Harran is a municipality and district of Şanlıurfa, Turkey.Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale.
Harran was founded at some point between the 25th and 20th centuries BC, possibly as a merchant colony by Sumerian traders from Ur. Over the course of its early history, Harran rapidly grew into a major Mesopotamian cultural, commercial and religious center. It was made a religiously and politically influential city through its association with the moon-god Sin; many prominent Mesopotamian rulers consulted with and renovated the moon-temple of Eḫulḫul in Harran. Harran came under Assyrian rule under Adad-nirari I ( BC) and became a provincial capital often second in importance only to the Assyrian capital of Assur itself. During the collapse of the Assyrian Empire, Harran briefly served as the final capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (612–609 BC).
The city continued to be prominent after the fall of Assyria and experienced varying degrees of foreign cultural influence during its time under the Neo-Babylonian (609–539 BC), Achaemenid (539–330 BC), Macedonian (330–312 BC) and Seleucid (312–132 BC) empires. During classical antiquity Harran was often contested between the Roman and Parthian (later Sasanian) empires. In 53 BC Harran was the site of the Battle of Carrhae, one of the worst military defeats in Roman history. The Harranian moon cult of Sin proved to be enduring and lasted long into the Middle Ages, known to have existed as late as the 11th century AD. The last worshippers of Sin at that time migrated to the regions around Mardin and Mosul. Harran was captured by the Rashidun Caliphate in 640 and remained an important city in the Islamic period. It flourished as a center of science and learning and was the site of both the first Islamic university (the Harran University) and the oldest mosque in Turkey (the ). Harran twice served as a capital city in the Middle Ages, first briefly under the Umayyad Caliphate (744–750) and later under the Numayrid Emirate (990–1081).
The city was conquered by the Mongol Empire in 1260 but was largely destroyed and left abandoned in 1271. Although Harran was kept as a military outpost under some later regimes, it has over the last five centuries mainly been used as a temporary settlement by local nomadic societies. Harran transitioned back into a semi-permanent village settlement in the 1840s, but has only recently grown into a permanent town through advancements in local irrigation and agriculture. Harran was a Turkish district until 1946, after when it was downgraded to a sub-district of the Akçakale district. It regained its status as a district in 1987. Today, it is a major local tourist spot. The town is particularly famous for its unique beehive houses, which are reminiscent of buildings that were already present at Harran in ancient Mesopotamian times.
Toponymy The name Harran is recorded for the city from the earliest documents mentioning it and has remained in continuous use and largely unchanged since ancient times. Harran is mentioned in early cuneiform records of the Sumerians and Hittites as 𒌷𒊮𒆜 (), sometimes shortened to 𒆜 (), transliterated as Ḫarrānu(m). Ḫarrānu literally means "journey", "caravan" or "crossroad". It is often interpreted as "caravan path" or "intersection of routes and travel". Harran is rendered as (Ḥaran) in Hebrew and Aramaic, حَرَّان (Ḥarrân) in Arabic, حران (Harrān) in Ottoman Turkish, and Harran in modern Turkish.
The ancient Assyrians called the city Huzirina. Ḫarrānu was Hellenised to Kárrhai () in the Hellenistic period. The Romans later Latinised the Greek name into Carrhae. Due to the prominence of both Harran and Carrhae in historical literary sources, some scholars use the compound name "Carrhae-Harran" for the ancient city. Under the Byzantine Empire, the city continued to be called Carrhae () but was also sometimes referred to as Hellenopolis (), "city of the pagan Greeks", in reference to the strong pagan traditions there.
History
Early history
Harran is situated at an important geographical crossroad, both between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and at the border between the ancient Mesopotamian and Anatolian cultures. The earliest known settlements in the region surrounding Harran date to 10000–8000 BC and settlements in its close vicinity are known to have existed by 6000 BC. The region was linked to the Sumerians, and was occupied by ancient Semitic-speaking people around 2750 BCE. The earliest written records concerning Harran suggest that the city itself was founded –2000 BCE as a merchant outpost by traders from the Sumerian city of Ur.
The first clear evidence about Harran comes from the inscribed clay tablets found at Ebla, dating to the These tablets provide good information about the social and administrative life of Harran during the Early Bronze Age. Harran is mentioned in the Ebla tablets alongside the cities of Urshun and Irrite; at that time, the ruler of Harran was a queen named Zugalum.
Harran was from early on associated with the Mesopotamian moon-god Nanna (later named Sin) and soon became regarded as a sacred city of the moon. Harran's great moon temple, the Eḫulḫul ("Temple of Rejoicing"), was already present in the city by Sin was also a major deity in Ur, which also housed his main temple, but Harran's affinity for the moon can perhaps also be explained by its geography and climate: According to Donald Frew, in the hot and desolate landscape surrounding Harran the sun was a natural enemy, whereas the night (and thus the moon) were more comforting. The sun-god Shamash is however also thought to have had a temple in Harran. Another prominent deity in the city was Sin's son Nusku, the god of light.
Although next to nothing is known of the architecture and layout of Harran prior to the Middle Ages, the city is believed to have been designed according to some vaguely moon-shaped plan. Medieval sources allude to its shape, but what kind of ‘moon shape’ those sources meant is unclear.
The religious authorities of Harran, speaking on behalf of Sin, were considered suitable guarantors and signatories in political treaties. Already a peace treaty was sealed in the Eḫulḫul between Mari and an Amorite tribe called the Yaminites. Further treaties signed that invoke Sin of Harran include a treaty between of the Hittites and Shattiwaza of Mitanni, and an treaty between the Assyrian king and Mati'ilu of Arpad.
Middle Bronze Age Over time, Harran grew into a major Mesopotamian cultural, commercial and religious center. In addition to its religious importance, Harran was also important due to its strategic placement on an intersection of trade routes. Because Harran had an abundance of goods that passed through its region, it often became a target for raids. In the 19th century BC, the lands surrounding Harran were occupied by confederations of semi-nomadic tribes.
In the following century the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I ( BC) is recorded to have launched an expedition to conquer the region around Harran and secure the trade routes there from hostile forces. After the fall of Shamshi-Adad I's kingdom in the early 18th century BC, Harran was an independent city-state for a time; archives from Mari from the time of Zimri-Lim () record that Harran in his time was ruled by a king named Asdi-Takim.
Late Bronze Age Harran was incorporated into the Mitanni kingdom in the 16th century BC and later conquered from Mitanni by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari I ( BC).
Iron Age
The city would not be firmly incorporated into Middle Assyrian Empire until the 1100s BC, before which it was often occupied by Arameans. Under Assyria, Harran grew into a fortified provincial capital second in importance only to the capital of Assur itself. In the 10th century, Harran was one of the few cities, along with Assur, to be exempt from needing to pay tribute to the Assyrian king and in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, Harran was made the seat of the turtanu, the Assyrian commander-in-chief.
Since Harran was the sacred city of the moon-god, many Mesopotamian kings travelled there to receive the blessing and confirmation of their rule from the city's religious officials and in turn renovated and expanded Harran and its temples. The Eḫulḫul was renovated twice in the Neo-Assyrian period by the kings Shalmaneser III ( BC) and Ashurbanipal ( BC). Prophecies made by prophets and oracles of the moon cult of Harran were held in high regard; in the 670s BC the Harranians correctly prophesied that Esarhaddon ( BC) would conquer Egypt and Sasi, a usurper proclaimed king by the Oracle of Nusku from Harran, managed to rally widespread support in the empire before he was defeated. The reign of Esarhaddon in particular marked the rise of the Eḫulḫul into one of the most prominent religious sanctuaries in the ancient Near East, a position it would retain for centuries.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was defeated in the late seventh century BC by the newly established Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Medes. The Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell in 612 BC but the remnants of the Assyrian army, led by Crown Prince Aššur-uballiṭ II, rallied at Harran. Harran is therefore typically regarded as the short-lived final capital of ancient Assyria. Aššur-uballiṭ II underwent a coronation ceremony at Harran, being invested with rulership by Sin. After a long siege lasting from the winter of 610 BC to early 609 BC, Harran was captured by the Babylonians and Medes, ending the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Eḫulḫul was destroyed by the Medes at this time and was neglected for many years but was eventually restored by the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus ( BC), who was from Harran. The city itself was also significantly revitalised in Nabonidus's reign.
Antiquity (539 BC–640)
After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, Harran was successively under the control of the Achaemenid (539–330 BC), Macedonian (330–312 BC) and Seleucid (312–132 BC) empires. Under the Seleucids, Harran largely functioned as a military colony and from the time of the Macedonian conquest onwards, many Greeks settled in Harran. Under the centuries of Hellenic control, Harran gradually underwent some Hellenization of its culture. After the collapse of the Seleucid Empire, Harran became part of the Kingdom of Osroene in 132 BC, ruled by the Nabatean Arab Abgarid dynasty and most frequently a vassal state of the Parthian Empire. Abgarid rule may have encouraged the local moon cult; the moon was important in both the ancient Bedouin and Nabatean Arab religions.