AMMON, OR HAMMON

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.

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 ἄμμος, 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.

Hammon, the god of the Egyptians, was the same with the Jupiter of the Greeks; for which reason these latter denominate the city which the Egyptians call No-Hammon or the habitation of Ammon, Disapolis or the city of Jupiter. He is thought to be the same with Ham, who peopled Africa, and was the father of Mizraim, the founder of the Egyptians.