Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria; an Italian mission led by Prof. Paolo Matthiae discovered in 1975; a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 BCE Ebla appears to have been founded around 3000 BCE and gradually built its empire through trade with the cities of Sumer and Akkad; as well as with peoples to the northwest. Gifts from pharaohs found during excavations confirm Ebla's contact with Egypt. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages. The Eblan civilization was likely conquered by Sargon of Akkad around 2260 BCE; the city was restored as the nation of the Amorites a few centuries later and flourished through the early second millennium BCE until conquered by the Hittites.