A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - The history of Mari is rather obscure, but it is known to have been an ancient kingdom and an important political and commercial center on the western bank of the Euphrates in modern Syria, close to the Iraqi frontier.
Mari became prosperous due to its advantageous geographical location on the northern trading route between Syria and Mesopotamia, in close proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, the Assyrian area to the north-east, and Babylonia to the south-east.
Main sources of our knowledge about Mari, dated to about 3,000 BC, come from Sumerian references and the Ebla tablets, which mention that the relations between the ancient city of Ebla and Mari were rather close but not always peaceful.
Mari was occupied by the Akkadians, Sumerians, and at the turn of the 19th / 18th century BC by the Amorites, a powerful Semitic-speaking people from Syria who also occupied large parts of southern Mesopotamia from the 21st century BC to the end of the 17th century BC.
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