Horon- Canaanite GodDeity"The Exorcist"
Also known as: Hauron and Ḥrn
Description
When the serpent's bite burned and the venom spread, the healers turned to Horon. He was the god who knew the underworld's poisons because he walked among them. His incantations could draw venom from the blood, and his name was spoken from Ugarit to the foot of the Great Sphinx.
Mythology & Lore
The Mare of the Gods
In KTU 1.100, the mare of the gods is bitten by a serpent. One deity after another is summoned to heal her. Each tries. Each fails. Finally Horon comes. He prepares a mixture to counteract the venom, and the mare is saved.
This was not a story told for its own sake. KTU 1.100 and a second text, KTU 1.107, were working spells, ritual formulas recited over the bodies of the bitten and the stung. The healer spoke Horon's name and called on him to do again what he had done for the mare of the gods.
From Ugarit to the Sphinx
Horon's cult spread far beyond the incantation rooms of Ugarit. In Egypt, Canaanite workers during the New Kingdom identified the Great Sphinx of Giza with Hauron, and a chapel dedicated to the god stood near the monument. Stelae found at the site invoke Hauron-Harmakhis, blending the Canaanite healer with the Egyptian Horus-in-the-Horizon.
Back in the Levant, place names preserved his reach. Beth-Horon, "House of Horon," was a pair of towns on the route between the coast and the central highlands, a passage through dangerous territory where a protective god's name was welcome. Horonaim in Moab bore his name as well.