**8. Conclusions**

This investigation of Ammonite religion reveals a typical specimen of Iron Age II Levantine religion. The non-physical realm was understood to be inhabited by gods, goddesses, and a variety of other non-human beings. The living had continued relations with dead ancestors through memory and ritual. Several types of cultic space have been discovered in Ammon. Unique among these is the probable temple to the moon-god at Rujm al-Kursi, which most likely reflects a local tradition of moon worship influenced by the iconography of the Mesopotamian moon-god Sîn. One distinguishing feature of Ammonite religion is the state god Milkom, whose name is probably an epithet for ގEl, and who appears to be represented in a tradition of stone sculptures that have been found in the vicinity of Amman. In sum, the archaeological and textual material point to the lively place of religion among the Ammonites, and to a distinct—if not entirely unique—configuration of religious life.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** I would like to thank Avraham Faust for the invitation to contribute this article to this special issue on Archaeology and Israelite Religion. My thanks also to Walter Aufrecht for access to his forthcoming second edition of *A Corpus of Ammonite Inscriptions*.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflicts of interest.

<sup>67</sup> See the top plan in (Ibrahim and van der Kooij 1991, p. 19).

<sup>68</sup> (Ibrahim and van der Kooij 1991, p. 18).

<sup>69</sup> The *editio princeps* of the text is (Hoftijzer and van der Kooij 1976). For a recent presentation of the text and commentary on it, see (Ah. ituv 2008, pp. 434–65).
