The Amorites and the Bronze Age Near East

A diachronic, yet nuanced study of Amorite identity from Mesopotamia to Egypt over a millennium of Bronze Age history.

This study summons historical, archaeological, and iconographic data from Bronze Age Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt to address the legacy of Amorites.In this book, Aaron A. Burke explores the evolution of Amorite identity in the Near East from ca. 2500–1500 BC. He sets the emergence of a collective identity for the Amorites, one of the most famous groups in Ancient Near Eastern history, against the backdrop of both Akkadian imperial intervention and declining environmental conditions during this period. Tracing the migration of Amorite refugees from agropastoral communities into nearby regions, he shows how mercenarism in both Mesopotamia and Egypt played a central role in the acquisition of economic and political power between 2100 and 1900 BC. Burke also examines how the establishment of Amorite kingdoms throughout the Near East relied on traditional means of legitimation, and how trade, warfare, and the exchange of personnel contributed to the establishment of an Amorite koiné. Offering a fresh approach to identity at different levels of social hierarchy over time and space, this volume contributes to broader questions related to identity for other ancient societies.