5. Competition and Emulation: The Amorite Koine from Dilmun to Avaris, 1800–1550 BC

The establishment of an Amorite koine culture during the second half of the Middle Bronze Age is articulated in the context of intensive and long-distance exchanges of personnel through trade, warfare, and land tenure. Both competition between Amorite dynasties as well as the emulation of elites are discussed as the principal means by which a wide range of traditions were embraced across the Near East in the construction of an Amorite social identity.

1. Introduction: Amorites, Their Legacy, and the Study of Identity

The legacy of Amorites in the ancient Near East is discussed as well as the various approaches employed in this study for addressing the archaeological, historical, and iconographic evidence. The purpose, scope, and aims of the discussions of discrete historical moments that compose this work are outlined.

This chapter provides an outline of identity theory as it has developed out of its structural symbolic interaction origins. Identities are sets of meanings that define who we are in terms of the roles we have, the groups or social categories to which we belong, or the unique characteristics that make us different from others. The chapter reviews the origins of identity theory, including the characteristics, content, and bases of identities; in addition, it discusses how identities operate, change, and protect themselves as well as how they provide us with self-esteem. It concludes with a discussion of how identities provide a link between individuals and their society.

Identity, identity change, identity theory, self, self-esteem

Peter Burke is a winner of the American Sociological association’s Cooley-Mead Award for Career Contributions to Social Psychology. He is a Professor of the Graduate Division of the University of California, Riverside, Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Sociology, and a Fellow of both the AAAS and the APS.

2. Communities at the Margins: The Origins of Amorite Identity, 2500–2200 BC

The earliest evidence for Amorites in textual sources is discussed in the context of locating them among agropastoral communities across a marginal zone ranging from the Levant to northern Mesopotamia. The onset of arid conditions with the beginning of the Meghalayan Period (i.e., the 4.2 ka BP event) and its correlation with an intensification in Akkadian military activity are implicated in precipitating a refugee crisis among Amorite communities in this zone of uncertainty that led to their movement into neighboring regions.

4. Mercenaries and Merchants: Networks of Political and Economic Power, 2000–1800 BC

The establishment of Amorite dynasties are documented from Mesopotamia to the Levant during the early second millennium BC. The increasing role of Amorites in mercantile endeavors, including the founding of new settlements, are illustrated, and this activity is placed in context with the contemporaneous evidence for the Old Assyrian merchant colony at Kanesh in Anatolia and the Asiatic enclave at Avaris in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom.

6. Conclusion: Amorite Identity in the Long Durée

The long history of developments contributing to the creation of Amorite social identity are framed in the context of sources of social power that were acquired by Amorites from the mid-third to the mid-second millennium BC. This interpretation is supported by a brief examination of the legacy of Amorite identity immediately after the end of the Middle Bronze Age, when a loss of ideological, economic, military, and political power contributed to a critical decline in the importance of social identification with Amorites.

3. Beyond Pastoralism: Diaspora and Opportunity, 2200–2000 BC

Following a significant decline in local environmental conditions ca. 2200 B.C., which contributed to the collapse of agropastoralism in the zone of uncertainty, the movements of Amorite refugees are documented from Mesopotamia to the Levant. Mercenarism and state service are highlighted as significant avenues to economic and political power across the Near East in the late third millennium.