AMMON, anciently a city of Marmarica. (Ptolemy.) Arrian calls it a place, not a city, in which stood the temple of Jupiter Ammon, entirely surrounded by sandy wastes. Pliny states, that the oracle of Ammon was 12 days’ journey from Memphis, and among the Nomi of Egypt he reckons the Nomos Ammoniacus ; Diodorus Siculus, that the district where the temple stood, though surrounded with deserts, was watered by dews which fell nowhere else in all that country. It was agreeably adorned with fruitful trees and springs, and full of villages. In the middle stood the Acropolis or citadel, encompassed with a triple wall; the first and inmost of which contained the palace; the others the apartments of the women, the relations, and children, as also the temple of the god, and the sacred fountains for lustrations. Without the Acropolis stood, at no great distance, another temple of Ammon, shaded by a number of tall trees; near which there was a fountain, called that of the sun, or Solis Fons, because subject to extraordinary changes according to the time of the day; morning and evening warm, at noon cold, at midnight extremely hot. A kind of fossil salt was said to be naturally produced here. It was dug out of the earth in large oblong pieces, transparent as crystal. It was thought to be a present worthy of kings, and used by the Egyptians in their sacrifices. From this our sal-ammoniac has taken its name. The observations of Brown and Hornemann prove that the oasis of Siwah is the district in which this celebrated oracle was situated. Pliny places it at 12 days’ journey from Memphis, and Hornemann reached Siwah in 12 days from Cairo. These travellers found an old building 32 feet long, 15 broad, and 18 high, formed of large stones, and with some hieroglyphics upon it. This is most probably the ancient sanctuary of Jupiter, which was placed in an inclosure, and surrounded by an outer wall. Near this old building is a spring, which still preserves, in popular opinion, the qualities attributed by the ancients to the Fountain of the Sun, and which in fact belong to all deep-seated cold springs: it is said to be warm in the night and cold in the day. Our modern travellers found also the salt incrustations, the numerous date-trees, and the sea-shells and fossil wood in the neighbouring desert, which Strabo and other old writers notice. Arrian and Diodorus describe the district as having a breadth of 40 or 50 stadia, with which Brown’s estimate of 4 to 6 English miles nearly agrees. Hornemann makes the circumference 50 miles, but he includes some patches of habitable land near it, but not continuous with it. Siwah is inhabited by a considerable number of people, who are Mahometans.

Ammon, or Hammon, in Heathen Mythology, the name of the Egyptian Jupiter, worshipped under the figure of a ram. Bacchus having subdued Asia, and passing with his army through the deserts of Africa, was in great want of water; but Jupiter, his father, assuming the shape of a ram, led him to a fountain, where he refreshed himself and his army; in gratitude for which favour, Bacchus built there a temple to Jupiter, under the title of Ammon, from the Greek auμος, which signifies sand, alluding to the sandy desert where it was built. In this temple was an oracle of great note, which Alexander the Great consulted, and which lasted till the time of Theodosius.

Ammon, or Ammonius, Andreas, an excellent Latin poet, born at Lucca in Italy, was sent by Pope Leo X. to England, in the characters of prothonotary of the apostolic see, and collector-general of that kingdom. He was a man of singular genius and learning, and soon became acquainted with the principal literati of those times; particularly with Erasmus, Colet, and others, for the sake of whose company he resided some time at Oxford. The advice which Erasmus gives him, in regard to pushing [7:2:659]his fortune, has a good deal of humour in it, and was certainly intended as a satire on the artful methods generally practised by the selfish and ambitious part of mankind. “In the first place,” says he, “throw off all sense of shame; thrust yourself into every one’s business, and elbow out whomsoever you can; neither love nor hate any one; measure every thing by your own advantage; let this be the scope and drift of all your actions. Give nothing but what is to be returned with usury, and be complaisant to every body. Have always two strings to your bow. Feign that you are solicited by many from abroad, and get every thing ready for your departure. Show letters inviting you elsewhere, with great promises.” Ammon was Latin secretary to Henry VIII., but at what time he was appointed does not appear. In 1512 he was made canon and prebendary of the collegiate chapel of St Stephen, in the palace of Westminster. He was likewise prebendary of Wells; and in 1514 was presented to the rectory of Dychial in that diocese. About the same time, by the king’s special recommendation, he was also made prebendary of Salisbury. He died in the year 1517, and was buried in St Stephen’s chapel in the palace of Westminster. He was esteemed an elegant Latin writer, and an admirable poet. The epistles of Erasmus to Ammon abound with encomiums on his genius and learning. His works are, 1. Epistolae ad Erasmum, lib. i.; 2. Scotici Conflictus Historia, lib. i.; 3. Bucolicae vel Eclogae, lib. i. Basil, 1546, 8vo; 4. De Rebus Nihil, lib. i.; 5. Panegyricus quidam, lib. i.; 6. Varii Generis Epigrammata, lib. i.; 7. Poemata Diversa, lib. i.