HARAN (Heb. ḥar(r)an; Akkad. h̬arrānu, ‘crossroads’; Gk. charrhan, Acts 7:4). 1. The city c. 32 km SE
of Urfa (Edessa), Turkey, on the river Balih̬, lies on the main route from Nineveh to Aleppo. Terah lived
there with Abram (Gn. 11:31; cf. Acts 7:2, 4) before the latter migrated to Canaan (Gn. 12:1). It was the
home of Isaac’s bride *REBEKAH. Jacob fled there to escape Esau (Gn. 29:4), married Leah and Rachel,
daughters of Laban, and all his children (except Benjamin) were born there (Gn. 29:32–30:24).
Harran is referred to in texts from the Ur III period c. 2000 BC as a temple (é.h̬ul.h̬ul) for the worship of
*SIN the moon-god, and its occupation is confirmed by archaeological evidence. Its strategic position made it
a focus for Amorite tribes according to *MARI texts of the 2nd millennium BC, and later an Assyrian centre
fortified by Adadnirari I (c. 1310 BC) with a temple embellished by Tiglath-pileser 1 (c. 1115 BC). Harran
rebelled and was sacked in 763 BC, an event used by Sennacherib’s officials to intimidate Jerusalem (2 Ki.
19:12 = Is. 37:12). The city was restored by Sargon II, and the temple repaired and refurnished by
Esarhaddon (675 BC) and by Ashurbanipal. After the fall of Nineveh (612 BC) Harran became the last capital
of Assyria until its capture by the Babylonians in 609 BC. The Chaldean Dynasty’s interest in the Babylonian
temples led to the restoration of the Sin temples at Harran and at Ur. At the former the mother of Nabonidus
(who lived to 104), and at the latter his daughter, were made the high priestesses. It was a thriving
commercial city in contact with Tyre (Ezk. 27:23).
The site, excavated 1951–3, 1959, indicates clearly an occupation before the Assyrian period. The
existing ruins are mainly from the Roman city near which the Parthians slew Crassus (53 BC) and from the
later occupation by Sabaean and Islamic rulers in Harran, then called Carrhae. In AV of Acts 7:4 the city is
named Charran.
2. Haran is also a personal name. (a) The son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Terah, father of Lot,
Milcah and Iscah, who died at *UR (Gn. 11:26–31); (b) A man of Judah, son of Caleb and his concubine
Ephah (1 Ch. 2:46); (c) A Levite; son of Shimei, of Gershon (1 Ch. 23:9).
BIBLIOGRAPHY. S. Lloyd and W. Brice, AS 1, 1951, pp. 77–112; D. S. Rice, AS 2, 1952, pp. 36–84; C. J.
Gadd, AS 8, 1958, pp. 35–92; K. Prag, Levant 2, 1970, pp. 63–94.
D.J.W.
Harran (’Crossroads’ or ’Highways’) lies at a strategic point between Mesopotamia and the West.
1
Heb. Hebrew
Akkad. Akkadian
Gk. Greek
c. circa (Lat.), about, approximately
cf. confer (Lat.), compare
bc before Christ
av Authorized Version ( King James’), 1611
AS Anatolian Studies
d.j.w. D. J. Wiseman, O.B.E., M.A., D.Lit., F.B.A., F.K.C., F.S.A., Emeritus Professor of Assyriology,
University of London
1
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. 1996, c1982, c1962. New Bible Dictionary. Includes
index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove
SHECHEM. 1. The son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of Shechem (Gn. 34; Jos. 24:32; Jdg. 9:28) who
defiled Jacob’s daughter Dinah. 2. A descendant of Joseph’s son Manasseh (Nu. 26:31), founder of a family
(Jos. 17:2). 3. Son of Shemidah, of the tribe of Manasseh (1 Ch. 7:19).
4. An important town in central Palestine with a long history and many historical associations. Normally
it appears in the Bible as Shechem (šeḵem), but also once as Sichem (Gn. 12:6, AV) and twice as Sychem
(Acts 7:16, AV). It was situated in the hill country of Ephraim (Jos. 20:7), in the neighbourhood of Mt
Gerizim (Jdg. 9:7). The original site is today represented by Tell Balaṭa, which lies at the E end of the valley
running between Mt Ebal on the N and Mt Gerizim on the S, about 50 km N of Jerusalem and 9 km SE of
Samaria.
