Hazor: a Middle Bronze Age city-state

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

In the Met's timeline for the eastern Mediterranean, under the key events of about 1800-1600 BCE, the text says that "important city-states like Hazor are established in the south". The same section states that similar stone statues of seated rulers were found at Hazor and at Ebla, and presents the resemblance as suggesting relations between the two kingdoms. Source 1.

Where this sits on the timeline

In the same source, the Middle Bronze Age of the area it calls "Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and western Syria" is dated about 2000-1600 BCE, and the Late Bronze Age about 1600-1200 BCE. On this site the Levant's Bronze Age is a single page, 3300-1200 BCE, without subdivisions; the article is therefore placed on that page and states explicitly which phase it concerns. Source 1.

A walled city

The overview on the same page describes settlements throughout the southern Levant enclosed behind thick fortification walls set atop steep ramparts. That is a regional description, not an account of a particular level at Hazor: what was uncovered at Hazor itself is a matter for the excavation reports, which were not read for this article. Source 1.

What a seated ruler statue can show

Resemblance between statues at two sites points to a cultural or political connection, but does not establish its nature. The source itself words this carefully, as a suggestion of relations. Ebla lies in northern Syria and serves here as a northern comparison; Hazor is the southern Levantine case. Before inferring an alliance, trade or a shared dynasty, one needs to know where each statue was found, in which level and with what date.

The end of the period

The source notes that towards the end of the period a number of city-states throughout the Levant were violently destroyed, but it does not name Hazor among them and gives no date for its destruction. The article therefore does not say when or how this phase ended at Hazor. Source 1.

Scope of reading: the Met timeline page for 2000-1000 BCE was read on 24 October 2026. The Hazor excavation reports were not read, so this page gives no levels, measurements or finds from the site itself.