and queen (Pinnock 2008 c). These elements, with the data coming from the cuneiform
documents, lead us to believe that, unlike what happened in southern Mesopotamia,
the Eblaic kingship had already developed, in the Early Dynastic period, a complex
public ceremonial, pivoting on the royal couple, the malikand the maliktum, who
represented on earth the divine couple of Kura and Barama, as explicitly maintained in
the Ritual of Kingship.
The main place for the manifestation of the glory of kingship was the Royal Palace,
where the king and queen could perform their ceremonies or in the Court of Audience,
in the presence of a large number of persons, or in the Throne Room, with a more
limited public participation. On the other hand, in the two cult areas thus far iden-
tified and brought to light, there was no trace of similar fittings, and the cleaning of
the cella, at least in the Temple of the Rock, cannot be the only explanation, because
no similar operation was performed in the Red Temple, which is equally lacking any
kind of decoration. This element, with the strong presence of female figures inferred
from the written documents, seen in visual representations, and by the role and place
women occupy in the town élite,are certainly a strong Eblaic peculiarity (Pinnock
2008 a).
Moreover, taking again into consideration, in the light of the Ebla discoveries,
evidence from other sites of northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia, from Tell
Brak/Nagar to Tell Khuera, from Tell Mozan/Urkish to Mari (Pinnock 2006 b), it is
possible to recognise traces of the same or of quite similar ideologies in the visual
representation of power, or of similar modes in the representation, which do not make
up an organic picture, but which seem rather to answer to local needs, also determined
by the complex political, economic, and commercial relations linking the different
centres of Syria: the king’s figure, in this context, is more strongly derived from strictly
local, Syrian fashion, particularly at Tell Khuera while at Mari the styles are more
typical of southern Mesopotamia. On the other hand, female figures seem to be more
constant and standardised, and some fixed types may be identified: court ladies usually
feature attire with many layers of superimposed cloth (Figure 28. 12 ), and fringed
shawls, and have elaborately dressed hair, with long loose hair, or locks, or plaits; other
ladies wear what we may identify as a priestly attire, with simpler dresses and a veil
covering the head (Figure 28. 13 ), well known for a long time in the Mari examples,
and characterised by the further presence of the typical ovoid headdresses, eventually
covered by the veil.
–– Frances Pinnock ––Figure 28.11Reconstruction of a cylinder seal
impression on clay bullae, from the Royal Palace G, Early
Bronze IVA (© Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria)