home   :    index    :    picture archive    :     Turkey     :    photos by Jona Lendering and Marco Prins ©

Harran / Carrhae
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.

More information on Harran can be found here.
A dust storm on the road to Harran. Photo Jona Lendering. A dust storm on the road to Harran, the place where the prophet Abraham used to live. It was also famous for its temple of the moon god Sin.
Ancient-Warfare.com, the online home of Ancient Warfare magazine
The walls of Harran. Photo Jona Lendering. The walls of Harran. They date back to Antiquity, but were rebuilt in the Middle Ages.
The walls of Harran. Photo Marco Prins. The walls of Harran.
The remains of the Rakka gate. Photo Marco Prins. The remains of the Rakka gate.
A relief showing an archer, found in Harran and now in the Museum of Sanli Urfa. It was made in the Assyrian age.
The medieval citadel of Harran, on the site of the ancient Babylonian temple of the moon god Sin. Photo Marco Prins. The medieval citadel of Harran, on the site of the ancient Babylonian temple of the moon god Sin, which was called Ehulhul.
Fragment of a cuneiform tablet found in Harran, now in the museum of Sanli Urfa.
The medieval citadel of Harran, on the site of the ancient Babylonian temple of the moon god Sin. Photo Marco Prins. The interior of the medieval castle, on the site of the temple of the moon god Sin. The last Babylonian king Nabonidus is known to have venerated this god so excessively, that the Babylonians priests decided that they had to get rid of their king. They sided with Cyrus the Great, who captured Babylon in 539.
A stela of Nabonidus, found at Harran and now in the museum of Sanli Urfa. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire, the Harranians were part of the Achaemenid Empire, the Seleucid Empire, and the Parthian Empire.
The plain of Harran. Photo Jona Lendering. The plain of Harran (Carrhae). Here, the Roman general Crassus was defeated in 53 BCE. More than two-and-a-half centuries later, the Roman emperor Caracalla was murdered on this plain (217).
A Harran house on the arch of Septimius Severus. Model at the Museo nazionale della civiltà romana, Roma (Italy). Photo Marco Prins. A Harran house on the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. Model at the Museo nazionale della civiltà romana, Roma (Italy).
A house in Harran. Photo Marco Prins. A house in Harran, similar to the houses on thearch of Septimius Severus in Rome.
An ancient capital reused in the medieval mosque of Harran. Photo Marco Prins. An ancient capital reused in the medieval mosque of Harran.
A represtentation of Harran on Lucius Verus' victory monument from Ephesus. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien (Austria). Photo Jona Lendering. Personification of Harran on a Roman monument from Ephesus, dedicated to the Roman emperor Lucius Verus (161-169), who had invaded Mesopotamia. Today, the remains of the monument are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Go here for a satellite photo of Harran.
© Jona Lendering for
Livius.Org, 2004
Revision: 29 Sept. 2007
 home   :   index    :    Turkey