In the age of the Tel el-Amarna tablets (B.C. 1400) and of the Nineteenth Egj-p. Dynasty (B.C. l.'iOd) 'the land of the Amorites' denoted the inland region immediately to the north of the Pal. of later days. In many passages of the OT, however, the Amorites appear as the predominant populaticm of Canaan, and accordingly (as in the cuneiform inscriptions) give their name to the inhabitiints of the whole country (see 2 S 21-, Am 2'^- i"). The Hivites of Gn 34-, Jos 0' 11" are Amorites in Gn iS", 2 S 21'' ; the Jebusites of Jos 15« 18'!*, Jg I'-^i U>", 2 S 5'' 241'* are Amorites in Jos 10^- '^ (cf. Ezk 16»); and the Hittites of Hebron in Gn 23 take the place of the Amorites of Mamre in Gn 14'-'. Strictly speaking, however, according to Xu 13-^ while the Amalekites, or Bedawin, dwell in the desert to the south, and the Canaanites in the coa.st- lands of Phoenicia and the valley of the Jordan, 'the Hittites and the .Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mottntains.'
Amorite kingdoms also existed to the south and east of Palestine. In early days we hear of Amorites to the south-west of the Dead Sea (Gn 14", cf. Dt l'"), but at the time of the Exodus their two chief kingdoms were tho.se of Sihon and Og, on the eastern side of the Jordan (l)t 3H, Jos 2i'J). Og ruled in Bashan, Sihon more to the south, where he had driven the Moabites from the fertile lands between the Jabbok and the Arnon (Nu 21'3-''). The overthrow of Sih.in and Og, and the occupation of their territories, were among the first achievements of the Israelitish invaders of Canaan (Xu 21-'-^). A fragment of an Amorite song of triumph over the coni|uered Moaliites is given in Nu 21-'-'*", where it is turned against the coniiuerors themselves.
Whether the Amorite kingdoms were the result of conquest, or whether the Amorites represented the original population of the country ea,st of the Jordan, we do not know. A still more difficult problem is the relation between tlie Amorites and Hittites in .southern Palestine. That the two peoples were interlocked there, we know from the statement of Ezk (16^) in regard to the double parentage (Amorite ami Hittite) of ■lerusalem. In the north, in ' the land of the Amorites ' of the cuneiform and Egyp. in.scriptions. tlie interlocking w.as due to Hittite conquest. Before the reign of Tahutmes III. of the Eighteenth Egyp. Dynasty (B.C. 1504-1449), the Amorite stronghold of IChdesh on the Ornntes had been captured by the Hittites, and had become their southern capital. The Hittites, however, were intruders from the north.
On the Egyp. monuments the Amorites are de- picted as a tall race, with fair skins, light (also 'harles Scribner^s Sonx
black) hair, and blue eyes (Tomkins, Jrl. of the Anthropolui/ical Institute, xviii. 3, p. 224). They thus resembled the Libyans (the Berbers of to- day), aud belonged to the white race. The same type, with profiles resemblinc; those of the Ainorites ou the E,t;yp. inonuinent.s, is still met with in I'al., especially in the extreme south. The tall stature of the Amonles impressed the Israel- ites (Xu 1328- ^, I)t 210- 11 9^, if the Anakim are to be regarded as Araorites). Amorites from time to time settled in Kgypt, and became naturalised subjects of the I'haraoh. Thus, in the reign of Tahutmes iii., the sword-bearer of the king and his brotlier, a priest, were sons of an ' Amorite ' and his wife Karuna.
In the age of the Tel el-Amarna correspondence, the Egyp. governor of the • land of the Amorites ' was Abd-Asherah (written Abd-Asirti and Abd- Asratu), who, with his son Ezer (Aziru), made successful war against KiWiadad, the governor of Phoenicia, eventually driving him frimi his cities of Zemar and Geb.al. Aziru .seems to have been assisted by the forces of Babylon and Aram-nalia- raim (Mitanni). In some of his despatches to the rharaoh lie describes the Ilittites as advancing southward, and as having captured Tuuip and other Egyp. towns in northern Syria. The kingdoms of Og and (probably) Sihon did not as yet exist. 'the field of Bashan' (Ziri-H,a.sana) being under the Egyp. governor Artama-Samas. One of the letters is from the king to the governor of ' the city of the Amorites.' and orders certain Amnrite rebels to be sent in chains to the I'haraoh, whose names are Sarru, 'Puya, Leya, Yisyari (or I'isyari), the son- in-law of .\Ianya, Dasarti, I'aluma, and Niinmakhe. About a century and a half later, Merenptah, the son and successor of Hamscs It., built a town in the land of the Amorites (Anast. iii. Jicr. ,')), and one of the chief officials at his court was Ben-Mazaiia, the son of Yupa'a or Yau ' the great,' from Ziri-Basana. But we do not know whether Bashan was at the time under Amorite rule.
LiTERATi-RK. — Sflvcc, ' Tho White Race of Ancient Palestine,' In the fxpus. July IssiJ; liacetoftht O.T. (ISill).
A. U. SATCE.
AMOS (o>2i;).—
I. The Proiihet. II. TIa* I'roptK'CV.
1. Authontidty.
2. Contents. .**. Theology. 4. Style.
TIT. Lltcralnre.
I. TlIK Plidl'lIET. — This is the name of the prophet whose book in our Bibles* occupies the third place amongst the Minor I'rophels.t The tir. and Lat. Kalhers, being fi)r the most ])art unacrniaiiited with lleh., fr(M|uently Cdiifoiinded liis name with the ipiite different one of Isaiah's father, Amnz. Our prophet has no namesake in