Amorites
   highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of
   one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. 14:7), called Amurra or Amurri
   in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. On the early
   Babylonian monuments all Syria, including Palestine, is known as
   "the land of the Amorites." The southern slopes of the mountains
   of Judea are called the "mount of the Amorites" (Deut. 1:7, 19,
   20). They seem to have originally occupied the land stretching
   from the heights west of the Dead Sea (Gen. 14:7) to Hebron (13.
   Comp. 13:8; Deut. 3:8; 4:46-48), embracing "all Gilead and all
   Bashan" (Deut. 3:10), with the Jordan valley on the east of the
   river (4:49), the land of the "two kings of the Amorites," Sihon
   and Og (Deut. 31:4; Josh. 2:10; 9:10). The five kings of the
   Amorites were defeated with great slaughter by Joshua (10:10).
   They were again defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua, who
   smote them till there were none remaining (Josh. 11:8). It is
   mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of
   Samuel there was peace between them and the Israelites (1 Sam.
   7:14). The discrepancy supposed to exist between Deut. 1:44 and
   Num. 14:45 is explained by the circumstance that the terms
   "Amorites" and "Amalekites" are used synonymously for the
   "Canaanites." In the same way we explain the fact that the
   "Hivites" of Gen. 34:2 are the "Amorites" of 48:22. Comp. Josh.
   10:6; 11:19 with 2 Sam. 21:2; also Num. 14:45 with Deut. 1:44.
   The Amorites were warlike mountaineers. They are represented on
   the Egyptian monuments with fair skins, light hair, blue eyes,
   aquiline noses, and pointed beards. They are supposed to have
   been men of great stature; their king, Og, is described by Moses
   as the last "of the remnant of the giants" (Deut. 3:11). Both
   Sihon and Og were independent kings. Only one word of the
   Amorite language survives, "Shenir," the name they gave to Mount
   Hermon (Deut. 3:9).