Haran] (the Roman Carrhœ) was a city in Mesopotamia. It was an ancient seat of the worship of the moon god Sin. Caravan roads led from Haran to Syria and Palestine. Terah, who had intended to settle in Canaan, remained at Haran, and died there. Genesis 12 tells us how Abraham received the divine command to leave his home and relatives, and, in reliance on God's promise, to settle in a new country, there to found a race who should preserve the knowledge of the true God, and prove a blessing to all mankind.
Ur of the Chaldees] or 'Ur Kasdim.' The Chaldeans lived in S. Babylonia. The modern Mugheir, near the Euphrates, 125 m. NW. of the Persian Gulf, marks the site of an ancient city called Uru, which is by many identified with the Ur of this passage. But in the Accadian inscriptions the whole province of Accad or N. Babylonia was called Uri. Haran, the town (see next note), was also in this district, and the difficulty of explaining why Terah made the long journey of 600 m. from Mugheir disappears, if the Ur of Genesis may be identified with Uri. The family of Terah was evidently a pastoral one, and it was natural that they should make a new settlement from time to time.