Ammon
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Ammon
, in the BibleAmmon
a small state founded east of Palestine in the 14th-13th centuries B.C. by a Semitic people, the Ammonites, who had apparently come there from Arabia.
The capital was Rabbath Ammon (called Philadelphia in Greek, now Amman, capital of Jordan). Ammon fought stubbornly for the possession of the fertile land of Gilead against the Amorites (14th—13th centuries B.C.) and later against the Israelites and Judeans. In the tenth century Ammon was conquered by David, but at the end of that century it regained its independence; in the eighth and seventh centuries Ammon was subject to the Assyrian kings. From the end of the sixth century to the fourth century, Ammon was under the rule of the Persians, in the third century of the Ptolemies, in the second century of the Seleucids, and from 63 B.C. of Rome (but maintaining its autonomy under Rome). Remarkable monuments of ancient architecture, such as thermae, porticoes, and theaters, have been preserved from the Roman period.
D. G. REDER