Hauron

Hauron
An Egyptian statue of Hauron in the form of a falcon protecting the pharaoh Ramesses II, depicted as a child. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Name in hieroglyphs	[1]
Major cult center	Giza

Hauron, Haurun^[2] or Hawran^[3] (from Egyptian ḥwrwnꜣ) was an ancient Egyptian god worshiped in Giza. He was closely associated with Harmachis, with the names in some cases used interchangeably, and his name as a result could be used as a designation of the Great Sphinx of Giza. While Egyptologists were familiar with Hauron since the nineteenth century, his origin was initially unknown, and only in the 1930s it was established that he originated outside Egypt. Today it is agreed that he was the Egyptian form of a god worshiped in Canaan and further north in the city of Ugarit, conventionally referred to as Horon (Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎗𐎐, ḥrn; Ḥôrānu^[4] or Ḥōrān^[5]) in scholarship.

In the Ugaritic texts, Hauron appears as a deity associated with magic and exorcisms. This role is also attested for him in Egypt and in Phoenician sources from the first millennium BCE. The best known text focused on him is KTU 1.100, often interpreted as a myth, in which the Ugaritic sun goddess Shapash implores him to help pḥlt, a figure of unknown character troubled by snakes. He is also well attested in incantations. However, his name does not appear in any offering lists from this city, and it is assumed his importance in Ugaritic religion was minor.

In the first millennium BCE, Hauron continued to be worshiped in Egypt, but his cult also spread through the Mediterranean, and he is attested in Phoenician and Punic sources from as far west as Sardinia. In the Hebrew Bible he is referenced in toponyms such as Beth-Horon. The last source to mention him is a Greek second-century BCE inscription from Delos referring to his worship in Jamnia.