AMORITES

AMORITES: translation

The word is derived from the Akkadian amurru, which designated Semitic-speaking tribalgroups who toward the end of the third millennium B.C. settled in increasing numbers in northern and middle Babylonia. Their influx is thought to have contributed to the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Some tribes became assimilated and formed chiefdoms and kingdoms in Mesopotamia and Syria in the second millennium B.C. (e.g., Mari, Yamhad, Tuttul); others retained a nomadic or seminomadic existence as pastoralists. The First Dynasty of Babylon was founded by an Amorite.