Amorites. Semitic people found throughout the Fertile Crescent of the Near East at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Amorites are first mentioned in the Bible as descendants of Canaan in a list of ancient peoples (Gen 10:16; cf. 1 Chr 1:13–16).
Genesis 10:15-16 BDC: Were the “Amurru” the Amorites of the Bible?
Secular historians regularly associate the Amorites of the Bible with the people called the Amurru in early Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) cuneiform texts. The Amurru are represented as invading Mesopotamia early in the second millennium B.C.E. and as having had a kingdom in Babylonia for several centuries. Hammurabi, famed lawgiver of that period, is often referred to as of “Amorite” origin.