The mountain now identified with Mount Hor is the most conspicuous in the whole range of Jlount Seir, and at this dav bears the name of Mount Aaron (Jtbel-J/a- run). It "is in N. lat. 30= 18', E. long. 35^ 33', about midway between the Dead Sea and the ^lanitic Gidf. It may be open to question if this is really the Mount Hor on which Aaron died, seeing that the whole range of Seir was anciently called by that name ; yet, from its height, and the remarkable manner m which it rises among the surrounding rocks, it seems not unlikely to have been the chosen scene of the high-priest's death (Kinneir, p. 127). Accordingly, Stanley observes that Mount Hor " is one of the very few spots connected with the wanderings of the Israelites which admit of no rea- sonable doubt" {S. and P. p. 86). It is almost unneces- sary to state that it is situated on the eastern side of the great valley of the Arabah, the highest and most con- spicuous of the wliole range of the sandstone mountams of Edom, having close beneath it, on its eastern side — though, strange to say, the tAvo are not visible to each other — the mysterious city of Petra. The tradition has existed from the earliest date. Josephus does not men- tion the name of Hor {Ant. iv, 4, 7), but he describes the death of Aaron as taking place "on a ven,' high mountain which siurrounded the metropolis of the Ar- abs," which latter "was formerly called Arke ("ApKi]), but now Petra." In the Onomasticon of Eusebius and Jerome it is Or mons — "a mountain in which Aaron died, close to the city of Petra." When it was visited by the Crusaders (see the quotations in Kobinson, Re- searches, ii, 521) the sanctuary was aheady on its top, and there is little doubt that it was then what it is now — the Jebel Xebi-IIarun, " the mountain of the prophet Aaron."
Of the geological formation of Mount Hor we have no very trustworthy accounts. The general structure of the range of Edom, of which it forms the most promi- nent feature, is new red sandstone, displaying itself to an enormous thickness. Above that is the Jura limestone, and higher still the cretaceous beds, which latter in Mount Seir are reported to be 3500 feet thick (Wilson, Bible Lands, i, 194). Through these deposited strata longitudinal dikes of red granite and poq)h)-r>' have forced their way, running nearly north and south, and so completely silicifying the neighboring sandstone as often to give it the look of a primitive rock. To these combinations are due the extraordinarj- colors for which Petra is so famous. One of the best descriptions of the moimtain itself is that given by Irby and jManglcs ( Tiav- e/-s.p.433 sq.). It is said to be cntu-ely sandstone, in verj' horizontal strata (Wilson, i, 290). Its height, according I to the latest measurements, is 4800 feet (Eng.) above the ^Mediterranean, that is to say, about 1700 feet above the I town of Petra, 4000 above the level of the Arabah, and
HOR
336
HOR
,-r
t^-^J
r-^~\
, with "Aaron's Tomb.'
more than 6000 above the Dead Sea (Roth, in Peterman's Mittheil.Wb^,\,o). The mountain is marked far and near by its double top, which rises like a huge castellated building from a lower base, and is surmounted by the circular dome of the tomb of Aaron, a distinct white spot on the dark red surface of the mountain (Laborde, p. 143). This lower base is the " plain of Aaron," beyond which Burckhardt was, after all his toils, prevented from ascend- ing {Syria, p. 431). " Out of this plain, culminating in its two summits, springs the red sandstone mass, from its base upv.'ards rocky and naked, not a bush or a tree to relieve the rugged and broken corners of the sandstone blocks which compose it. On ascending this mass a lit- tle plain is found to lie between the two peaks, marked by a white cypress, and not luilike the celebrated plain of the cypress under the summit of Jebel Musa, tradition- ally believed to be the scene of Elijah's vision. The southernmost of the two, on approaching, takes a conical form. The northernmost is truncated, and crowned by the chapel of Aaron's tomb." The chapel or mosque is a small square building, measuring inside about 28 feet by 33 (AVilson, i, 295), with its door in the S.W. angle, it is buUt of rude stones, in part broken columns; all of sandstone, but fragments of granite aiid marlile lie about. Steps lead to the tlat roof of the chapel, from which rises a Avhite dome as usual over a saint's tomb. The interior of the chapel consists of two chambers, one below the other. The upper one has four large pillars and a stone chest, or tombstone, like one of the ordinary slabs in church-yards, but larger and higher, and rather bigger at the top than the bottom. At its head is a high round stone, on which sacritices are made, and which retained, when Stephens saw it, the marks of the smoke and blood of recent offerings. " On the slab are Arabic inscriptions, and it is covered with shawls chiefly red. One of the pillars is hung with votive offerings of beads, etc., and two ostrich eggs are suspended over the chest. Steps in the north-^vest angle lead down to the lower chamber, which is partly in the rock, but plastered. It is per- fectly dark. At the end, apparently under the stone chest above, is a recess guarded by a grating. Within this is a rude protuberance, whether of stone or plaster was not ascertainable, resting on wood, and covered by a ragged pall. This lower recess is no doubt the tomb, and possibly ancient. What is above is only the arti- ficial monument, and certainly modern." In one of the Avails of this chamber is a " round, polished black stone," one of those mysterious stones of which the prototype is