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After the Shupiluliuma- Shattiwazza treaty, Harran was burned by a Hittite army under Piyashshili in the course of the conquest of Hanilgalbat.

Harran is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the place where Terah halted after leaving Ur, and apparently the birthplace of AbrahamAbraham "Father/Leader of many", Standard Hebrew Avraham Tiberian Hebrew Arhm Arabic Ibrhim is the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. His story is told in the Book of Genesis. Islam also regards him as the ancestor of the Bedouins, through Ish, a town on the stream Jullab, some nine hours' journey from EdessaEdessa may be one of the following: A small town in modern-day Macedonia, Greece: see Edessa, Greece The historical name of a city in northern Mesopotamia, now Sanli Urfa, Turkey: see Edessa, Mesopotamia. (present day Sanli Urfa) in Turkey. The Yahwistic writer ( GenesisThis article is about Genesis the first book of the Hebrew Bible. See Genesis (disambiguation) for other usages of the word. Genesis ( Greek: , having the meanings of "birth", "creation", "cause", "beginning", "source" and "origin"; translated from Hebrew 27:43) makes it the home of LabanIn the Book of Genesis, Laban "White", Standard Hebrew Lavan Tiberian Hebrew Ln is the brother of Rebekah and the father of Leah and Rachel. As such he is brother-in-law to Isaac and twice the father-in-law to Jacob. Laban first appears in the story in Ge and connects it with IsaacIsaac or Yitzhak "He will laugh. Standard Hebrew Yiaq Tiberian Hebrew Yiq Arabic Isq is a biblical patriarch, the son and heir of Abraham and the father of Jacob and Esau. His story is told in the Book of Genesis. Isaac was so called because when his moth and JacobAngel Gustave Dore, 1855 Jacob or Ya'akov "Holder of the heel", Standard Hebrew Yaaqov Tiberian Hebrew Yaaqo Arabic Yaqub , later known as Israel "Prince with God", Standard Hebrew Yisrael Tiberian Hebrew Yisrel Arabic Isril is a biblical patriarch. His s. But we cannot thus put Haran in Aram-NaharaimThe Arameans or Aramaeans (also called Syriacs were a Semitic, nomadic people who dwelt in Aram-Naharaim or "Aram of the two rivers," also known as Mesopotamia a region including modern Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Iran that is mentioned six; the home of the Labanites is rather to be looked for in the very similar word Hauran .

During the reign of King Hezekiah, it rebelled from the Assyrians, who reconquered the city ( 2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah, 37:12), and deprived it of many privileges that king Sargon II later restored.

Harran was the centre of a considerable commerce, trading with Tyre ( Ezekiel 27:23), and one of its specialities was the odoriferous gum derived from the strobus ( Pliny, N.H. xii. 40). It was here that Crassus in his eastern expedition was attacked and slain by the Parthians ( 53 BC). Centuries later, the emperor Caracalla was murdered here at the instigation of Macrinus (AD 217). The emperor Galerius was defeated by the Sassanids nearby in 296.

Haran was the chief home of the moon-god Sin, whose temple was rebuilt by several kings, among them Assur-bani-pal and Nabonidus, and Herodian (iv. 13, 7) mentions the town as possessing in his day a temple of the moon. In the middle ages it is mentioned as having been the seat of a particular pagan sect, that of the Haranite Sabians, into the period of the Crusades, although it also possessed a bishop over a Christian community. In 1104 it was the site of a battle between the Crusaders and the Seljuk Turks. This city retained its importance down to the period of the Arab ascendancy; but by Abulfeda it is mentioned as having before his time fallen into decay. In the late nineteenth century, it was wholly in ruins.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica