Harran

Traditional mud brick "beehive" houses in the village of Harran, Turkey.

Harran, also known as Carrhae, is a district of Şanlıurfa Province in the southeast of Turkey.

Harran is an ancient city which was a major Mesopotamian commercial, cultural, and religious center. It is a valuable archaeological site. It is often identified as the place in which Abraham lived before he reached Canaan.

The city was the chief home of the Mesopotamian moon-god Sin, under the Babylonians and even into Roman times.

Carrhae is an ancient town on the site that doesn't exist anymore. It gave its name to the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC), fought between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire.

Harran's ruins are from Roman, Sabian, and Islamic times. T. E. Lawrence surveyed the site, and an Anglo-Turkish excavation was begun in 1951.

References

• Chwolsohn, Daniil Abramovic, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, 2 vols. St. Petersburg, 1856. [Still a valuable reference and collection of sources]
• Green, Tamara, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran. Leiden, 1992.
• Heidemann, Stefan, Die Renaissance der Städte in Nordsyrien und Nordmesopotamien: Städtische Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen in ar-Raqqa und Harran von der beduinischen Vorherrschaft bis zu den Seldschuken (Islamic History and Civilization. Studies and Texts 40). Leiden, 2002 .
• Rice, David Storm, "Medieval Harran. Studies on Its Topography and Monuments I", Anatolian Studies 2, 1952, pp. 36–84.

Other websites

• Pictures of the city
• More pictures Archived 2015-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
• Harran Guide and Photo Album
• Livius.org: Harran (Carrhae) Archived 2015-05-03 at the Wayback Machine