Indilimma, previously read Indilimgur, was likely the last king of

Ebla Ebla (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', , modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a Tell (archaeology), tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was ...

, in modern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, reigning around 1600 BCE.

Reign

Indilimma was the son of Sir-Damu according to a seal of his discovered in Cilicia. He is also known from several jars bearing the impression of a

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

of his son, the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

Maratewari. The seal impressions are of high quality and show inspirations from the art of the kingdom of

Yamhad Yamhad (Yamḫad) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom centered on Ḥalab (Aleppo) in Syria (region), Syria. The kingdom emerged at the end of the 19th century BC and was ruled by the Yamhad dynasty, who counted on both mi ...

. On the seals, Indilimma's son is depicted while receiving life (in the form of an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian ''

ankh The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself. The ankh has a T-shape topped by a droplet-shaped loop. It was used in writing as a tri ...

'' symbol) by the Yamhadite deities

Hadad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

and Hebat.Matthiae (2010), pp. 318-19
The fact that these jars were found within the

archaeological context This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

of the final destruction of Ebla, which occurred around 1600 BCE by the hands of the Hittite king

Mursili I Mursili I (also known as Mursilis; sometimes transcribed as Murshili) was a king of the Hittites 1620-1590 BC, as per the middle chronology, the most accepted chronology in our times (or alternatively c. 1556–1526 BC, short chronology), and was ...

, suggested to Paolo Matthiae that Maratewari had no time to become king and that his father Indilimma was indeed the last ruler of palaeosyrian Ebla. Alfonso Archi argued that Maratewari (whose name reading is not certain and Archi gives it as ''Memal...arri'') was the last king and noted that Maratewari was not mentioned as king on his seal but neither was Indilimma on his seal from Cilicia. For Archi, the lack of the royal title does not mean that both father and son were not kings, but it is just a sign of subordination to

, the hegemonic kingdom of Northern Syria during the seventeenth century BCE. Indilimma's name also appears on a legal document found in the western palace at Ebla.

References

Kings of Ebla 17th-century BC monarchs {{ANE-bio-stub