With regard to Haran, it is very probable that this ancient city was, by turns, under the rule either of Babylonia or Assyria until the absorption of the former power into the great Persian Empire, when Haran likewise, in all probability, shared the same fate. Concerning the early history of the city very little is known, but it is not improbable that it was [pg 200] an ancient Babylonian foundation, the name being apparently the Babylonian word ḫarranu, meaning “road.” The name given to this “road-city” is explained as originating in the fact, that it lay at the junction of several trade-routes—an explanation which is very probable.
The city itself was, at the time of its greatest prosperity, a considerable place, as the remains now existing show. There are the ruins of a castle, with square columns 8 feet thick, supporting a roof of 30 feet high, together with some comparatively modern ruins. The ancient walls, though in a very dilapidated state, are said to be continuous throughout. No houses remain, but there are several ruins, one of great interest, and considerable extent, which Ainsworth considered to be a temple. A rudely sculptured lion, found outside the walls, is regarded as giving evidence of Assyrian occupation, which, however, is otherwise known to have been an historical fact.
In Abraham's time the place had, in all probability, not attained its fullest development, and must have been a small city. The plain in which it is situated is described as very fertile, but not cultivated to its fullest extent, on account of half the land remaining fallow because not manured. This, at least, was the state of the tract 72 years ago, but it is very probable that, in the “changeless East,” the same description applies at the present day. That it was of old, as now, a fertile spot, may be gathered from the fact that the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I. speaks of having taken or killed elephants in that district—
| Ešrit pirê buḫali dannūti | Ten powerful bull-elephants |
| ina mât Ḫarrāni u šidi nâr | in the land of Haran and on |
| Ḫabur | the banks of the Ḫabour |
| lu-adûk; irbit pirê balṭūti | I killed; four elephants alive |
| lu-uṣabita. Maškani-šunu | I took. Their skins, |
| šinni-šunu itti pirê | their teeth, with the living |
| balṭūti, ana âli-ia Aššur ubla. | elephants, I brought to my city Asshur. |
If there were elephants in “the land of Haran” 1100 years before Christ, it is very probable that they were to be found in the neighbourhood a thousand years earlier, but notwithstanding any disadvantage which may have been felt from the presence of these enormous beasts, it was in all probability a sufficiently safe district for one possessing flocks and herds. There is no reason to suppose that the presence of elephants around Haran in any way influenced the patriarch to leave the place, for these animals were to be found (according to an inscription supposed to have been written for the same Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser I.) in Lebanon, and therefore in the country where Abraham settled after quitting Haran.
As has already been noted, this was the centre of the worship of the Moon-god Sin or Nannaru,[38] and Terah and his family, in settling in this place, doubtless saw the same ceremonies in connection with the worship of this deity as they had been accustomed to see in Babylonia, slightly modified; and this would be the case whether Terah's family came from Uriwa or not, the Moon-god being worshipped in more cities than one in Babylonia. Something of the importance of the shrine of Nannaru at Haran may be gathered from the fact, that the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (to all appearance) was crowned there. As the text recording this is very interesting, and reveals something of the beliefs of the Assyrians and the natives of Haran, I quote here the passage referring to the ceremony, restoring the wording where defective. The writer is apparently addressing Aššur-banî-âpli, “the great and noble Asnapper”—
“When the father of the king my lord went to Egypt, he was crowned (?) in the qanni of Haran, the temple (lit. ‘Bethel’) of cedar. The god Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two crowns upon [pg 202] his head, (and) the god Nusku stood before him. The father of the king my lord entered, (and) he[39] placed (the crown?) upon his head, (saying) thus: ‘Thou shalt go and capture the lands in the midst.’ (He we)nt, he captured the land of Egypt. The rest of the lands not submitting (?) to Aššur and Sin, the king, the lord of kings, shall capture (them”).
[Here follow an invocation of the gods, and wishes for a long life for the king, the stability (?) of his throne, etc.]
In addition to the god Sin, the above extract refers to the deity known as Nusku, as being venerated there. That this was the case, is confirmed by several inscriptions of the time of Aššur-banî-âpli, who seems to have restored his temple. This fane, which the Assyrian king is said to have made to shine like the day, was called Ê-melam-anna, “the temple of the glory of heaven,” and the presence of its name in a list of the temples of Babylonia and Assyria testifies to its importance.
The temple of Sin or Nannaru, as we learn from the inscriptions of Nabonidus, was called Ê-ḫulḫul, “the temple of (great) joy.” The fane having been destroyed by the Medes, Nabonidus received, in a dream, command to rebuild it, and it is interesting to learn that, when the work was in progress, the records which Aššur-banî-âpli had placed there, according to custom, when restoring it, came to light. The letter of which an extract is given above was probably written to the Assyrian king upon this occasion.