Amorites [key], a people of Canaan. There is evidence of them in Babylonia, where in the 19th cent. b.c. they established under their patronage the first dynasty at Babylon. The most powerful king of this dynasty, Hammurabi, put an end (18th cent. b.c.) to Amorite domination and issued a famous code of law, similar to Israelite codes. At the time of Joshua the Amorites were living both E and W of the Dead Sea. They were subdued and gradually absorbed by the Israelites.
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