Amorites

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Amorites
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Hammurabi

• Successful general
• Defeated Sumerians and Akkad around 1760 B.C.E
• Helped his people conquer Mesopotamia
• A famous Babylonian Monarch
• Created one of the first empires by uniting
  Mesopotamia under one ruler

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Hammurabi

• Improved the irrigation process of his empire
• Strongly encouraged astronomy, mathematics, and
  literature

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The Code of Hammurabi

• Was created by Hammurabi

• First known code of laws in ancient civilizations

• Used to keep order in the empire

• Contained the concepts of an eye for an eye or
  lex talionis

• Established rules for common issues

Code of Hammurabi
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The Code of Hammurabi

• Created standards for behavior
• Created punishments
• They were posted in the cities temple
• Written in cuneiform

Hammurabi
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The Code of Hammurabi

• 282 total laws
• Written around 1786 B.C.E
• Carved in forty-nine columns of stone tablets
  called stele

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The Code of Hammurabi

• Addressed topics such as civil, commercial,
  family, and criminal laws
• Some laws showed favoring towards higher social
  classes
• If a man strikes the cheek of a freeman who is
  superior in rank to himself, he shall be beaten
  with 60 stripes with a whip of ox-hide in the
  assembly

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Impact of Ideas

• Many later documents used ideas from the Code of
  Hammurabi
• When the Kassites conquered Babylon and
  controlled Mesopotamia they still used
  Hammurabis Code

• Established the authority of the government for
  Babylon and other societies

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Impact of Ideas

• Some historians suggest that many aspects of the
  Bible include borrowed ideas from Hammurabis
  Code
• The 10 Commandments
• Levitical Law contains the concept of an eye for
  an eye
• The laws of Melchizedek (the land that the Bible
  said God told Abraham to live on)

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Culture

• Spoke language related to Hebrew
• Wrote on clay tablets
• Cuneiform writing

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Culture

• Elaborate palaces and temple buildings
• Art and architecture were influenced by other
  Mesopotamian cultures

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Culture

• Worshiped Sumerian gods
• Told Sumerian myths and tales
• Created a new god they worshipped
• Marduk
• The Epic of Gilgamesh was created and contributed
  to religion

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Social Institutions

• Split up into 2 groups traders and workers
• Society of farmers, free citizens, and merchants
• Priests served gods and cared for the welfare of
  his subjects.

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Social Institutions

• Monarchy
• Became more powerful
• Used power to collect taxes and make a strong
  army
• Strong central government needed a set of laws to
  keep order(Hammurabi's Code)

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Social Institutions

• Instead of city-states they created one big
  kingdom
• Their most famous king was Hammurabi
• The Code of Hammurabi set up the rules for each
  social class.

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Government

• Based on Sumerian civilization
• Relied on sun god Marduk
• Ruler was Hammurabi
• Hammurabis Code gave empire order

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Economy

• Traded with Canaan and Anatolia
• Reflected art and agriculture
• Traded cloth for gold

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Human Environment Interactions

• Kingdoms
• Division into kingdoms replaced city-states of
  Sumerians
• Kings chose the land people were given and which
  land would be dedicated to farming

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Human Environment Interaction

• Farmland
• Grew wheat and barely
• Created better irrigation systems
• Domesticating animals
• Creating better roads and improving wheels led to
  population growth

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Cooperation and Conflict

• Sumerians fell and Mesopotamia went in a
  conflicted era
• Amorites traveled into Mesopotamia, and recreated
  their civilization but with improvements

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Cooperation and Conflict

• The fall of the Amorites was called the Dark Age
• Kassites took over and the language of the
  Amorites faded into the south of Mesopotamia

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Location

• the Amorites lived in Canaan and in the
• Eastern part of the fertile crescent

http//www.jesuswalk.com/joshua/images/amorite-map
.gif
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Social Classes

• 2 forms of slaves (Wardu)
• Debtors working for freedom
• Prisoners of War/ women children sold to pay a
  debt
• Slaves were occasionally sold to pay labors

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Social Classes cont.

