall of Ebla, making its destruction militarily impossible with a still powerful Mari in the way.
Be that as it may, after the destruction of the Ebla of Palace G, the city and its entire territory experienced a period of crisis. Therefore, the final phase of the Early Bronze Age (IV, that is, 2300—2000 bc), between the destruction of the palace and the arrival of the Amorites, is relatively unknown. However, following the splendour and power of the Ebla of Palace G and its commercial network, changes in the architecture and organisation of the settlement indicate a visible recession.
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