Ammon (nation)

Kingdom of Ammon
Kingdom
c. 10th century – 332 BC
Ammon and its neighbors, around 830 BC
Capital		Rabbath Ammon (Amman)1
Languages		Ammonite, Moabite
Religion		Milkomite
Government		Monarchy
King
•	Around 1000 BC	Hanun
•	740–720 BC	Sanipu
•	680–640 BC	Amminadab I
Historical era		Iron Age
•	Kingdom of Ammon flourishes	10th century BC
•	Battle of Qarqar against the Assyrians	853 BC
•	Invasion by Alexander the Great	332 BC
•	Rabbath Ammon renamed to Philadelphia	248–282 BC
Preceded by Arameans
Today part of		Jordan

Ammon (Hebrew: עַמּוֹן, Modern Ammon, Tiberian ʻAmmôn; "People"; Arabic: عمّون‎, translit. ʻAmmūn‎) was an Iron Age Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in present-day Jordan. The chief city of the country was Rabbah or Rabbath Ammon, site of the modern city of Amman, Jordan's capital. Milcom and Molech (who may be one and the same) are named in the Hebrew Bible as the gods of Ammon. The people of this kingdom are called "Children of Ammon" or "Ammonites".

The first mention of the Ammonites in the Bible is in Genesis 19:37-38. It is stated there that they descended from Ben-Ammi, a son of Lot through incest with his younger daughter. Bén'ámmî, literally means "son of my people". After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the daughters of Lot had sexual relations with their father, resulting in Ammon and his half brother, Moab, being conceived and born. This narrative has traditionally been considered literal fact, but is now generally interpreted as recording a gross popular irony by which the Israelites expressed their loathing of the Moabites and Ammonites, although it is doubtful that the Israelites would have directed such irony to Lot himself.