AMORITES
The
fall of Sumerian civilisation circa 2004 BC left a vacuum that
lasted for about a century. Conflict and chaos in Mesopotamia
were eventually overcome as the non-Semitic Amorites, who had
inherited much of their civilisation and culture from Sumer, began
to rise in power and importance.
The
Amorites began to arrive in the territory to the west of the Euphrates,
modern Syria, from around 2500 BC. The Akkadians called them Amurru,
and they probably originated from Arabia (a less popular theory
places them in India). Although there was no actual invasion,
for a period of five hundred years they drifted down into southern
Mesopotamia, integrating into Sumerian civilisation where they
lived in enclaves. They served in the armies of Third Dynasty
Ur, and provided general labour for both Ur and Akkad before that.
As Ur declined, and with it Sumerian civilisation, many Amorites
rose to positions of power. When the final end of Ur came at the
hands of the Elamites, the Amorites, virtually Sumerians themselves
by now, were in a strong position to pick up the pieces.
Rather
than maintain the Sumerian system of city states, where farms,
cattle and people belonged to the gods or the temples (ie. the
king), the Amorites founded kingdoms which had their capitals
at many of the old cities, even if some of these new kingdoms
were virtually the equivalent of a city state in their size and
power. As well as inheriting the surviving Sumerian cities, the
Amorites also built a number of large and powerful cities of their
own, from Syria down to southern Mesopotamia.
They
also created a new society of free subjects able to farm their
own lands and conduct business as they saw fit. Their discoveries
contributed extensively to the development of civilisation. They
founded many of the basics concepts of early literature and mathematics,
and they developed multiplication, aiding in mercantile and sales
transactions. This flowering of knowledge led to the creation
of the Code of Hammurabi, one of the most important documents
in Babylon's history. This was a series of 'laws' which emphasised
the pursuit of justice, especially in relation to business transactions,
and it set the form for later law codes.
(Information
by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Unger's Bible
Dictionary, Merrill F Unger (1957).)
c.2004
- 1900 BC :
With
the collapse of the Sumerian city states, Mesopotamia endures
a century or so of chaos. The Amorites, who for several centuries
had been living amongst the Sumerians, rise to power in southern
and central Mesopotamia, as well as in northern Mesopotamia and
Syria.
They
found or expand cities and create kingdoms of their own, such
as Amrit, Amurru, Andarig, Arvad, Dilbat, Ekallatum, Eshnunna,
Hamath, Isin, Karana, Qattara, Razama, Terqa, and Tuttul (and
probably Der as well, although records here are sketchy). They
also assume control of older city states throughout Mesopotamia,
Syria, and Canaan, such as Alalakh, Alep (Aleppo), Borsippa, Carchemish,
Ebla, Gebal, Kazallu, Kish, Lagash, Larsa, Mari, Nippur, Qatna,
Sippar, Tuba, Ur and Uruk.
![](Amorite_SeaGate01_full.jpg)
The
'Sea Gate' of the Amorites is dated to about 2000 BC
c.1940
BC :
The
early Assyrians begin making raids into southern Mesopotamia.
c.1897
BC :
Although
records are sketchy and imprecise, the small Amorite kingdom of
Babylon seems to emerge approximately a century after the collapse
of Sumer.
By
now, many cities in northern Mesopotamia and Syria are under Amorite
control, with each local ruler being associated with a city, such
as Tuttul, and a land or territory which bears a tribal (and state)
name, such as Amnanum, and this evidently refers to the ruler's
less sedentary Amorite subject peoples. This practise is prevalent
down to the smallest tribal 'kingdoms' such as Yaminite Samanum
and Abattum in the Middle Euphrates, near Terqa.
c.1740
BC :
According
to the Bible, the Moabites first occupy the highlands close to the
Dead Sea, from which they expel the native Emim. Moab son of Lot
of the recently-arrived Israelites is the eponymous founder of the
kingdom, while Ben Ammi, an illegitimate son of Lot, gains Ammon,
east of the River Jordan and on Moab's northern border. Soon afterwards
the Moabites themselves are driven further south by Amorite tribes,
beyond the River Arnon which subsequently forms their new northern
border. The move south does not save them, it seems, and they are
conquered and dominated for an unknown period by Amorites.
c.1600
- 1100 BC :
In
the dark age of approximately a century and a half which is triggered
by a general power vacuum in the region, and during which the Kassites
take over Babylonia, the language of the Amorites disappears from
southern and central Mesopotamia. However, in Syria and Canaan it
becomes dominant (in Bashan, for example), with perhaps Ammon being
the southernmost state to have an Amorite influence (which excludes
Moab from having been converted during its period of Amorite domination).
In Assyrian inscriptions from about 1100 BC, the term Amurru designates
part of Syria and all of Phoenicia and Palestine but no longer refers
to any specific kingdom, language, or population.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsMiddEast/Mesopotamia
Amorites.htm
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