• 2 forms of free citizens
• Higher (Anilu)
• Lower (Mushkenu)
• Military civil services are under free
  citizens
• Nobles and rulers are the final rung

http//www.gutenberg.org/files/16653/16653-h/img/2
3.jpg
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Geography

• In the Western part of Mesopotamia
• now known as Arabia
• Hot and dry climate in the summer cold and wet
  in winter
• Fertile land, major waterways to help with trade
• Also the Mountain range Jebel Bishiri
• Built around the Euphrates

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Technology/ Inventions

• Centralized government
• A new God (Marduk)
• Established the 1st dynasty
• 1st written code of laws

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Cooperation and Conflict

• Nebuchadnezzar led a revival in 1000 BCE
• Agum I took over Babylon after the Hittite rule
• Samsu-ditanna was the last king
• Traded with every city-state in the Euphrates
  river valley

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Governmental ideas

• 1st set of written laws
• Had one central city-state, Babylon
• Divisions of kingdoms eliminated city- states
• Development of personal ownership/ private
  property
• Priests didnt control the economy anymore

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Social Institutions

• Religion
• Worshipped the Moon god(Sin) Amurru
• Amurru is possibly where they got the name
  Amorites
• Believed in an after life
• Believed their king was a god
• Government
• Scribes kept track of everything
• Hereditary Monarchy

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Social Institutions Cont.

• Schools (Tablet School)
• Children began school at age 8 or 9
• Had schools for scribes
• Took 12 years
• Mostly boy students
• Senior students helped the
• teacher/expert

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Cultural development

• Bronze began to be used
• Passed on stories orally
• ex.) Epic of Gilgamesh
• Looked at monarch as a god
• Religion was part of their everyday culture

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Individuals

• Hammurabi
• Wrote the 1st code of laws
• Very one gender sided
• Created a man based society
• Women became slaves and household objects
• Changed laws everywhere

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Economics

• Was controlled by priest
• Changed hands with Hammurabis rule
• Trade thrived in this area because
• Large cities
• Their geographical location (rivers)

http//www.bible-history.com/sketches/ancient/nebu
chadnezzar-inscription.jpg
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Impact of Ideas

• Freed certain people from taxes
• Switched from independent city-states to kingdoms
  made up of city-states
• Changes in the economic system
• control shifted from religious leaders to
  king/government

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Fun Facts!

• Famous for Hammurabis Code
• Hittites conquered the Amorites then left, then
  the Kassites came and occupied the territory
• First to inhabit Canaan Babylonia area
• Established first Babylonian dynasty
• Jebel Bishiri Syria named after the Amorites

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Introduction

• Amorites were also known as the Old Babylonians
  who were mountainous people and warriors
• The Amorites ruled the empire from 1900-1600
  B.C.E known as the Old Babylonian Period
• They were a group of Semites that gained control
  of Mesopotamia after the fall of the last
  Sumerian dynasty

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Location

• In the fertile crescent
• Occupied the area west of the Euphrates River
• Babylon was the capitol of the Amorite Empire
• The area the Amorites occupied included the
  cities

• Mari
• Rapiqum
• Sippar
• Babylon
• Eshunna
• Malgium
• Nippur
• Isir
• Uruk
• Larsa
• Lagash
• Ur
• Eridu

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Location cont.

• Occupied modern-day Syria
• Northern area was composed of hills and plains
• It was fertile because of rivers flowing down
  from the mountains
• Southern area had marshy areas and desolate
  plains

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Language

• Amorites used the Akkadian language as their
  spoken language
• Used cuneiform for many of their documents
• Used the Sumerian language as their religious
  language

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Religion

• Polytheistic
• They adopted the Sumerian religion
• Main god was Marduk which is the only god that
  they imported
• Did not care about life after death
• Focused mainly on life itself

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Important Individuals

• Hammurabi the sixth ruler of Babylonia, who
  created the first set of written laws
• Gilgamesh legendary king discovers the secret of
  floods and defies the gods
• Samsu-Ditana last king of the
• First Babylonian Dynasty

