Amorites: Difference between revisions
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== Sumer == | == Sumer == | ||
In some of the earliest known sources, the inscriptions of ancient Sumer which date as far back as the first half of the third millennium BC, which is over 500 years before the time of Abraham, the Martu were the rather nomadic people who occupied the lands to the west of Babylonia, including what we know today as southern Syria, Lebanon and the northern parts of ancient Israel. In an inscription of the Sumerian king Ibbi-Sin they are listed as allies in the Sumerian cause against the Elamites<ref>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament, pp. 480-481</ref>, the people who were later known as Persians. | In some of the earliest known sources, the inscriptions of ancient Sumer which date as far back as the first half of the third millennium BC, which is over 500 years before the time of Abraham, the Martu were the rather nomadic people who occupied the lands to the west of Babylonia, including what we know today as southern Syria, Lebanon and the northern parts of ancient Israel. In an inscription of the Sumerian king Ibbi-Sin they are listed as allies in the Sumerian cause against the Elamites<ref>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament, pp. 480-481</ref>, the people who were later known as Persians. | ||
== Akkadian Texts == | |||
The Akkadian name for the Martu was Amurru, and they were the Amorites of Scripture. There are a couple of extant copies, one in Akkadian and one in Hittite, of a treaty between the Amorite king Duppi-Tessub and the Hittite king Mursilis I, who is presumed to have ruled Hatti from circa 1620 to 1590 BC. The treaty contained mutual defense clauses against both the Egyptians and the Hurrians | |||
== Conquest of Canaan == | == Conquest of Canaan == | ||
Later, in the Egyptian inscriptions of the 14th and 13th centuries BC, notably those from Pharaoh Seti I and Ramses II, the “land of Amurru” remained the name which was used to describe the former land of the Amorites, including much of the land of Canaan<ref>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament pp. 254, 256</ref>, land which was by that time inhabited by Israelites. In the poetry of ancient Ugarit, which mostly concerns their idols Baal and Anath, there is mention of Amorite crafts where there is a line translated “Gorgeous bowls shaped like small beasts like those of Amurru”<ref>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament, p. 132</ref>. | |||
Revision as of 17:45, 31 January 2023
The Amorites, (called both Martu and Amurru in the ancient inscriptions), were a once-powerful people who dwelt to the west of Babylonia. There originally ten tribes inhabiting the land of Canaan[1], and there is little doubt that the Amorites were the most powerful tribe in the region at that time.
Sumer
In some of the earliest known sources, the inscriptions of ancient Sumer which date as far back as the first half of the third millennium BC, which is over 500 years before the time of Abraham, the Martu were the rather nomadic people who occupied the lands to the west of Babylonia, including what we know today as southern Syria, Lebanon and the northern parts of ancient Israel. In an inscription of the Sumerian king Ibbi-Sin they are listed as allies in the Sumerian cause against the Elamites[2], the people who were later known as Persians.
Akkadian Texts
The Akkadian name for the Martu was Amurru, and they were the Amorites of Scripture. There are a couple of extant copies, one in Akkadian and one in Hittite, of a treaty between the Amorite king Duppi-Tessub and the Hittite king Mursilis I, who is presumed to have ruled Hatti from circa 1620 to 1590 BC. The treaty contained mutual defense clauses against both the Egyptians and the Hurrians
Conquest of Canaan
Later, in the Egyptian inscriptions of the 14th and 13th centuries BC, notably those from Pharaoh Seti I and Ramses II, the “land of Amurru” remained the name which was used to describe the former land of the Amorites, including much of the land of Canaan[3], land which was by that time inhabited by Israelites. In the poetry of ancient Ugarit, which mostly concerns their idols Baal and Anath, there is mention of Amorite crafts where there is a line translated “Gorgeous bowls shaped like small beasts like those of Amurru”[4].