Amorites

The Amorites were groups associated with West Semitic speech in the LevantThe LevantThe Levant is a regional name for lands along the eastern MediterraneanGlossary · Click to read the explanation and MesopotamiaMesopotamiaA historical region associated with the Tigris and Euphrates, home to many societies and civilisations.Glossary · Click to read the explanation. They appear in sources of the late third millennium BCE. Amorite dynasties then became prominent in several kingdoms in the early second millennium, particularly the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries BCE, approximately 1900–1700 BCE. This dates a notable phase of their influence, rather than the beginning and end of every group bearing the name. ^[1][2]

One of the best-known kings associated with these dynasties was HammurabiHammurabiKing of Babylon in Mesopotamia, reigning around 1792–1750 BCE. A celebrated legal text preserved on a stele and cuneiform copies bears his name.Glossary · Click to read the explanation of BabylonBabylonBabylon is an ancient city in central present-day Iraq, south of BaghdadGlossary · Click to read the explanation, who ruled approximately 1792–1750 BCE. Amorite communities and dynasties belonged to different regions and kingdoms, so the designation's meaning depends on its place and period. ^[2][3]

Personal names preserved in cuneiformCuneiformWriting with wedge-shaped signs, developed from Mesopotamian recording traditions and used for several languages from the third millennium BCE.Glossary · Click to read the explanation documents help scholars study their language and religious vocabulary. Each name provides a small piece of linguistic evidence, understood alongside the document and the person who bore it. ^[1]