called the "royal city" (llZ'ib^Ztl "PS), perhaps from its connection with Molech or Milcom — " the king" — more probably from its containing the palace of Hanun and Nahash. But the citadel, which rises abruptly on the north side of the lower town, a place of very great strength, still remained to be taken, and the honor of this capture, Joab (with that devotion to David which runs like a bright thread through the dark web of his character) insists on reserving for the king. "I have fought," writes he to his uncle, then living at ease in the harem at Jerusalem, in all the satisfaction of the birth of Solomon—" I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters ; but the citadel still re- mains : now, therefore, gather the rest of the people to- gether and come; put yourself at the head of the whole army, renew the assault against the citadel, take it, and thus finish the siege which I have carried so far," and then he ends with a rough banter (comp. 2 Sam. xix, 6) —half jest, half earnest — " lest I take the city and in future it go under my name." The waters of the lower city once in the hands of the besiegers, the fate of the citadel was certain, for that fortress possessed in itself (as we learn from the invaluable notice of Josephus, Ant. vii, 7, 5) but one well of limited supply, quite in- adequate to the throng which crowded its walls. The provisions also were at last exhausted, and shortly after David's arrival the fortress was taken, and its inmates, with a very great booty, and the idol of Molech, with all its costly adornments, fell into the hands of David. We are not told whether the city was demolished or whether David was satisfied with the slaughter of its inmates. In the time of Amos, two centuries and a half later, it had again a " wall" and " palaces," and was still the sanctuary of Molech — " the king" (Amos i, 14). So it was also at the date of the invasion of Nebuchad- nezzar (Jer. xlix, 2, 3), when its dependent towns ("daughters") are mentioned, and when it is named in such terms as imply that it was of equal importance with Jerusalem (Ezra xxi, 20). At Rabbah, no doubt Baalis, king of the Bene-Ammon (Jer. xl, 14), held such court as he could muster, and within its walls was plot- ted the attack of Ishmael which cost Gedaliah his life and drove Jeremiah into Egypt. The denunciations of the prophets just named may have been fulfilled either at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, or five years afterwards, when the Assyrian armies overran the coun- try east of Jordan on their road to Egypt (Josephus, Ant. x, 9, 7). See Jerome, on Amos i, 41.
In the period between the Old and New Testaments, Rabbath-Ammon appears to have been a place of much importance and the scene of many contests. The nat- ural advantages of position and water supply, which had always distinguished it, still made it an important cita- del by turns to each side during the contentions which raged so long over the whole of the district. It lay on the road between Heshbon and Bosra, and was the last place at which a stock of water could be obtained for the journey across the desert ; while', as it stood on the confines of the richer and more civilized country, it formed an important garrison station for repelling the incursions of the wild tribes of the desert. From Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285-247) it received the name of Philadelphia (Jerome, on Ezra xxv, 1), and under this name it is often mentioned by Greek and Roman writers (Pliny, Hist. Nat. v, 16 ; Ptolemy, Geoff. v, 15), by Josephus (War, i, 0, 3 ; i, 19. 5; ii, 18,*1), and upon Roman coins (Eckhel, iii, 351 ; Mionnet, v, 335), as a city of Arabia, Coele-Syria, or Decapolis. The district either then or subsequently was called Philadelphene (Josephus, War. iii, 3, 3), or Arabia Philadelphensis (Epiphanius, in Ritter, Syrien, p. 1155). In B.C. 218 it was taken from the then Ptolemy (Philopator) by An- tiochus the Great, after a long and obstinate resistance from the besieged in the citadel. A communication with the spring in the lower town had been made since (possibly in consequence of) David's siege, by a long
RABBAII
864
KABBAH
say I. Among the ruins of an " immense tem- ple" mi the citadel hill, Mr. Tipping saw some prostrate columns live feel in diameter. lis coins are extant, some bearing the figure of Astarte, some the won! Herakleion, imply- Lng a worship of Hercules, probably the con- tinuation of that of Molecb or Blilcom. From Stephanas of Byzantium we learn that it was also called Astarte, doubtless from its contain- ing a temple of thai goddess. Justin Martyr, a native "f Shechem, writing about A.I >. 1 10, speaks of the city as containing a multitude Coin of Philadelphia, showing the Tent or Shrine of Ilerakles, the of Ammonites I Dial, with Trypho), though ii Greek equivalent of Molech. would probably not be safe to interpret this
too strictly.
Philadelphia became the seat of a Chris-
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