Horonaim
HORONAIM
HORONAIM (Heb. חֹרֹנַיִם), Moabite city appearing in the prophetic "burdens of Moab" (Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:3, 5, 34) and also mentioned on the Mesha Stone (lines 31, 32). Horonaim is a theophoric name (for the god Horon) like Beth-Horon in western Ereẓ Israel. The biblical descriptions "going down of Horonaim" and "the way of Horonaim" indicate that the town dominated an important road, probably the ascent from the southern end of the Dead Sea. It is also listed among the Moabite cities conquered by Alexander Yannai (103–76 b.c.e.) and returned by Hyrcanus ii to Aretas iii, king of the Nabateans (Jos., Ant., 13:397; 14:18; where it is called Oronaim). The text of the former passage is very corrupted and the name Horonaim has been established only by conjecture. The historicity of the text has been disputed because of its close similarity with the biblical "burdens" but the mention of this name in documents found in Judean Desert caves makes this view less plausible. Musil has proposed identifying Horonaim with al-ʿIrāq, about 6 mi. (10 km.) southwest of Kir of Moab above the descent to the Lisān and Zoar.
bibliography:
A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, 1 (1907), 73; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 149, 350; Schalit, in: Eretz Israel, 1 (1951), 104–21; Polotsky, in: iej, 12 (1962), 258ff.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]