That thia people had a certain preponderance among the Canaanitic tribes is shown by their name often standing in Scripture for Canaanites in general (Gen. xv. 16; Josh, xxiv. 18; Jud. vi. 10). Their principal seat on the west of the Jordan was the mountains of Judah and their southern slopes,—to the whole of which mountainous region, indeed, the name the Mount of the Amorites is applied (Gen. xiv. 7, 13; Num. xiii. 29; Deut i. 7, 20, 44; Josh, xi. 3; Jud. i. 36). We hear of them also at Gibeon, north-west of Jerusalem (2 Sam. xxL 2), at Aijalou, west of Gibeon, and in the northern part of the Philistine plain (Jud. i. 34, 35), and in the land of Ephraim (Gen. xlviii. 22). On the east of Jordan, after having driven back the Ammonites and Moabites, they occupied the whole of Gilead and Bashan, from the Arnon, the northern limit of Moab, as far as Mount Hermon, forming in this region at the epoch of Moses two powerful kingdoms,—that of Sihon, whose capital was Heshbon, the more southerly; and that of Og, whose capital was Ashtaroth, the more northerly (Num. xxi. 21-35; Deut. iii. 8, 10; iv. 48). It was with this east-Jordanic section of the Amorites that the Israelites first came into conflict. After these had been subdued, and after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and had begun to capture the Canaanitish towns, five of the most powerful of the Amorite kings of the western section formed a confederacy to oppose the advancing host (Josh. x. 5, sq.) When this combination had been overthrown, a final attempt at resistance was made by the more northerly portion of the Canaanites, under the auspices of Jabin, king of Hazor; and in the united forces, which were overthrown at the waters of Merom, Amorites were included (Josh. xi. 3). Those of this and the other tribes of the Canaanites who survived the conquests of Joshua, either gradually became mingled with the Philistines and others of the neighbouring nations, or they continued to live among the Israelites in the condition of tributaries and slaves (Josh. xi. 22; Jud. i. 34, 35; 1 Kings ix. 21; 2 Chron, viii. 8).

In old Egyptian literature mention is frequently made, from the time of Sethos I., of an Asiatic people called the Amar or Amaor, whom Egyptologers agree in identifying with the Amorites (Bunsen, Egypt's Place, vol. iii. 212). There is as yet less agreement in regard to the position of their country. Brugsch is of opinion that the people in question are located in the north of Syria, on the banks of the Orontes (see his Geog. Inschriften, Bd. ii. 21; Hist. d'Egypte, 132, 187). The later researches of Chabas, however, have rendered the interpretation on which this view depends very doubtful, and shown that in all probability their territory lies, in entire harmony with the representations of Scripture regarding the Amorites, on the west of the Dead Sea and south of the land of Judah (Chabas, Etudes sur ι Antiquité, 267, f.; Recherches, 44, 107.) Among the towns of the Amaor are mentioned Dapur and Kodesh, evidently to be identified with the scriptural Debir and Kadesh.

The language, kc., of the Amorites will be more conveniently considered under Canaanites.