The term “Horim” (Hebrew: חֹרִי, Choriy) is widely thought by scholars to come from the Hebrew word “chor” (חֹר), meaning “hole” or “cave.” Because of this, the name “Horim” is often understood to mean “cave-dwellers” or “troglodytes,” referring to people who lived in natural or carved-out rock shelters.
Biblical texts describe the Horim as an early population in the region of Seir (Genesis 14:6; 36:20–30), an area known for its rugged mountains, ravines, and cliffside terrain. This landscape naturally supported rock-cut dwellings, and tradition holds that the Horim were among the earliest groups to inhabit or excavate such spaces, similar to later structures found in places like Petra.
In the wider ancient world, Greek and Roman writers such as Herodotus and Pliny also used similar terms to describe cave-dwelling peoples, especially along the Red Sea and parts of North Africa. The Greek word “trōglodýtēs” literally means “one who goes into holes,” formed from trōglē (“hole” or “mouse-hole”) and dyein (“to enter” or “to dive in”). Latin writers adopted this as trōglodytae, using it to describe groups living in caves or rock shelters.
Over time, “troglodyte” developed broader meanings. In modern usage, it can refer not only to literal cave dwellers but also metaphorically to someone seen as reclusive, isolated, or primitive, sometimes even used in a pejorative sense. In scientific language, it survives in names like the bird genus Troglodytes, referring to wrens that hide in small crevices and dark spaces, reflecting the original idea of creatures that dwell in holes or sheltered places.
Ancient Greek and Roman writers often described mysterious “Troglodyte” peoples living along the Red Sea, upper Nile, and parts of Africa and Arabia. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BCE, spoke of “Troglodyte Ethiopians,” describing them as incredibly fast runners who hunted snakes and lizards and spoke a language that sounded, to Greek ears, like the screeching of bats. According to his account, they were pursued by the Garamantes, a powerful North African people.
Aristotle later described a small-statured race of Troglodytes living near the upper Nile, which he connected to the legendary “Pygmies” of Greek myth. In Greek imagination, these tiny peoples were often portrayed as strange cave-dwellers living at the edges of the known world. Other ancient writers, including Diodorus Siculus, preserved stories from earlier explorers such as Agatharchides of Cnidus about the “Troglodyte Country” along the Red Sea coast. These accounts describe pastoral groups wearing animal skins, living in caves or rocky shelters, and practicing customs the Greeks considered unusual or exotic.
The idea of cave-dwelling peoples also blended easily into Greek mythology. Many mythic beings were imagined living in caves, including the Cyclopes such as Polyphemus in The Odyssey. The Graeae—the eerie “Grey Ones” who shared a single eye and tooth—were also said to dwell in dark caves. Over time, “troglodyte” became less a precise ethnic term and more a broader symbol for mysterious peoples living underground, in mountains, or beyond the boundaries of familiar civilization. Common themes included cave living, survival in harsh landscapes, reptile-based diets, and small or unusual physical appearance, blending real geography with myth and exaggeration.