The event of the reign, of which we hear roost from Herodotus, is a campaign, undertaken later than those in SjTia, in response to an appeal by the Libyans for help against the encroaching Greeks of Cyrene. The expedition was unsuccess- ful, and the consequent national resentment led to the deposition of Apries in favour of /Viots-Aniasis, one of his generals, by whom he and the (Jreek mercenaries were defeated at Momemphis. Apries, detained for a time in cajitivity, was eventually given over to popular vengeance and strangled.
W. E. Crum.
HOR (MOUNT) (-v:^ -in, Arab. Jebel Ilnroun, 'Aaron's Mount'). — 1. A mountain named as a stage in Israel's journey to Canaan (Nu 20-- 21* 33^', Pt 32'"), and as the place of Aaron's death (Nu 20==- =°'" 33^8.89. « i)t s-iw) (all P). The mo<lern Jebel Haroun is identilied with the closing scene of Aaron's life both by situation and by tradition. Mount Hor is stated to be situated ' by the border of the land of Edom ' (Nu 20'^) ; Eusebius states that ' Mons Hor, in quo mortuus est Aaron, erat ju.xta urbem Petram ' (Onomastiriin), which is the case with J. Haroun, as I'etra lies at its eastern base ; and Josephus atlirnis that Aaron's death occurred on a high moun- tain enclosing Petra (Ant. IV. iv. 7). Tradition concurs, and amongst the Arab inhabitants J. Haroun is held sacred as the sepulchre of Aaron, and a small mosque marks the site. It is fair to add that the identity of Hor with Jebel Haroun is disputed bv Ewald, Knobel, Dillm. (on Nu 20^-), Sayce (HCM 265), Buhl (Gesch. d. Edomiter, 11 f., Lex., ' Ganz falsch die spatere Tradition'), and esp. TrwrnhM (Kadesh-bamea, 128 ff.).
Description. — On approaching the saddle, or watershed, of the Wady el-Arabah from the south, the almost unbroken range of the Edomite moun- tains opens out to the eastward at Wady Abu Knseibeli, disclosing a wide valley, at the head of which is J. Haroun, standin" out conspicuously amidst an assemblage of broKen ridges tumultu- ousl V thrown together, and constituting the frontiers of Mount Seir. The mount rises with a bold and
f)recipitous front facing the west, flanked by two ofty bastions of sandstone standing erect on the granitic pedestal, and from its base stretches a wide and gently sloping plain, also enclosed by lesser heights, upon which we can well picture to our- selves the Israelitish host encamped during the • 8e« AbU 9dlih, ed. Evett« (Oxf. 1896), p. 83, note.
solemn period of Aaron's ascent, and in full view of the summit of the mount which was to be his tomb ; or (as it is in the narrative) ' in the eyes of all the congregation ' (Nu 20'-''). Here also we may suppose they camped while Moses sent an ambas- sage to the king of Edom across the intervening p.o-sg to a-sk permission to march through his territory (Nu20'"'-). The summit of the mount is marked by a little white mosque supposed to cover the tomb of the high priest, and from this point tlie ridge descends gradually eastwards until it breaks oil' in the line of dill's w hich enclose the gu,i<lrangle of Petra, and the channel for the Wady Musa which flows through the city (see Petra). The mount is (juite inaccessible directly from the west, owing to its precipitous face in this direction ; but the summit is "ained by ascending from the pasa leading into I'etra, called the Wady Haroun, which runs along the southern flank of the mount. The elevation of the summit is about 4780 fee'i above the Gulf of Akabah, or 6072 feet above the surface of the Dead Sea,* and from this point an extensive and remarkable view is obtained when the atmosphere is clear — towards the south, west, and north. In the first direction, the eye follows the range of lofty and rugged heights down along the side of the Arabah towards the Ked Sea ; in the second, it looks across the wide plain of the Arabah to the white clifl's which bouna the Badiet et-Tih (Wilderness of Paran), and across this arid table- land itself for many miles towards the horizon ; and towards the north, the deep hollow of the (Jlior may be faintly discerned, with the broken slopes of the hills of Southern Palestine bounding the view in that direction. Turning to the east, the observer marks the white crest of the Araliian Desert plateau, sloping steeply downwards into the deep hollow of the Wady Musa, in which lies, almost hidden from view amongst its red-faced clills and precipices, Petra, the ancient capital of Edom. Such was the scene which met the eyes of Aaron ere they closed for ever. His body is sup- posed to have been laid in a sepulchre immediately below the crest of the mount, and over it stands the little white mosque, conspicuous from afar ; a token of the sacred character of the spot in the eyes of the wild inhabitants.
Geology. — Mount Hor is formed of reddish sandstone and conglomerate ('Nubian sandstone' of Kussegger) of Cretaceous age ; the beds rising in a precipitous wall of natural masonry tier above tier, and presenting a bold front towards the west. These huge beds of sandstone compose the upper part of the ridge to a depth of about a thousand feet from the summit, where they rest on a solid foundation of granite and porphyry of ^eat geologi- cal antiquity, associated with which, in some way not very clear, are masses of agglomerate, beds of ash and dykes of igneous rock, all of volcanic origin, but of an age anterior to the Cretaceous sandstone. This latter formation dips towards the east, and gradually descends in the direction of the Wady Musa, where it forms the cliH's which sur- round the city of Petra. Along the flanks of the escarpment of the Arabian Desert to the eastward the sandstone formation jiasses below the white marls and limestones of Upper Cretaceous age, which form the surface of the plain at a level of over 5000 feet above the sea. t