Hard Power: The Stone Statues of Ammon

ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY

Ammon was the northernmost of the Transjordanian kingdoms, formed at the beginning of the tenth century BCE in the highlands east of the Jordan Valley. To the south lay Ammon’s sister kingdoms, Moab and Edom. Far to the north was the kingdom of Aram-Damascus. Israel and Judah lay to the west of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.

Throughout much of the Iron Age II (c. 1000–539 BCE in Transjordan), these southern Levantine kingdoms were integrated into the Assyrian Empire, the great Mesopotamian power that controlled most of the ancient Near East at the time. Assyrian domination meant that these kingdoms were part of a broader network of political, cultural, and economic interactions that extended from Mesopotamia through the Luwian-Aramean kingdoms of Syro-Anatolia and the Phoenician city-states of the eastern Mediterranean.

JANE TAYLOR / ACOR

Ancient inscriptions tell us that the people of Ammon called themselves the bene ammon (“children of Ammon”), a designation also found in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 11:7, 33). The Ammonites had their own language and script, which developed from Proto-Canaanite and was closely related to Phoenician, Hebrew, and Moabite. They worshiped their own chief deity, Milkom, who is mentioned in both Ammonite inscriptions and the Bible (e.g., 1 Kings 11:5, 33).

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In general, Ammon’s archaeology shares more similarities than differences with that of its neighbors.^a Among all of these kingdoms, for example, we find fortified towers, rock-cut tombs, spherical loom weights for textile production, female terracotta figurines, and stone volutes that adorned monumental structures.

Ammon, however, has a peculiarity that is rarely observed in the other Levantine kingdoms: a large number of stone statues that were crafted between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE. At first glance, the 40 pieces of statuary are surprising, given both the kingdom’s relatively small size (its territory extended only about 30 miles north to south) and the near-total lack of statuary from neighboring kingdoms. If we look south to Moab and Edom, or west to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, we find few examples of figurative art or stone statues, and even in the Phoenician and Luwian-Aramean kingdoms to the north, only a few statues are known from this period.

With the incredible amount of excavation carried out in the region, especially west of the Jordan River, the absence of statues in the kingdoms surrounding Ammon cannot be attributed to chance alone. It is clear that stone statuary represents a distinctive form of Ammonite artistic expression and testifies to how the Ammonites thought about the power and wealth of their rulers and the elite.

Almost all of the statues, including full figures, torsos, and heads, were found out of context as chance finds. The vast majority come from the area of the Amman Citadel, the prominent hill in downtown Amman, Jordan, that was the capital city of the Ammonites and known through much of antiquity as Rabbat-Ammon (or simply Rabbah; e.g., 2 Samuel 12:26, 29). The approximately 20-acre citadel was protected by a city wall with main gates in the north and east. Atop the citadel were discovered the remains of monumental Iron Age buildings, including a temple probably dedicated to the god Milkom and an elite residence with certain features that resemble an Assyrian-style palace. A handful of statues were also found at smaller sites surrounding the capital.

Whom do the Ammonite statues represent? Unfortunately, only one carries an inscription, identifying the figure as the Ammonite king Yerah‘azar, who likely reigned in the early seventh century BCE. Four other kingly statues can be identified based on the presence of a diadem—a popular form of royal headgear during the Iron Age—and a lotus flower, often held by the ruler in front of his chest. Originally an Egyptian motif, the lotus appears as a royal symbol in the Levant as early as the second millennium and in contemporary depictions of Assyrian and Luwian-Aramean rulers. These statues also wear the so-called “Ammonite robe,” a two-piece garment consisting of a broad scarf with decorated border and a belted skirt that hangs below the knee.

More than a dozen Ammonite statues depict gods, distinguished by their headgear: a conical crown with a broad top and side volutes. This type of headgear is reminiscent of the Egyptian atef crown and was used to designate Levantine deities, among them the Canaanite god El and the storm god Baal, as early as the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1550 BCE). Many of the god statues have closely cropped beards and even moustaches, though others appear clean-shaven. Without inscriptions, it is difficult to identify these statues with particular Ammonite deities. Some may represent the chief god Milkom, but it is also possible that some depict the moon god Yerah, who was worshiped in the nearby temple of Rujm al-Kursi, or the god El, whose name is widely attested as a theophoric element in Ammonite personal names.

ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY

Some of the Ammonite statues are female heads. Several of these have two faces (one front and one back, Janus-style), each depicted with inlaid eyes, parted hair that extends in a curl below the ears, and adornments in the form of earrings and a necklace. The heads show remarkable similarities to female heads that appear in window frames and above balustrades in ancient Near Eastern art, especially among decorative ivories from Iron Age sites such as Samaria and Arslan Tash (see Understanding the Woman in the Window). Interestingly, the double-faced heads from Ammon have peg holes on the top and bot-tom to attach them to decorative window balustrades, similar to those found at the Judahite palace at Ramat Rahel south of Jerusalem.^b Indeed, the heads were recovered not far from the palatial residence on the Amman Citadel, suggesting they may have originally been attached to that building.

Finally, more than a quarter of the sculptures represent nonroyal men. They typically have short, curly hair, and most do not wear a beard, which distinguishes them from kings. Two heads, which come from the site of Abu Alanda about 6 miles southeast of the Amman Citadel, are nearly identical in appearance. Both were crafted with extra-long necks, suggesting they may have once been attached to full-body statues of the men they depict. These and other statues of nonroyal men could be related to mortuary or ancestor cults.

The Ammonite statues were likely commissioned by the kingdom’s rulers and perhaps also members of the wealthy elite. Ammon benefited greatly from the western expansion of the Assyrian Empire in the late eighth century BCE. Whereas kingdoms including Israel and Aram-Damascus were devastated and ultimately conquered by the Assyrians fol-lowing their attempts at rebellion, the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab, and Edom remained independent vassals and even benefited from the new political environment. The Ammonite kingdom in particular flourished, as evident not only by the capital’s monumental palace and temple, but also by a significant increase in the number of towns and villages that were settled during this period.

JOHANNES KRAMER / AMMONITE SCULPTURE PROJECT

JOHANNES KRAMER / AMMONITE SCULPTURE PROJECT

The statues were an expression of the kingdom’s wealth and connections. Ammon was the only southern Levantine kingdom that never rebelled against Assyrian rule and always reliably paid tribute. It was, therefore, part of the Assyrian Empire and, as such, was able to maintain close relationships with kings and elites throughout Syria and Phoenicia. Ammon also bordered the vast North Arabian Desert to the southeast, where nomadic Arab tribes had considerable economic and military power during the eighth and seventh centuries. The Ammonite kingdom, therefore, served both as a critical buffer between Assyria and the Arabian tribes and as an important corridor for trade and commerce.

Influenced by the artistic traditions of these nearby kingdoms and peoples, the Ammonites developed their own unique monumental and figurative style that blended foreign cultural elements yet emphasized specific local characteristics and customs, such as the Ammonite dress worn by their kings and the atef crown donned by their gods. Their statues provide a rare and important glimpse into a society so similar to and yet so different from its neighbors.

Ammon was the northernmost of the Transjordanian kingdoms, formed at the beginning of the tenth century BCE in the highlands east of the Jordan Valley. To the south lay Ammon’s sister kingdoms, Moab and Edom. Far to the north was the kingdom of Aram-Damascus. Israel and Judah lay to the west of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. Throughout much of the Iron Age II (c. 1000–539 BCE in Transjordan), these southern Levantine kingdoms were integrated into the Assyrian Empire, the great Mesopotamian power that controlled most of the ancient Near East at the time. Assyrian domination meant that […]