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A Strong Tower Traditional Geocache

Hidden : 4/7/2009
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is located by a first millenium BC watch tower built by the Ammonites. The entrance to the tower itself seems to be closed but one can see the tower from the nearby street. It is located on Jabal Amman which was one of the seven hills that originally made up Amman. I found this place while running and thought that it would be a good place for a cache. Be careful as there are several embassies in the area with guards, but you should not be bothered by them.

The Ammonites were a people living east of the Jordan River whose origin the Old Testament traces to an illegitimate son of Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham. According to the biblical account, Genesis 19:37-38, both Ammon and Moab were born to Lot and his two daughters in the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Attacks by the Ammonites on Israelite communities east of the Jordan were the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul, who defeated them. In 2 Samuel 12:31, King David is described slaughtering Ammonites: "And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon."

In the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the Ammonites seem to have been fickle in their political attitude. They assisted the Babylonian army against the Jews; encroached upon the territory of the Gad; and occupied Heshbon and Jazer (Jeremiah 49:1), but the prophetic threatenings in Jeremiah 9:26, 25:21, 27:3, and Ezra, 21:20, point to rebellion by them against Babylonian supremacy. They received Jews fleeing before the Babylonians (Jeremiah 40:11), and their king, Baalis, instigated the murder of Gedaliah, the Babylonians' Jewish governor of Jerusalem and its environs.

At the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Ezra and Nehemiah, they were hostile to the Jews, and Tobiah, an Ammonite (possibly the governor of Ammon), incited them to hinder the work. But inter-marriages between Jews and Ammonites were frequent (Ezra 9:1).

Little mention is made of the Ammonites through the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. Their name appears, however, during the time of the Maccabees. The Ammonites, with some of the neighbouring tribes, did their utmost to resist and check the revival of the Jewish power under Judas Maccabaeus (1 Maccabees 5:6).

It is stated that the Ammonites under Timotheus were defeated by Judas; but it is possible that, after the exile, the term Ammonite denoted all peoples living in the former country of Ammon and Gad. Ezekiel 25:4-5 seems to mark the beginning of an immigration of tribes from the Arabian desert.

The last notice of the Ammonites themselves is in Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (§ 119), where it is affirmed that they were still a numerous people.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre gur oyhr fvta, bar ebpx gb gur evtug gur jnyy orpbzrf bar oybpx uvture. Unysjnl hc gur jnyy orgjrra gjb ebpxf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)