History - The Amorites

Sumer was invaded by a new tribe of Semites: not sophisticates like Sargon, but desert nomads (probably), the Amorites. The barbaric Amorites cut off the roads and waterways to the capital until the citizens began to starve. As the capital weakened, the Elamites (an old enemy), destroyed the city of Ur [around 2000 BC] and then left. That was the end of Sumerian power. The Amorite savages took over.

Like many previous barbarians, the Amorites grew civilized in Sumer. They liked Sumerian religion so much that they translated it into their own language (Akkadian) and began to believe that they themselves had invented it. Even then, Sumerian remained the "classical" temple language, long after anyone spoke it in the real world. The Amorites spent a good deal of time fighting among themselves.

The Amorite feuding was stopped by the great general and statesman, Hammurabi of Babylon, whose reign began around 1790 BC.