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In the Bible, Haran (Hebrew: הָרָן) was a son of Terah, and brother of Nahor and Abram (later Abraham). Genesis records that Haran was the father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah (Genesis 11:27, 29).

Haran (Charran) was a place-name in the ancient Near East. According to Genesis, Abram (later Abraham) lived in Haran for approximately 5 years before continuing on to Canaan (current day Israel). The city of Harran in modern southern Turkey (32 km/20 mi southeast of Edessa)near the border with Syria is probably the city that Abraham and his father Terah settled in on the way to Canaan (Genesis 11:31).

Under the Babylonians and even into Roman times, Haran was a center of the moon cult. Sacked in 763 BCE, it was restored under the Assyrian ruler Sargon II. It became the headquarters for the Assyrians after the fall of the Assyrian capital Nineveh in 612 BCE and the defeat of the Assyrian to a coalition of Babylonians and Egyptians in the Battle of Carchemish (609 BCE).

In Roman times, Haran was known as Carrhae, the site where in 53 BCE the Parthians defeated three Roman legions under the command of Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae. Later on, after the followers of Muhammad conquered the area, they set up a university at Haran, reputed to be the earliest university in the world.

The present ruins at the site are from Roman, Sabean, and Islamic times. T. E. Lawrence surveyed the site, and an Anglo-Turkish excavation was begun in 1951, ending in 1956 with the death of D. S. Rice.

• E. M. Blaiklock and R. K. Harrison, eds. The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. (Zondervan, 1983):228.

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