Philadelphia, << `fihl` uh DEHL fee uh, >> was the name the ancient Greeks gave to several cities. The name means brotherly love. One Philadelphia was a town in Lydia founded in the 100’s B.C. by King Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamum and named for him. It was a center of early Christianity. Alasehir, Turkey, stands on the site now. Another ancient Philadelphia, in Palestine, began as a city called Rabbath-Ammon. But the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus conquered it, renamed it, and introduced Greek customs and culture. The capital of Jordan, Amman, stands on this site.
