Ammon
Ancient kingdom east of the Jordan, known from the Bible and Assyrian records.
Ammon was an ancient Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in present-day Jordan. Its chief city was Rabbah or Rabbat Ammon, site of modern Amman. The people are called Children of Ammon or Ammonites.
Quick Facts
- Founder
- Benammi, son of Lot's younger daughter (Genesis 19:38)
- Capital city
- Rabbah (Deuteronomy 3:11)
- Border river
- Jabbok (Deuteronomy 3:16; Joshua 12:2)
- Divine prohibition
- Israel was not to distress or take their land (Deuteronomy 2:19)
- Conflict with israel
- Made war against Israel, leading to Jephthah's leadership (Judges 11:4-6)
Lore & Background
The name Ammon derives from the element ʻamm- meaning 'grandfather, forefather' in Proto-West-Semitic, with the suffix -ōn giving the sense 'of the grandfather'. Genesis 19:37-38 describes the Ammonites as descended from Ben-ʻAmmi, a son of Lot with his younger daughter. The kingdom occupied the northern Central Trans-Jordanian Plateau from the latter part of the second millennium BC to at least the second century AD. Ammon maintained independence from the Neo-Assyrian Empire by paying tribute. The Kurkh Monolith lists the Ammonite king Baasha ben Ruhubi's army as fighting alongside Ahab of Israel and Syrian allies against Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC. In 734 BC the Ammonite king Sanipu was a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser III, and his successor Pudu-ilu held the same position under Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. The Ammonite king Amminadab I was among the tributaries in the campaign of Assurbanipal. Other kings attested in contemporary sources are Barachel and Hissalel; Hissalel reigned about 620 BC and is mentioned in an inscription on a bronze bottle found at Tel Siran, along with his son King Amminadab II, who reigned around 600 BC. Ammon flourished during the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626 to 539 BC) but was depopulated and ceased as a distinct entity after being devastated by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 580s BC. Around 260–258 BC, Rabbath Amman was seized by Ptolemy II and renamed Philadelphia. By the early second century BC, Philadelphia became part of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Tobiad family (specifically Hyrcanus) built Qasr Al Abd around 200–175 BC. By the Roman conquest in 63 BC, Ammon lost its distinct identity through assimilation. The last notice of the Ammonites occurs in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho in the second century AD.
Reader's Guide
The biblical account describes the Ammonites as descended from Ben-ʻAmmi, son of Lot. They settled east of the Jordan, invading Rephaim lands. During the Exodus, the Israelites were prohibited by the Ammonites from passing through their lands. In the times of Judges, the Ammonites allied with Eglon of Moab. King Nahash of Ammon besieged Jabesh-Gilead, leading to Saul's victory. Under David, the Ammonites humiliated his messengers and hired Aramean armies, resulting in a war and siege of Rabbah. Naamah, an Ammonite, was the mother of Solomon's successor Rehoboam. The Ammonites served as allies of Syria at Qarqar in 854 BC. They formed a coalition against Jehoshaphat of Judah.
Elsewhere in Figures of Scripture
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