AMMONITES. — People (Hebr. Βέηδ-Αμμάνι, “sons of Ammon,” twice [I Sam. 11:11; Ps. 83 Hebr., 8] only 'Αμμάνι, gentilic adjective 'αμμάνι; Septuagint υἱοὶ 'Αμμὼν' and 'Αμμάνι; Num. 21:24. 'Αμμάνιται; Assyr. Bit-Αμμάνι), Ammon (v.) and therefore brothers of the Moabites, with whom they are closely associated in their history and culture, and relatives of Israel. The ethnographic affinity of the A. with the Moabites and Hebrews is confirmed by the similarity to the Hebrew-Moabite language of the Ammonite proper names (personal and geographical) preserved for us in the Bible or in Assyrian monuments. The name survives in that of the present capital of Transjordan, 'Αμμάνι, on the site of the Ammonite capital Rabbâh (“great”), a name identical with that of the capital of Moab. The kingdom of the A. lay north of that of Moab. The A. initially occupied the region northeast of the Dead Sea, more or less between the two rivers Jabbok and Arnon (Iudc. 11:13, 26), previously inhabited by the giant Zamzummim, whom they exterminated (Deut. 2:19-21). But the strip adjoining the Jordan and the Dead Sea was taken from them by the Amorites, led by King Sehon, who drove them farther east; it was subsequently taken from the Amorites by the Israelites, who divided it between the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Iudc. 11:19-22; Num. 21:25 ff.; Ios. 13:15-28).
Seeking to reconquer that territory, the A. were in continuous conflict with the Hebrews. Although Israel, by divine command (Deut. 2:19-37), avoided fighting and plundering them, the envy and hatred of the A. toward Israel were unceasing, and Israel reciprocated them (Deut. 23:3-6: “not admit them even after the tenth generation”). They had obstructed Israel during the Exodus (Deut. 23:4 f.), and Balaam came from their land (Num. 22:5). In the time of the Judges, after supporting the Moabite invasion and carrying out various raids in Judah and Ephraim, they invaded Gilead but were routed by Jephthah (Iudc. 3:13; 10:7-11:36). Later their king Nâḥâf (Vulgate; Naas) was defeated by Saul (I Sam. 11). David, who had received a favor from King Nâḥâf (II Sam. 10:2), sent a friendly embassy to his son and successor Ḥanûn (Vulg.: Hanon); but the latter’s insults provoked a long and bitter war that ended with the capture of Rabbat-Ammon and severe reprisals (II Sam. 10-12). At the division of the kingdom of Israel, the A., now fully independent, resumed their plans for revenge. They frequently attacked the kingdom of Judah, but were defeated first by Josaphat (II Par. 20), then by Ozia (ibid. 26:7-8), and by his son Joatham (ibid. 27:5), to whom they paid tribute for three years. Consequently, they rejoiced at the calamities of Israel (Soph. 2:8) and at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nabuchodonosor (Ier. 9:24 f.; Ez. 21:33-37; 25:1-7); indeed, they cooperated in it under Joachim (II Reg. 24:2), and their king Baalis had Godolia murdered (v. ibid. 25:25 and Ier. 40:14-41:2); they fulfilled their ancient dream by occupying the territory of Gad (Ier. 49:1). On the return of the Jews from exile, they joined the Samaritans in obstructing the restoration of Jerusalem (Neh. 4:2-8).
During the exile, and even more afterward, the A. attempted to join themselves to the Jews in order to absorb them (Ier. 40:14-41:15; Esd. 9:1; Neh. 6:17-18; 13:4). Their leader in the time of Nehemiah was Tobiah, called “servant” (Neh. 2:10, 19) because he was a vassal of the king of Persia. They themselves were absorbed by the Arabs (bē-nē-qedem, “sons of the east”; Ez. 25:4), with whom they already appear intermixed in the fifth century B.C. (Neh. 2:10; 4:7). After the Macedonian conquest, their territory was called Ἀμμανίτης (Fl. Josephus, Ant. Ind., IV, 5, 3; cf. H. Vincent, in Rev. Bibl., 29 [1920], pp. 182-88). In the third and second centuries B.C., the A. were ruled by various Tobiahs (Zenon papyri, 259/8; inscription of 'Arāq el-Emīr, ca. 175; Fl. Josephus, Ant. Ind., XII, 4, 2-11; II Mach. 3:11); this was a dynasty (the Tobiads) apparently descended from the Tobiah of the fifth century (Neh. 2:10-13:4).
The A. killed the Jews living among them in the time of the Maccabees, but were severely punished by Judas, who defeated their leader Timothy (I Mach. 5:1-8; II Mach. 8:30); he was routed and killed (II Mach. 10:24-37). Ptolemy, the son-in-law and assassin (134 B.C.) of Simon Maccabee, took refuge with the A. prince Zenon Cotylas (Fl. Josephus, Ant. Ind., XIII, 8, 1). Their capital Rabbāh was then called Philadelphia, because it had been restored by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285/4-246); but alongside this official name the ancient one survived: Ῥαβλθᾶ ὁ Ῥαβλθᾶ ἀμμανία (Zenon pap. no. 616, Fl. Josephus, Stephanus of Byzantium), Ῥαβλθᾶ ἀμμανία (Polybius, V, 71).
The Ammonite nation (Assyr. māt bīt amman, “land of the house of Ammon”) also suffered various defeats at the hands of the Assyrian kings (E. Schrader, Die heilinschriftl. Bibliothek, I, Berlin 1889, p. 172; II, ibid. 1890, pp. 20, 90, 148, 240) and was subjected by them to tribute. The Ammonite king Basa was defeated at Qarqar (854) by Shalmaneser II; King Pudullu (701) was a vassal of Sennacherib, and King Amminadab (Ammi-nadbī) was a vassal of Ashurbanipal (d. in 626). The A. subsequently passed under Persian, Greek, Ptolemaic-Seleucid, and Roman domination (in 64 B.C. their territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Syria). St. Justin (C. Tryph., 119) still mentions them as a numerous people (mid-second century A.D.). They disappeared in the third century A.D., absorbed by the Arabs (Origen, In Iob, I, 1; cf. Flavius Josephus, Ant. Ind., I, 11, 5; XIII, 9, 1).
The A. preceded Israel in political organization and economic prosperity. In addition to Rabbāh, they possessed various cities (Iudc. 11:33, “twenty”; II Sam. 12:31), including Minnith (Vulg.: Mennith) and 'Abēl-Kērāmim (v. ABEL, 5), whose name attests the fertility of the soil. They boasted of their fertile valleys (Ier. 49:4). But they were idolaters and distinguished themselves by their cruelty (Am. 1:13-15). Their religion centered on the cult, exercised by influential priests (Ier. 49:3), of the national god Melchom, whose statue at Rabbāh was covered with gold and gems (I Par. 20:2 [Septuagint
Μαλλήλ]; II Sam. 12:30, where the Vulgate, as in the Masoretic text in both passages, reads “their king,” Septuagint Μαλλήλ). Melchom is the Babylonian Malkum, worshiped by the eastern Semites from as early as the twenty-fourth century B.C. Solomon erected an altar to Melchom on the right side of the Mount of Olives (I Reg. 11:5, 7, 33; II Reg. 23:13).
An Italian archaeological mission, directed by G. Guidi (1927) and R. Bartoccini (1929 ff.), carried out important excavations in Ammon.