Walking in Ancient Times

 

It was time to go to Ebla, my host Syrian family said.

I had already experienced so much.

• Drank maté through a silver straw with women, who graciously spoke English to me
• I'd heard the language Jesus was said to have spoken.
• I saw the French bullet holes in the souk ceiling where I bought a scarf. 
• I had a private tour of the National Museum. 
• Sat in courtyards of a centuries old homes in the old city. 
• Eaten combinations of food that I couldn't identify but found wonderful. Often I was fed several lunches or dinners as we stopped at houses of friends. Out of politeness I ate and ate.
• Recovered from Saladin's revenge.
• Slept in a monastery.
• Seen a 13th century mental hospital that was more humane than many today
• Participated in a woman's group that had their body hair removed by a woman who used an application of sugar and water.
• Watched a craftsman inlay mother of pearl on a mahogany table. 

I  was visiting Syria before the war, early in this century. The trip to the ancient northern city from Damascus was through parched land.

Ebla was one of the ancient cities going back to the third millennium B.C. It dominated the region. Discovery began in 1964 by Italian archeologists. 

Tourists were not allowed to walk among the ruins for fear of damage, but our guide made an exception. He also invited me home to lunch in his nearby stone house, much to the surprise of his wife. She quickly supplied a meal and conversation flowed with translations and hand signals as children ran in and out of the house.

Some 17,000 cuneiform tablets had been found, either complete or fragments. Ebla had a well organized library. The tablets had been translated by a Roman professor. The guide gave me his contact.

Several months later when I was covering a conference in Rome for my newsletter, I contacted him. I explained that I wrote a series of mysteries, Murder in (different cities). Half of the stories were historical. I wanted to do Murder in Damascus with the historical part set in Ebla. I was hoping he could tell me what daily life was like so long ago. 

He invited me into his book-filled apartment on a tree-lined street, and over the next three hours graciously told me about what he discovered about life on the tablets and fragments.

Ebla's library contained the world's first bi-lingual dictionary in Eblaite and Sumerian, women had many rights, there was a royal palace. Much of what was on the tablets were accounts and formal correspondence.

Although I told him that I would send him a copy of the book after I wrote it, I never finished it. In 2011 war broke out. Not only did the dig stop with much of Ebla occupied and/or damaged even more than time had done.