ABSTRACT
Ebla never rose again after it was destroyed for the third time in the years around 1600 bc, both because the devastation was so thorough and pitiless, and because the population may already have been decreasing due to a microclimatic crisis in the region. As a result of the failure of an initial attempt to reconstruct the city, the ruins of the third Ebla, conquered, sacked, and set on fire around 1600 bc, were not even partially removed, but completely abandoned. But it is certain that in the Middle Syrian Period, while important centres like Aleppo regained a leading role and minor centres like Alalakh became less significant and yet managed to remain cities, Ebla regressed to the status of a village with no more than a few rural dwellings.
