Amraphel was a King of Shinar in southern Chaldea, and one of the confederates of Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, in a war against Sodom and cities of the plain (Gen 141ff).
Biblical account
Amraphel was the King of Sennaar (Shinar), or Babylonia, one of four Mesopotamian kings (along with Arioch, King of Pontus (Ellasar); Chodorlahomor, King of Elam, and Thadal (Tedal), King of Nations (Goyim)) who, according to the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, jointly invaded Chanaan and defeated the five kings of the Plains, capturing Lot and his family, together with a rich booty. On their way home they were assailed and routed in a single night by Abraham and his 318 men in the vale of Sava (Siddim), near the Dead Sea. Among the rescued prisoners were Lot and his family. Abraham, furthermore, while on his way back from his victorious attack, was met by Melchisedech, the High priest of El-Elion, at Jerusalem, who celebrated Abraham's victory by a thanksgiving offering of bread and wine, taking from him, as his sacerdotal share, the tenth part of the booty.
Identity
The identity of the name has long been a subject of controversy among Assyriologists, and is not even yet established to the satisfaction of all scholars. Schrader was the first to suggest ("Cunciform Inscriptions and the Old Testament," ii. 299 et seq.) that Amraphel was Hammurabi, king of Babylon, the sixth king in the first dynasty of Babylon, who reigned about 2250 B.C. This is now the prevailing view among both Assyriologists and Old Testament scholars, although other sources have identified him with Nimrod.
