the proper names both of Southern and of Northwestern Arabia. The early
Minsaean inscriptions of Southern Arabia contain names like Ammi-karib,
Ammi-zadiqa, and Ammi-zaduq, the last of which is identical with that of
Ammi-zaduq, the son and successor of Ammi-satana. The Egyptian Sinuhit,
who in the time of the twelfth dynasty fled, like Moses, for his life
from the court of the Pharaoh to the Kadmonites east of the Jordan,
found protection among them at the hands of their chieftain Ammu-ânshi.
The Ammonites themselves were the "sons of Ammi," and in numerous Hebrew
names we find that of the god. Ammi-el, Ammi-nadab, and Ammi-shaddai are
mentioned in the Old Testament, the Assyrian inscriptions tell us of
Ammi-nadab the king of Ammon, and it is possible that even the name of
Balaam, the Aramaean seer, may be compounded with that of the god. At
all events, the city of Pethor from which he came was "by the river
(Euphrates) of the land of the children of Ammo," for such is the
literal rendering of the Hebrew words.

Ammi-satana was not the first of his line whose authority had been
acknowledged in Palestine. The inscription in which he records the fact
is but a confirmation of what had been long known to us from the Book of
Genesis. There we read how Chedor-laomer, the king of Elam, with the
three vassal princes, Arioch of Ellasar, Amraphel of Shinar, and Tidal
of Goyyim invaded Canaan, and how the kings of the vale of Siddim with
its pits of asphalt became their tributaries. For thirteen years they
remained submissive and then rebelled. Thereupon the Babylonian army
again marched to the west. Bashan and the eastern bank of the Jordan
were subjugated, the Horites in Mount Seir were smitten, and the
invaders then turned back through Kadesh-barnea, overthrowing the
Amalekites and the Amorites on their way. Then came the battle in the
vale of Siddim, which ended in the defeat of the Canaanites, the death
of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrha, and the capture of abundant booty.