The tribe was governed by a king (Judg xi, 12, etc. ; 1 Sam. xii, 12; 2 Sam. x, 1; Jer. xl, 14) and
I by "princes," D^lb (2 Sam. x, 3; 1 Chron. xix, 3).
1 Their national idol was Molech or Milcom (see Jouv.
i Sac. Lit. 1852, p. 365 sq.), whose worship was intro- duced among the Israelites by the Ammonitish wives of Solomon (1 Kings xi, 5, 7) ; and the high-places built by that sovereign for this " abomination" were not destroyed till the reign of Josiah (2 Kings xxiii,
i 13). Besides Nahash and Hanun, an Ammonitish king, Baalis, is mentioned by Jeremiah (xl, 14) and Josephus (Ant. x, 9, 3). The following Ammonite names are pi-eserved in the sacred text : Achior (Judith v, 5, etc.), Baalis (Jer. xl, 14), Hanun (2 Sam. x, 1,
| etc.), Molech, Naamah (1 Kings xiv, 21, etc.), Nac-
. hash (1 Sam. xi, 1, etc.), Shobi (2 Sam. xvii, 27), Ti-
' motheus (1 Mace, v, 6. etc.), Tobijah (Neh. ii, 10, etc.), Zelek (2 Sam. xxiii, 37); to which may probably be added the name Zamzummim, applied by the Am- monites to the Rephaim whom they dispossessed.— Kit- to, s. v. ; Smith's, v. Canaanite.
Am'monitess (Heb. Ammonith', rV^lB? or T^ITS" ; Sept. 'AnfjuuviTig, in Chron. 'Aft/iavIng and 'A^/ttvir/;c), a female (1 Kings xiv, 21. 31 ; 2 Chron. xii, 13; xxiv, 26) Ammonite (q. v.). Ammomtis. See Ammonite. Ammonius, a Christian philosopher, sometimes confounded with Ammonius Saccas, lived at Alexan- dria in the third century. He is the author of a " Har- mony in the Gospel," a work which by several critics is attributed to Tatian, and which is said to have in- duced Eusebius to write his "Canons." There is a Latin translation of this work by Victor of Capua, en- titled Ammonii, vulgo Tatiuni, diatessarnn, me har- monics in qualuor evangelia (Mayence, 1524, 8vo). A life of Christ was extracted from this work by Nach- tigal (Latinized Luscinius), under the title Vita Jesu C/iristi, ex quatuor evangelistis ex Ammonii Alex, frag- ments gnvcis latine versa, per 0. Luscinmm (Erfurt, 1544). This Ammonius is perhaps also the author of a metaphrase of the gospel of John, which is gen- erallv attributed to Nonnus, and which is found in MS. in the library of St. Mark at Venice.— Hoefer, Biogrnphie Generate, ii, 384.
AMMONIUS SACCAS
202
AMON
Ammonius Saccas, or Saccophorus (so call- ed because he was a porter in early life), a philosopher of Alexandria toward the end of the second century. He is considered as the founder of the Neo-Platonic Philosophy. Plotinus, Longinus, and Origen, were among his pupils. His object was to reconcile Plato and Aristotle, and hence his school was called eclectic. Ammonius had been educated in Christianity ; and he seems never to have abandoned the name of the faith, while he was disparaging its doctrines and its essence. Porphyry asserts that Ammonius deserted Christian- it}-, Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. vi, 19) that he adhered to it. To these two opinions, variously advocated by most modern divines, others have added a third, that Eusebius mistook a Christian writer of the same name for the heathen philosopher ; and this is warmly main- tained by Lardner (Works, ii, 439; vii. 446). He was a man of great talents and energy, and indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge. — Waddington, Ch. Hist. ch. iii; Tennemann, Hist Phil. § 203 ; Brucker, Hist. Phil, ii, 205 ; Mosheim, Comm. ii, 348, 7 ; Simon, Hist, de Vecole d1 Alexandrie, i, 204 ; Dehaut, Essai sur Am- monius Saccas (Bruxelles, 1836, 4to). See Alexan- drian School ; Eclectics ; New Platonists.
Am'non (Heb. Amnon , "p^X [2 Sam. xiii, 20, "p^aSt, A minon'], faithful; Sept. 'A/xvwv), the name of two men.
1. The first named of the four sons of Shimon or Shammai, of the children of Ezra, the descendant of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 20, comp. ver. 17), B.C. prob. post 1612.
2. The eldest son of David by Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Chron. iii, 1), born at Hebron (2 Sam. iii, 2), B.C. cir. 1052. He is only known for his violation of his half sister Tamar, B.C. cir. 1031, which her full 1 roth- er Absalom revenged two years after, by causing him to be assassinated while a guest at his table (2 Sam. xiii). See Absalom. The Sept. (in a clause added in 2 Sam. xiii, 21, but wanting in the Hebrew) assigns as the reason for David's refraining from executing the penalty due to Amnon, that "he loved him be- cause he was his first-born" — a fact that no doubt formed an additional incentive to the ambitious Ab- salom for putting him out of the way. See David.
A'mok (Heb. Amok', pi03>> &ep; Sept. 'Ajuoi',y, 'Aui\), the father of Eber, and a chief among the priests that returned from Babvlon with Zerubbabel (Neh. xii, 7, 20), B.C. 536.
Amolo or Amulo, archbishop of Lyons, A.D. 841, was one of the opponents of Gotteschalcus, but seems to have been of a different spirit from some of them, Hincmar cspeeialh\ He wrote, 1. An Epistle to Theobald, about certain pretended relics of saints and the false miracles which were promulgated by the scoundrels who sold them. Amolo declared it all im- posture. 2. To Gotteschalcus, an epistle (Sismondi, Opera, ii, 893) written with a great deal of brotherly love, and declaring that "God had predestinated no man to damnation." Also "Opuscula duo de Prcedes- Hnatione," to be found in Bib. Max. Pair, xiv, 329.