霍山是九州的鎮山之一，自古即流傳一些神異的傳說。隋末，李淵起兵，據傳有白衣老人指路，順利攻克霍邑。唐朝建立後，霍山神現身指路成為唐人不時提起的一段開國神話，佛教與道教也各自以本身的神祇加以附會。唐玄宗天寶十載，霍山與四鎮並封為公。其實，在山川神祭禮中，霍山之所以受重視，最主要當在於它是冀州的鎮山。起初雖未能名列五嶽四鎮，但時常被相提並論。五嶽四鎮是古代山川序列朝向以方位進行組合的一個新發展，在融入霍山，形成五嶽五鎮後，山川序列與組合乃穩定下來。五鎮的觀念至遲在德宗朝即已出現，而以霍山為中鎮的說法，在唐代末期亦已形成。

Huo Shan/Mount Huo was one of the garrison mountains of the Nine Regions (jiuzhou) of China. Since ancient times, mythical stories about the mountain spread widely. One of these stories states that, around the end of the Sui Dynasty, an elderly man in white gave direction to Li Yuan's forces, and as a result, Huoyi was taken successfully. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the aforementioned story which indicates the elder as the God of Huo Shan became a regime-founding myth that was mentioned frequently. Furthermore, followers of the Taoism and Buddhism had also endorsed the story, respectively with their own gods. Nevertheless, it was not until A.D. 751 that Huo Shan was personified as a duke in the imperial aristocracy, together with four earlier garrison mountains. Huo Shan was given attention in the state rituals of Gods of Mountains and Rivers because it was the garrison mountain of Jizhou. While initially it was not listed as one of the five marchmounts (wuyue) and four garrison mountains (sizhen), Hou Shan was often mentioned as an equal. Five marchmounts (wuyue) and four garrison mountains (sizhen) was a transformation of the ancient ordering of mountains and rivers into geographical coordination. After Huo Shan was made a garrison mountain, the structure of five marchmounts (wuyue) and five garrison mountains (wuzhen) as well as the ordering of mountains and rivers were established. In short, the idea of the five garrison mountains emerged at the latest in the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang dynasty; and the view of Huo Shan as the central garrison mountain took shape in late Tang period.