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Social Classes

• Social Pyramid
• Noblemen
• Commoners
• Women
• Slaves
• New kings came to rule
• Many people were freed
• New societies

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Writing

• Hammurabis Code
• The famous Venus Tablets of Ammis
• aduqa
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh searched for immortality
• Learned from the only man who survived a great
  flood created by the gods
• Gilgamesh also conquered the demon, Huwawa, who
  lived in the cedar forest
• Gilgamesh wanted Cedar Wood and encountered the
  Huwawa and killed it

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Technology

• Adopted many of the Sumerians technological
  advancements
• Wheel
• Boat/Ships
• Metallurgy
• Irrigation Systems

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Mathematics

• Helped with trade and records
• Developed multiplication and exponents
• Tablets recovered including signs of
• Fractions
• Algebra
• Quadratic Equations
• Cubic Equations
• Pythagorean Theorem

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Arts/Architecture

• Had an abundance of mudbrick
• Built temples supported by buttresses
• Use of brick led to the early development of
  pilaster and column
• Walls were brilliantly colored and plated with
  zinc or gold
• Assyrians adopted later on

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Wars

• Always prepared for wars
• Wars rarely occurred
• War against Gibeon
• 5 kings of Amorite marched together to attack
  Gibeon
• Felt threatened by Gibeons wealth, power, and
  military status
• They attacked Gibeon
• Gibeon survived b/c of King Joshuas cunning
  plots and tactics

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Government

• Established a bureaucracy a system of government
• Were first to have a set of laws which was
  Hammurabis Code
• Hammurabis Code was written around 1792-1750
  B.C.E.

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Effect on Mesopotamia

• Changed city-states into kingdoms
• Men, cattle, and land ceased to belong to the
  gods or the temples and kings
• Brought lasting repercussions in its political,
  social and economic structure

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Bibliography

• www.angelfire.com/va3/violingirl/amorites.html
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorite
• http//www.wsu.edu/dee/MESO/AMORITES.HTMhttp//w
  ww.fsmitha.com/h1/ch01.htm
• http//www.britishmuseum.org/explore/world_culture
  s/middle_east/amorites.aspx
• http//www.wsu.edu/dee/MESO/AMORITES.HTM
• http//www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1hammurabi.
  htm
• http//www.lawbuzz.com/ourlaws/hammurabi/religion.
  htm
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi

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Sources
Amorites. Amorite. Wikipedia. November 5, 2008
lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoritesgt Geograph
y. Geography. The British Museum. November 4,
2008 lthttp//www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/home_
set.htmlgt Mathematics. Babylonia. Wikipedia.
November 13, 2008 lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba
byloniansMathematicsgt Old Babylonian Period.
Babylonia. Wikipedia. November 4, 2008
lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BabyloniansOld_Baby
lonia n_periodgt Technology. Babylonia.
Wikipedia. November 8, 2008 lthttp//en.wikipedia.o
rg/wiki/BabyloniansTechnologygt The Amorites.
November 11, 2008 lthttp//www.wsu.edu/dee/MESO/AM
ORITES.HTMgt
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Bibliography

• "Amorites." High Beam Encylopedia.
  2008. 10 Nov. 2008 http//www.encyclopedia.com/doc
  /1e1-amorites.html.  "Amorites."
  Phoencia.org. 2008. Phoencia Enclylopedia. 9 Nov.
  2008 http//phoenicia.org/amorites.html. 
  "The Amorites, Phoenicians, and Hebrews." 10 Nov.
  2008 http//www.egyptorigins.org/amorites.htm. 
  "The Amorites." World History Center. History
  World International. 10 Nov. 2008
  http//history-world.org/amorites.htm. 
  "Ancient Babylonia Geography." Bible History. 10
  Nov. 2008 http//www.bible-history.com/babylonia/b
  abyloniageography.htm.  "Ancient
  Hodgepodge." Fun Trivia. 10 Nov. 2008
  http//www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/ancient-hodg
  epodge-149254.html.  Hooker, Richard.
  "Mesopotamia." 1996. World Civilizations. 10 Nov.
  2008.