Shechem (Sichem) is the first Palestinian site mentioned in Gn. Abram encamped there at the ‘oak of
Moreh’ (Gn. 12:6). The ‘Canaanite was then in the land’, but the Lord revealed himself to Abram and
renewed his covenant promise. Abram thereupon built an altar to the Lord (Gn. 12:7).
Abram’s grandson, Jacob, on his return from Hanan, came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, and pitched his
tent (Gn. 33:18–19) on a parcel of ground which he bought from Hamor, the Hivite prince of the region (Gn.
33:18–19; 34:2). When Shechem, the son of Hamor, defiled Dinah, Simeon and Levi killed the men of the
region (Gn. 34:25–26), and the other sons of Jacob pillaged the town (vv. 27–29), though Jacob condemned
the action (Gn. 34:30; 49:5–7).
Here Jacob buried the ‘strange gods’ under the oak (Gn. 35:1–4) and raised an altar to El-elohe-Israel
(‘God, the God of Israel’, Gn. 33:20; *GOD, NAMES OF). Joseph later sought his brothers near the rich
pasture-lands round Shechem (Gn. 37:12ff.).
In the 15th century BC the town fell into the hands of the Habiru, as we learn from the Tell el-Amarna
letters (ANET, pp. 477, 485–487,489–490). The name probably occurs earlier in Egyp. records dating back to
the 19th-18th centuries BC (ANET, pp. 230, 329).
After the Israelite conquest of Palestine Joshua called for a renewal of the covenant at Shechem. Various
features of the typical covenant pattern well known in the East, 1500–700 BC, may be identified in Jos. 8:30–
35 (*SACRIFICE AND OFFERING, I. c. 2). Before his death, Joshua gathered the elders again to Shechem,
reiterated the covenant, and received the oath of allegiance to God, the King (Jos. 24). Many modern
scholars see in these assemblies a strong suggestion of an amphictyonic league centred at Shechem (cf. M.
Noth, The History of Israel, 1958).
av Authorized Version ( King James’), 1611
E East, eastern; Elohist
N North, northern
S South, southern
vv. verses
ff. and the following (verses, etc.)
bc before Christ
ANET J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 1950; 21965; 31969
Egyp. Egyptian
c. circa (Lat.), about, approximately
cf. confer (Lat.), compare
The boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh passed near the town (Jos. 17:7), which was one of the
cities of refuge, and a levitical city assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Jos. 20:7; 21:21; 1 Ch. 6:67). The town
lay in Ephraim (1 Ch. 7:28). Here the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph which they had brought from
Egypt (Gn. 50:25; Jos. 24:32).
In the time of the judges, Shechem was still a centre of Canaanite worship and the temple of Baal-berith
(‘the lord of the covenant’) features in the story of Gideon’s son Abimelech (Jdg. 9:4), whose mother was a
Shechemite woman. Abimelech persuaded the men of the city to make him king (Jdg. 9:6; cf. 8:22–23). He
proceeded to slay the royal seed, but Jotham, one son who escaped the bloody purge, spoke a parable about
the trees as he stood on Mt Gerizim (Jdg. 9:8–15), appealing to the citizens of Shechem to forsake
Abimelech. This they did after 3 years (vv. 22–23), but Abimelech destroyed Shechem (v. 45) and then
attacked the stronghold of the temple of Baal-berith and burnt it over the heads of those who sought refuge
there (vv. 46–49).
After Solomon’s death the assembly of Israel rejected Rehoboam at Shechem and made Jeroboam king
(1 Ki. 12:1–19; 2 Ch. 10:1–11). Jeroboam restored the town and made it his capital for a time (1 Ki. 12:25),
but later moved the capital to Penuel, and then to Tirzah. The town declined in importance thereafter, but
continued in existence long after the fall of Samaria in 722 BC, for men from Shechem came with offerings
to Jerusalem as late as 586 BC (Je. 41:5).
In post-exilic times Shechem became the chief city of the Samaritans (Ecclus. 50:26; Jos., Ant. 11.340),
who built a temple here. In 128 BC John Hyrcanus captured the town (Jos., Ant. 13.255). In the time of the
first Jewish revolt Vespasian camped near Shechem and after the war the town was rebuilt and named Flavia
Neapolis in honour of the emperor Flavius Vespasianus (hence the modern Nablus).
