AMMON, anciently a city of Marmarica, (Ptolemy). Arrian calls it a place, not a city, in which stood the temple of Jupiter Ammon, round which there was nothing but sandy wastes. Pliny says, That the oracle of Ammon was twelve days journey from Memphis, and among the Nomi of Egypt he reckons the Nomos Ammoniacus: Dioscorus Siculus, That the district where the temple stood, tho' 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 fountain 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, sometimes three fingers in length, and 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.