View source for Ibbit-Lim

{{Infobox royalty
| name = Ibbit-Lim
| image = Ibbit-Lim.png
| caption = Fragmentary torso of Ibbit-Lim
| succession = [[Ebla#Kings of Ebla|King of Ebla]]
| reign = around 1950 BCE
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| father = Igrish-Kheb
| mother = 
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'''Ibbit-Lim'''{{Pronunciation-needed}} was the earliest known ruler of the [[Ebla#Third kingdom|Third kingdom of Ebla]], in modern [[Syria]], reigning most likely shortly before 1950 BCE.<ref>Matthiae (2010), p.&nbsp;214</ref>

==Reign==
Ibbit-Lim is only known by a fragmentary [[basalt]] torso found in 1968 at [[Tell Mardikh]] and now in [[Aleppo]], which was part of a votive statue for [[Ishtar]], once placed in this goddess' temple in the [[acropolis]] of [[Ebla]].<ref>Matthiae (2010), p.&nbsp;281</ref> A cuneiform inscription on it bears the name of the ''meki'' (king) of Ebla Ibbit-Lim, son of Igrish-Kheb, and claims that the statue was made "eight years after Ishtar's apparition in Ebla". It is believed that this text passage refers to the election of Ishtar as the poliadic goddess of Ebla, an action most likely brought by Ibbit-Lim himself, eight years before making the statue.<ref name=m2301>Matthiae (2010), pp.&nbsp;230-31</ref><br>
Ibbit-Lim's torso was the first evidence permitting the identification of Tell Mardikh with the ancient city of Ebla, whose location had been lost.<ref name="arsi">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5a8-NudlBx8C&pg=PA25|title= Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History|author1=Hans Gustav Güterbock |author2=K. Aslihan Yener |author3=Harry A. Hoffner |author4=Simrit Dhesi |page= 25|isbn= 9781575060538|year= 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0H0EpSm8aioC&pg=PA103|title= Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C|author= Joan Aruz|page= 103|isbn= 9781588394750|year= 2013}}</ref>

As one of the earliest rulers – if not the first one – of the Third kingdom of Ebla, Ibbit-Lim may have been the king who ordered the construction of city walls.<ref name=m2301/> The names of Ibbit-Lim and his father Igrish-Kheb – who is not known to have been a king<ref name=m2301/> – are [[Amorite]], suggesting that the inhabitants of Third kingdom of Ebla were predominantly Amorites, as were most of the inhabitants of Syria at that time.<ref name="gio8">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4JtAAAAMAAJ|title= Ebla, a new look at history|author= Giovanni Pettinato|page= 22|isbn= 9780801841507|year= 1991}}</ref>

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}
*{{cite book |last=Matthiae |first=Paolo |author-link1=Paolo Matthiae |title= Ebla. La città del trono |language=it |publisher= Einaudi |year=2010 |isbn=978-88-06-20258-3}}
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{{Kings of Ebla}}

[[Category:Kings of Ebla]]
[[Category:20th-century BC monarchs]]