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AMMONITES

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 864 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMMONITES , or the " See also:

children of See also:Ammon," a See also:people of See also:east See also:Palestine who, like the Moabites, traced their origin to See also:Lot, the See also:nephew of the See also:patriarch See also:Abraham, and must have been regarded, therefore, as closely related to the Israelites and Edomites. Both the Ammonites and Moabites are sometimes spoken of under the See also:common name of the children of Lot (Dent. ii. 19; Ps. lxxxiii. 8) ; and the whole See also:history shows that they preserved throughout the course of their See also:national existence a sense of the closest See also:brother-See also:hood. According to the traditions, the See also:original territory of the two tribes was the See also:country lying immediately on the east of the Dead See also:Sea, and of the See also:lower See also:half of the See also:Jordan, having the Jabbok for its See also:northern boundary; and of this See also:tract the Ammonites laid claim to the northern portion between the Arnon and the Jabbok, out of which they had expelled the Zamzummim (Judg. xi. 13; Deut. ii. 20 sqq.; cf. Gen. xiv. 5), though apparently it had been held, in See also:part at least, conjointly with the Moabites, or perhaps under their supremacy (Num. xxi. 26, xxii. 1; Josh. xiii. 32).

From this their original territory they had been in their turn expelled by Sihon, See also:

king of the See also:Amorites, who was said to have been found by the Israelites, after their deliverance from See also:Egypt, in See also:possession of both See also:Gilead and See also:Bashan, that is, of the whole country on the See also:left See also:bank of the Jordan, lying to the See also:north of the Arnon (Num. xxi. 13). By this invasion, as the Moabites were driven to the See also:south of the Arnon, which formed their northern boundary from that See also:time, so the Ammonites were driven out of Gilead across the upper See also:waters of the Jabbok where it flows from south to north, which henceforth continued to be their western boundary (Num. xxi. 24; Deut. ii. 37, iii. 16). The other limits of the Ammonitis, or country of the Ammonites ('Aµµavints x&)pa, 2 Mac. iv. 26), there are no means of exactly defining. On the south it probably adjoined the See also:land of See also:Moab; on the north it may have met that of the king of Geshur (Josh. xii. 5); and on the east it probably melted away into the See also:desert peopled by See also:Amalekites and other nomadic races. The See also:chief See also:city of the country, called Rabbah, or Rabbath of the children of Ammon, i.e. the See also:metropolis of the Ammonites (Dent. iii. 11), and Rabbathammana by the later Greeks (Polyb, v.

7. 4),whose name was changed into See also:

Philadelphia by See also:Ptolemy Philadelphus, a large and strong city with an See also:acropolis, was situated on both sides of a See also:branch of the Jabbok, bearing at the See also:present See also:day the name of Nahr 'See also:Amman, the See also:river of Ammon, whence the designation " city of waters " (2 Sam. xii. 27; see Survey of E. See also:Pal (Pal. Explor. Fund), pp. 19 sqq. The ruins called Amman by the natives are extensive and imposing. The country to the south and east of Amman is distinguished by its fertility; and ruined towns are scattered thickly over it, attesting that it was once occupied by a See also:population which, however fierce, was settled and industrious, a fact indicated also by the See also:tribute of See also:corn paid annually to Jotham (2 Chron. See also:xxvii. 5). The traditional history of Ammon as related in the Old Testament is not See also:free from obscurity, due to the uncertain date of the various references and to the doubt whether the individual details belong to the particular See also:period to which each is ascribed. (See further MOAB.) From the See also:Assyrian See also:inscriptions we learn that the Ammonite king Ba'sa (Baasha) (son) of Ruhubi, with loco men joined See also:Ahab and the Syrian See also:allies against See also:Shalmaneser II. at the See also:battle of Karkar in 854.

In 734 their king Sanip(b)u was a See also:

vassal of Tiglathpileser IV., and his successor, P(b)udu-ilu, held the same position under See also:Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Somewhat later, their king Amminadab was among the tributaries who suffered in the course of the See also:great Arabian See also:campaign of Assurbanipal. With the neighbouring tribes, the Ammonites helped the Babylonian monarch See also:Nebuchadrezzar against See also:Jehoiakim (2 See also:Kings See also:xxiv. 2); and if they joined See also:Zedekiah's See also:conspiracy (Jer. xxvii. 3), and were threatened by the Babylonian See also:army (Ezek. xxi. 20 sqq.), they do not appear to have suffered See also:punishment at that period, perhaps on See also:account of a timely submission. When, after the destruction of See also:Jerusalem, the fugitive See also:Jews were again gathered together, it was at the instigation of Baalis, king of Ammon, that Gedaliah, the ruler whom Nebuchadrezzar had appointed over them, was murdered, and new calamities were incurred (Jer. xl. 14); and when See also:Nehemiah prepared to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem an Ammonite was foremost in opposition (Neh. ii. 10,19, iv. 1-3).1 True to their antecedents, the Ammonites, with some of the neighbouring tribes, did their utmost to resist and check the revival of the Jewish See also:power under Judas Maccabaeus (t Macc. v. 6; cf. Jos.

See also:

Ant. See also:Jud. xii. 8. r.). The last See also:notice of them is in See also:Justin See also:Martyr (See also:Dial. cum Tryph. § 119), where it is affirmed that they were still a numerous people. The few Ammonite names that have been preserved (Nahash, Hanun, and those mentioned above, Zelek in 2 Sam. See also:xxiii. 37 is textually uncertain) testify, in See also:harmony with other considerations, that their See also:language was Semitic, closely allied to See also:Hebrew and to the language of the Moabites. Their national deity was Molech or Milcon. (See See also:MOLOCH.) (S. A.

End of Article: AMMONITES

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