THE HORITES. 513 



We liave already seen that some of the heads of tribes or dukes of 

 this race were contemporaries of Abraham. Their ancestor Seir, and 

 that other ancestor Hori, mentioned in Gen. xxxvi. 30, who cannot 

 be the son of Lotan, take us back to an older period still. In Abra- 

 ham's time they were of sufficient importance to attract the attention 

 of Chedorlaomer, and dwelt at no great distance from the cities of 

 the plain, " the opulent Pentapolis of the Jordan." They are classed 

 with the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim and the Avim, whom there 

 is strong reason for making Japhetic peoples connecting with 

 Riphath, Javan, &c., more especially as their names do not occur 

 among the tribes of Ham. Tliey represent a second wave of popu- 

 lation moving westward from Babel, the first being a purely Hamitic 

 stock that had passed over Jordan and probably into Egypt, in both 

 of which regions they soon became the serfs of a nobler race. The 

 Shemites, with the exception of Abraham and his family, still kept 

 to their ancient seat. Esau, a provtd and warlike man, was not 

 ashamed to ally himself with a Horite princess. He seems, indeed, 

 to have entered upon this alliance on unequal terms, inasmuch as 

 certain of the dukes of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 40), Timnah, Alvah, 

 Aholibamah, bear Horite names, while no Horite duke bears the 

 name of an Edomite. It is also to be noted that two of these are 

 the names of females, although they stand at the head of the list of 

 the Aluphim or dukes. In ancient times for a woman to give her 

 name to a family was a mark of high honour, and such, undoubtedly, 

 was the position that the Horite element occupied in the Edomite 

 family. Obadiah iii. is often quoted as a passage which proves the 

 Horites to have been troglodytes, inasmuch as the Edomites, who 

 supplanted them, are there described as dwelling " in the clefts of 

 the rock •" but who will dare to call the proud, free and warlike 

 Edomites cave-dwellers ? A better name should be found for those 

 whose skill and marvellous industry fashioned the palaces of Petra, 

 leaving marks of a high civilization, that nothing but a great convul- 

 sion of nature can efface, whether they be Edomites or the sons of 

 Hori. These troglodytes, if men will call them so, were a great 

 people. It is interesting to observe that Josephus calls the descen- 

 dants of Abraham by Keturah by the same name, and yet represents 

 them, quotiag the words of an ancient historian, as the conquerors of 

 Egypt and founders of the Assyrian Empire.^ 



2 Josephi Antiq. Lib. I, Cap. 15, 