Important excavations conducted at Tell Balaṭa by C. Watzinger (1907–9), E. Sellin and his colleagues
(between 1913 and 1934) and by G. E. Wright (1956–66) have revealed the story of this site from the mid4th millennium BC down to c. 100 BC when the Hellenistic city came to an end. Although there was a
sizeable Chalcolithic village during the 4th millennium BC, the city of the historical period arose c. 1800 BC
in the Middle Bronze Age and reached the height of its prosperity during the Hyksos period (c. 1700–1550
BC). During these years several courtyard temples and city walls were built. About 1600 BC a massive stone
wall was erected, earlier walls covered over and a fortress temple built on the filling, which was to remain
with some changes till c. 1100 BC and may well represent in its later stages the temple of Baal-berith (Jdg.
9:4) known to the early Israelites. The town remained important until the 9th-8th centuries BC when it began
to deteriorate. Masses of fallen brick and burnt debris attest the destruction of the city by the Assyrians in
724–721 BC. For 4 centuries the town reverted to a village until it gained new life, probably as a Samaritan
centre, between c. 325 and c. 108 BC. There is a continuous coin record for this period. The town ceased to
exist after its destruction by John Hyrcanus c. 108 BC.
v. verse
Jos. Josephus
Ant. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews
UR OF THE CHALDEES. The city which Terah and Abram left to go to Harran (Gn. 11:28, 31; 15:7;
Ne. 9:7). Considered by Stephen to be in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2, 4). An old identification of Heb. ’ûr with
Urfa (Edessa), 32 km NW of Harran, is unlikely on philological grounds, and Ura‘ is the name of several
places known in Asia Minor. Moreover, such an identification would require Abraham to retrace his steps E
before setting out W towards Canaan. This identification requires that the ‘Chaldea’ which identifies the
location must be equated with H̬aldai (part of ancient Armenia). The *CHALDEANS were a Semitic people
known in Babylonia from at least the end of the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no references to their
presence in N Mesopotamia. LXX wrote ‘the land (chōra) of the Chaldees’, perhaps being unfamiliar with the
site. However, Eupolemus (c. 150 BC) refers to Ur as a city in Babylonia called Camarina (‘the moon’) or
Ouria. The Talmudic interpretation of Ur as Erech is unlikely since the latter is distinguished in Gn. 10:10.
The most generally accepted identification is with the ancient site of Ur (Uri), modern Tell el-Muqayyar,
14 km W of Nasiriyeh on the river Euphrates in S Iraq. Excavations at this site in 1922–34 by the joint
British Museum and University Museum, Philadelphia, expedition under Sir C. L. Woolley traced the history
of the site from the ’Al ‘Ubaid period (5th millennium BC) until it was abandoned about 300 BC. Many
spectacular discoveries were made, especially in the royal cemeteries of the early Dynastic 3 period (c. 2500
BC). Beneath these a layer of silt was at first equated with the flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis
(see now Iraq 26, 1964, pp. 65ff.). The ruins of the temple tower (ziggurat) built by Ur-Nammu, the founder
of the prosperous 3rd Dynasty (c. 2150–2050 BC) still dominate the site (*BABEL). The history and economy
of the city is well known from thousands of inscribed tablets and the many buildings found at the site. The
principal deity was Nannar (Semitic Sin or Su’en), who was also worshipped at Harran. The city was later
ruled by the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) kings of Babylonia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. C. L. Woolley, Excavations at Ur, 1954; H. W. F. Saggs, ‘Ur of the Chaldees’, Iraq 22,
1960; C. J. Gadd, ‘Ur’, AOTS, 1967, pp. 87–101; CAH, 1/2, 1971, pp. 595–617; Orientalia 38, 1969, pp.
310–348. D.J.W.
2
Heb. Hebrew
E East, eastern; Elohist
W West, western
bc before Christ
N North, northern
lxx Septuagint (Gk. version of OT)
c. circa (Lat.), about, approximately
S South, southern
ff. and the following (verses, etc.)
AOTS D. W. Thomas (ed.), Archaeology and Old Testament Study, 1967
CAH Cambridge Ancient History, 12 vols., 1923-39; revised ed. 1970d.j.w. D. J. Wiseman, O.B.E., M.A., D.Lit., F.B.A., F.K.C., F.S.A., Emeritus Professor of Assyriology,
University of London
2
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. 1996, c1982, c1962. New Bible Dictionary. Includes
index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove