Harran
Harran is one of the most important cities in human history. Located near the Syrian border, and about 40 km south of Urfa and Göbekli Tepe, it was founded more than 4,300 years ago as a major trading hub by Sumerian merchants. Its most important feature was the patronage of the Moon God Sin or Suen, (Sumerian: Nanna). Though Sin was the resident deity/lord of ancient Ur, the moon temple Ekhulkhul in Harran became the god’s most important worshiping site.—also as an oracle, that was habitually frequented by Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian kings.
Ancient Harran has biblical importance, (written as Haran) since it became the home of the patriarch Abraham (relocating from Ur). He lived until he was 75 years old (according to the Book of Genesis, 12:4–5) before moving on to Sodom and Gomorra, and finally settling in Canaan.
The renown of Sin's Moon Temple in Harran was so far-reaching that even Roman emperors came to consult the sanctuary. The emperor Caracalla (198 to 217 AD) was murdered by one of his officers while on route to oracle. The assassination—which took place on the road from Edessa (Urfa) and Harran—had been orchestrated by Caracalla’s successor Macrinus. (Harran was known as Carrhae in Roman times. Carrhae was also the place where the Roman army suffered its most devastating historical defeat—against the Parthians in 53 BC.)
The worship of the Moon God Sin flourished even in Islamic times, and the city is famous for having the first Islamic university (8th century AD)—regarded by many as the oldest university in the world.
What remains nowadays of the Islamic University and the Grand Mosque (also knows as the Paradise Mosque) build on the foundations of the Temple of the Moon God Sin—the tower is the minaret tower, 33 meter high:
Most importantly, Harran was renowned as the city of philosophers. When the Christian Emperor Justinian outlawed paganism and ordered the closing of Plato’s Academy in Athens in 529 AD, the prominent leaders of the academy, like Simplicius and Damascius, were forced into exile. Invited by the Persian king to resettle in Harran, the philosophers founded a Neoplatonic school there. However, a teaching center for philosophers must have already been in operation at the time, one that fostered an eclectic library. Simplicius mentions a surprising find: a complete version of the Poem of Parmenides. Its rarity compelled Simplicius to reproduce large sections of the seminal work. Having devoted much of my intellectual life to the study of this towering thinker (Parmenides was deemed the “father” of philosophy by Plato), I have developed an abiding intellectual reverence for the city—the last bastion of enlightenment in a darkening world. In this very sense, Harran played an indirect yet significant role in the way I have designed the Ouranian Chronicles. Plato's Parmenides dialogue, which served as my guiding light, was also central to the teachings of the Harran school.
When the renowned Arab scholar Al-Mas’udi visited Harran in 943 AD, he found a Syriac inscription engraved on the door-knocker of the Philosophers House. It stated, "He Who Knows His Nature Will Become God”—a fitting motto for a Neoplatonist stronghold. Incidentally, the philosophers of Harran came to be known as “Sabians." This peculiar designation of a people is mentioned three times in the Quran as “People of the Book.” For this reason the Quran grants them legal protection, in spite of their perceived pagan leanings. The name Sabians became a convenient shield for a host of polytheistic groups looking for a sanctuary from persecution. Whether Harran’s philosophers had pragmatically adopted the Sabian label to protect themselves, or if they were the original article, remains a matter for academic debate. (Not to be confused with today’s Mandaens in Irak, also known alternatively as Sabians, through the designation is an exonym.)
See:
Rightly or wrongly, Harran developed into the pagan capital of the region—if not the known world—competing with its sister city Edessa (Urfa) for the religious limelight, since Edessa held the title of "first city to adopt Christianity." It was as late as the 11th century, that the last of the Moon God’s temples were closed—after a more than 3,300 years old run. But the Philosophers House remained the refuge for thinkers and philosophers regardless of the schools they represented. Harran’s unique mix of Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and Sufism has survived the millennia, reborn time and again as a philosophical/religious/mystical mix that soon became the progenitor of most self-discovery and self-realization movements including Theosophy and New Ageism.
Finally, Harran's fate as a thriving cultural and intellectual hub was sealed in 1259 when the Mongols seized the city. But soon the Mongols' control of Harran became successfully contested by the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. (For a portrayal of the epic struggle between the Mamluks and the Mongols, see the “Bane of the Mongols” chapter, The Masks of God, Book 1 of the Ouranian Chronicles Series.) Bowing to the Sultanate’s pressure, the Mongols abandoned Harran in 1270, but not before deporting the entire population and sealing off the city gates, hence all access to the city. The area was eventually liberated by the Mamluks but the city proper remained closed off and abandoned until the 19th century, when a few nomadic settlements were established at its outskirts. But the center of the city has remained untouched until today, the once bustling streets, squares, schools, and libraries—including the Philosophers House, and the Grand Mosque that had been build on top of the Moon Temple—have all remained covered by layers of dirt and rocks and overgrown by weeds. (See images below.)
Medieval Harran (7th to 13th century), before the Mongol destruction.
This giant empty field is the old center of Harran. Who knows what treasures lie hidden beneath the soil and the weeds? No doubt the Philosophers House and its priceless library. Who can say what secrets it might bear?
The “beehive houses” typical of Harran (I had left my hat in my hotel room. Fortunately our guide (another Halil) was able to help out (I believe that the headdress is called a keffiye):
A local stopover/inn we frequented where we met our guide:
Love the local "Fistic coffee”—pistachio flavored Turkish coffee. The best:
Bazda Caves
After Harran we went to check out the Bazda Caves, a large quarry used to provide the city with construction material (from the 2nd century AD to the 11th):
Ancient Sogmatar
Sogmatar was an ancient watering hole originally used by nomadic tribes. Inscriptions have been found at the site referring to the "Lord of Gods," i.e., the Moon God Sin. The large hill (referred by some as Holy Mountain) has an area on top dedicated to Sin, whose image is positioned opposite the Sun God. There are a number of tombs below assigned to different gods, and the mountain is surrounded by seven hills each sporting a sanctuary on top representing the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Some associate Moses with the area, saying that he met his father-in-law nearby.
The figure of the Moon God Sin positioned on the rise granting passage to the sanctuary on the top of the “Blessed Mountain.” (The carved bust of the Mood God is an exception, since he is usually represented by the image of a crescent moon.) To his right is the carved image of the Sun God with rays emanating from his head. Ironically their roles are reversed at this time of day, with Sin basking in the sun, while the Sun God is hiding in the shadows:
View from the top and the seven hills in the distance:
The flat surface of the rocks on top are frequently covered with carved inscriptions. Some of the seven hills in the background:
There is a cave below the mountain called Pognon’s cave. Notice the crescent moon representation of Sin on the top of the left and right pillars framing the opening in the middle. Perhaps an initiatory space? (Additionally, more than 120 ancient familial tombs have been discovered here in the last ten years):
A closer look at the two Moon God Crescents:
A different representation of the Moon God Sin as the crescent moon, Archeological Museum in Urfa, (Iron Age, on basalt):
For those who want to know more about the Moon God and Harran, please read Tamara Green’s The City of the Moon God—Religious Traditions of Harran. An excellent work.
Our final (if temporary) farewell from Harran:
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