2002.15-19b The Ruins of Harran, SE Turkey. Gateway to the Great Mosque.
Expedition to Harran, 44 km southeast of Urfa (Şanlıurfa), and Sultantepe (photos) by archaeologist John MacGinnis and myself in August 2002 during the archaeological excavations at Ziyaret Tepe.
My Ziyaret Tepe photos:
Slides of the Ziyaret Tepe Excavation 2000, 2001 and 2002
Digital images of the Ziyaret Tepe Excavation 2002 and 2004
The long history of Harran from the 3rd millennium BC is described in Harran in Wikipedia. See also SOAS ARCHIVE: David Storm Rice, excavator of Harran in the 1950s
3rd millennium Ebla tablets-Mari letters-Assyrians-Hittites-
Babylonians-Persians-Seleucids-Romans-Islam-Crusaders
Harran was a centre of the worship of the Mesopotamian moon god Sin.
Harran was an important centre of learning. From Wikipedia: "During the late 8th and 9th centuries Harran was a centre for translating works of astronomy, philosophy, natural sciences, and medicine from Greek to Syriac by Assyrians, and thence to Arabic, bringing the knowledge of the classical world to the emerging Arabic-speaking civilization in the south. Baghdad came to this work later than Harran. Many important scholars of natural science, astronomy, and medicine originate from Harran; they were non-Arab and non-Islamic ethnic Assyrians, including possibly the alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān."
Harran was completely destroyed in 1260 AD during the Mongol invasions of Syria and abandoned.
The area of Harran (Haran in the Bible) is associated with Abraham (Genesis).
The prominent remains at Harran in the above photo are those of the Great Mosque. From the website abrahampath.org/path/harran/harran-sites/great-mosque/
Harran’s once-splendid Great Mosque (8th century, Umayyad) was among the first mosques ever built within the borders of present-day Turkey. Today, its stark remnants include a crumbling archway and one lone minaret, mistaken for a church belfry by T.E. Lawrence during his visit to the “City of Abraham” in 1909. His confusion is understandable, as the mosque, like many places of worship in this region, blended late antique architectural forms (capitals, friezes) with characteristically Islamic ones (arabesques, square minarets). The mosque’s visible remains include a Byzantine capital engraved with grape vines and leaves, which was incorporated into the mosque during a 12th century restoration, and was likely brought to Harran from a ruined church in Edessa.
The mosque also incorporates far older remnants, perhaps belonging to the renowned Sin temple that would have been standing when Abraham emigrated to Harran. In the 1950s, an archaeological team sent to survey Ulu Cami discovered neo-Babylonian tablets dating from the 6th century BCE. They had been used, face down, as the steps of the mosque. These became known as the Nabonidus tablets for the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus who rebuilt the Harran temple. The find suggests that the temple of Sin may well have been located beneath the mosque. The remarkable black tablets, one of which depict Nabonidus worshipping the sun, moon, and Venus, are on display at the Sanliurfa Museum.
Archaeologist Nurettin Yardımcı has been leading the Harran excavations since 1983.
Canon Ftb with Canon 20mm lens, Fuji Velvia 35 mm film.
2002.15-19b The Ruins of Harran, SE Turkey. Gateway to the Great Mosque.
Expedition to Harran, 44 km southeast of Urfa (Şanlıurfa), and Sultantepe (photos) by archaeologist John MacGinnis and myself in August 2002 during the archaeological excavations at Ziyaret Tepe.
My Ziyaret Tepe photos:
Slides of the Ziyaret Tepe Excavation 2000, 2001 and 2002
Digital images of the Ziyaret Tepe Excavation 2002 and 2004
The long history of Harran from the 3rd millennium BC is described in Harran in Wikipedia. See also SOAS ARCHIVE: David Storm Rice, excavator of Harran in the 1950s
3rd millennium Ebla tablets-Mari letters-Assyrians-Hittites-
Babylonians-Persians-Seleucids-Romans-Islam-Crusaders
Harran was a centre of the worship of the Mesopotamian moon god Sin.
Harran was an important centre of learning. From Wikipedia: "During the late 8th and 9th centuries Harran was a centre for translating works of astronomy, philosophy, natural sciences, and medicine from Greek to Syriac by Assyrians, and thence to Arabic, bringing the knowledge of the classical world to the emerging Arabic-speaking civilization in the south. Baghdad came to this work later than Harran. Many important scholars of natural science, astronomy, and medicine originate from Harran; they were non-Arab and non-Islamic ethnic Assyrians, including possibly the alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān."
Harran was completely destroyed in 1260 AD during the Mongol invasions of Syria and abandoned.
The area of Harran (Haran in the Bible) is associated with Abraham (Genesis).
The prominent remains at Harran in the above photo are those of the Great Mosque. From the website abrahampath.org/path/harran/harran-sites/great-mosque/
Harran’s once-splendid Great Mosque (8th century, Umayyad) was among the first mosques ever built within the borders of present-day Turkey. Today, its stark remnants include a crumbling archway and one lone minaret, mistaken for a church belfry by T.E. Lawrence during his visit to the “City of Abraham” in 1909. His confusion is understandable, as the mosque, like many places of worship in this region, blended late antique architectural forms (capitals, friezes) with characteristically Islamic ones (arabesques, square minarets). The mosque’s visible remains include a Byzantine capital engraved with grape vines and leaves, which was incorporated into the mosque during a 12th century restoration, and was likely brought to Harran from a ruined church in Edessa.
The mosque also incorporates far older remnants, perhaps belonging to the renowned Sin temple that would have been standing when Abraham emigrated to Harran. In the 1950s, an archaeological team sent to survey Ulu Cami discovered neo-Babylonian tablets dating from the 6th century BCE. They had been used, face down, as the steps of the mosque. These became known as the Nabonidus tablets for the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus who rebuilt the Harran temple. The find suggests that the temple of Sin may well have been located beneath the mosque. The remarkable black tablets, one of which depict Nabonidus worshipping the sun, moon, and Venus, are on display at the Sanliurfa Museum.
Archaeologist Nurettin Yardımcı has been leading the Harran excavations since 1983.
Canon Ftb with Canon 20mm lens, Fuji Velvia 35 mm film.