5.1.2. Amman Citadel

The Amman Citadel, which stands near the center of the modern city of Amman, was the capital of the Ammonite kingdom. In the Bible, the site is called Rabbah of the Ammonites (i.e., "the great [city] of the Ammonites"). It was common in the ancient Near East, as it is in some places even today, for political and religious power to be connected in capital cities. Often palaces and temples were built near each other, and this might in fact be the case for the Amman Citadel. The partial remains of a large building dating to about 700 BCE were located on the second plateau of the Amman Citadel. The extant remains of the building measure 10.0 m by at least 15.0 m, and appear to be built in Assyrian open-court architectural style (Humbert and Zayadine 1992, pp. 249–58; Zayadine et al. 1989, p. 362). Close to this building, four bifacial female stone heads were found built into a Hellenistic drain. Each head has two faces back-to-back such that they look essentially identical from either side. Each head has holes drilled in the top and the bottom suggesting that they may have been a decorative architectural function as part of a balustrade or other architectural feature (Abou Assaf 1980, p. 83; Dornemann 1983, pp. 160–61; Prag 1987, pp. 123–25; Zayadine 1973, p. 34). Whether or not the bifacial female heads were actually in the large building found nearby remains a matter of speculation; nonetheless, the building and the decorative architectural elements point to elite buildings of some sort (a palace?), and confirm the nature of the occupation on the Amman Citadel during the latter part of the Iron Age II.

<sup>53</sup> Many questions remain about this building and its architectural context that cannot be answered until the excavations have been properly published, and even then, further excavations might be necessary to clarify the layout of the building and its relationship to other buildings in the same stratum. One aspect of the architecture that is debated is the building's relationship to other temple types known in the ancient Near East. Hübner maintains that the architecture is a combination of Migdal temple architecture with Syrian *Langraum* ("long room") temple types (Hübner 2009, 2015). Elkowicz on the other hand, argues that the two structures on either side of the entrance, which Hübner identifies as towers, are not towers, and hence, the Migdal temple identification is incorrect (Elkowicz 2012, p. 90; Elkowicz 2014). While I remain hesitant to draw definite conclusions about the structure because of the lack of excavation reports and vagaries of the interior architecture, I visited the site in July of 2012 and agree with Hübner that the structures on either side of the entrance look very much like towers with a small entrance to each from the interior (west) side.

Given the elite nature of at least part of the Amman Citadel, it is a reasonable assumption that there was a temple or temples located somewhere nearby as well. Excavations conducted on the first plateau of the Amman Citadel just outside and under the Roman temple of Hercules uncovered a building dating to the seventh–sixth century BCE. The exposed portion of the building consists of an east-west wall 21.30 m long and a north–south wall 6.0 m long. A wall found in another square may continue the north-south wall, bringing its length to about 19.0 m. The walls are made of an irregular collection of large and small stones, and they have a preserved height of 1.2–1.9 m and width of 0.7–1.0 m. The plaster floor stands on top of an earth and stone layer used to create a level surface above the bedrock. There is no evidence for partition walls in the exposed part of the building, which points to a rather large (public?) room. Finds include Iron IIC pottery, a partially legible ostracon, figurine fragments, a part of a model,54 beads, spindle whorls, and some shells (Momani et al. 1997, pp. 160–70). The size of the building and its location under the Roman temple of Hercules may suggest a temple (Momani et al. 1997, p. 164). The reuse of sacred precincts through time is relatively common, and that may be what we see here. Speaking against such an interpretation of the Iron Age remains is the relatively crude construction of the walls, and the rather mundane collection of pottery and domestic objects.

A few other finds are suggestive of cultic space at the Amman Citadel. The Amman Citadel Inscription (*CAI*, no. 59) might provide some evidence for cultic architecture. This inscription on stone was discovered in 1961 in the remains of Iron Age fortifications on the southwest crest of the Amman Citadel. It was seriously damaged in antiquity when it was cut for use in a building and hence, only eight lines or partially readable text are left. The first partially preserved line seems to mention the name of the Ammonite god Milkom and a command to build an entryway or some kind of defensive structure (*CAI*, no. 59). Assuming the reconstruction of the partially preserved name Milkom is correct, it is possible that Milkom is seen as commanding the building of some sacred architecture. The badly preserved text precludes certainty.55

The nine male stone sculptures mentioned above (§ 4.1), which most likely represent ގEl, also suggest the presence of a sacred precinct on or near the Amman Citadel. One of them was found on the Amman Citadel (Abou Assaf 1980, pp. 22–23, statuette III; Barnett 1951, p. 34 sculpture A, pl. X), two of the heads were found near Amman (Abou Assaf 1980, pp. 24–25, head VII, pp. 30–31, head XVII), two were purchased in Amman (Abou Assaf 1980, pp. 23–24, head V, p. 32, head XX), and three are of unknown provenance though likely from around Amman (Abou Assaf 1980, p. 23, head IV, p. 24, head VI, pp. 31–32, head XIX). Of these nine sculptures, the one found on the Amman Citadel is a full statue on a pedestal (Figure 2), the other eight are only the heads. The find of a stone torso on the Amman Citadel with a socket into which a head could fit (Abou Assaf 1980, p. 27, statuette fragment X; Barnett 1951, p. 36, sculpture D, pl. XIII), suggests that these the male heads might have been carved separately and attached then attached to the rest of the statue. There is no way to be certain that these sculptures were related to a temple, because all of them were found in secondary contexts or purchased on the antiquities market. Nonetheless, as statues representing a god or gods, an original cultic context is likely, even if we do not know its whereabouts precisely.56 Given their concentration in and around Amman and the Amman Citadel, the case for a temple there is strengthened.<sup>57</sup>

<sup>54</sup> Presumably a model shrine, but the excavation report does not specify (Momani et al. 1997, p. 167).

<sup>55</sup> The Amman Theatre Inscription (*CAI*, no. 58) also seems to contain a command to build something. This inscription is such a tiny piece of what it probably was originally that it is very difficult to tell.

<sup>56</sup> It is possible that the story about David conquering Rabbah of the Ammonites (presumably the Amman Citadel) found in 2 Samuel 12:26–31 and 1 Chronicles 20:1–3 that describe David taking the crown off of Milkom or "their king" and putting it on his own head, might be reference to the despoliation of cult statue of Milkom. On this see the discussion above in § 3.1.

<sup>57</sup> For more bibliography see (Tyson 2014, Appendix B).
