Harran Turkey – Where Abraham Lived, Moon Gods Were Worshipped & Romans Were Defeated

You're probably going to say what the hell happened? So we're very close to the Syrian border right now. A beehive ahead. Today we're heading deep into south eastern Turkey to one of the most extraordinary and little-known places in the region. The ancient site of Haran in the Shanlufa province very close to the Syrian border. Now as I drove across the immense sun-scorched plains of the northern Fertile Crescent the landscape feels almost endless. Flat, dry and stretching to every horizon under a huge sky. Then rising from the dust you begin to notice something remarkable. Clusters of beehive shaped houses. Their smooth conical mud brick domes huddled together like something transported from another era entirely. This is Haran. A name that has echoed across more than 4,000 years of human history. Today we're going to peel back the many layers of this ancient crossroads and see how it has changed and in surprising ways its essence has endured. Welcome to another one of my videos. Here you find me in Hanan. The place that Abraham once lived. Not where he was born but where he once lived. And some say religious scholars say his father died here and after he died that's when Abraham left. But this is the place that God first spoke to Abraham. It was at this place that he said you will go found nations. You will go found a nation. He said a lot more than just that but he said here I am. The lamp will show you. Look at what the city used to look like. This was a beautiful oasis. This is what it used to look like. I don't know if you can see that. And now this is what it looks like now. You're probably going to say what the hell happened? It's a good question. What did happen? Now let's start with the story most visitors know Haran for. In the book of Genesis this is where Abraham's family paused during their long migration from Ur, present-day San Lufa in southern Mesopotamia. Here this is where terror died. It was from these very plains that Abraham received the divine call to continue onward to the promised land of Canaan. For Jews, Christians and Muslims alike Haran marks a foundational moment in the story of faith. It wasn't merely a temporary camp. It was the turning point. The name itself carries deep meaning. In ancient Arcadian Haranu means journey or caravan path. This place was founded in 2000 BC as a merchant colony by traders from Ur. Haran occupied a perfect strategic position at crossroads between Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Mediterranean world. For thousands of years caravans, armies, merchants and ideas flowed through this place. Making it one of the great meeting points of the ancient world. For much of its history Haran was defined by its role as a major religious sanctuary dedicated to the moon god Sin. Its magnificent temple the house of the rejoicing was one of the most revered and politically influential shrines in the entire ancient near east. Assyrian kings restored and honored it with great refused devotion. Even the last king of the near Babylonian empire poured enormous resources into rebuilding the temple. His own mother had served as a priestess here. Imagine standing on the temple platform at night priests carefully observing the phases of the moon and the movements of the stars recording omens and conducting elaborate rituals that influence the decisions of kings and the fate of empires. In this hot and arid landscape where the daytime sun could be brutal. The cool silvery light of the moon held a special almost comforting power. That deep connection to the celestial world would echo through Haran's later history in such fascinating ways. In 53 BC the peace of these plains was violently shattered by one of the most catastrophic military disasters in Roman history. Marcus Crassus led an army of seven legions roughly 40,000 men deep into Parthenian territory. Here at Karahi the Roman name for Haran they encountered the brilliant Parthenian general Serena and a much more mobile force of heavily armored cataphracts and horse archers. What followed was a master class in ancient desert warfare. The Parthenians used hit and run tactics feign retreats and relentless volleys of arrows to wear down and eventually destroy the slower heavily armored Roman infantry under the merciless sun. Crassus himself was killed along with his son. The legionary standards the sacred eagles were captured and paraded in triumph. It was humiliation that haunted Rome for decades and dramatically shifted the balance of power between the Roman and Parthenian empires. After the early Islamic conquest of 640 AD Haran didn't immediately fall apart. For a while under the Rashidun and then the Umayyad and Abbasid rulers it actually entered a new phase of life. The remaining pagan population still devoted to the moon god Sin and the stars survived by claiming to be the Sabians of a group mentioned in the Quran as the people of the book. This gave them protected status at least temporarily. During this period Haran became a notable center of learning. Scholars translated ancient texts and advanced knowledge in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. Names like Harani and Polymath and the astronomer Al-Bertani stand out. The grand mosque now ruined but once Turkey's oldest and the castle were built or expanded then. There was real intellectual activity here building on the city's long astronomical traditions. But we shouldn't romanticize this. Tolerance was always limited and temporary. By the 11th century under Muslim rulers such as the Numerids and the Ukhalids Islamic authorities finally lost patience with the remaining pagan and Sabian practices. The last temples of the moon god Sin were closed and deliberately destroyed. This wasn't peaceful evolution it was an active suppression and physical destruction of Haran's ancient sacred sites by the ruling power. Then came an even heavier blow. The 13th century the Mongol invasions reached this region. In the 1260s Mongol forces sacked Haran. They destroyed key buildings including parts of the mosque, the market and cattle walls. The city was looted, devastated and largely abandoned. Many people were killed or if they were lucky fled. Unlike some places where the latter recovered Haran never regained its former size or importance. And this is why Haran looks such a mess today. What you see isn't just the gentle hand of time or ordinary decay. The grand temples were smashed by Islamic rulers in the 11th century when they ended the old religion. Then the Mongols came in the 13th century and sacked the place entirely. Tearing down walls and infrastructure and leaving much of it in rubble. This place is truly fascinating but at the same time a representation of just how much has changed in this area. This Anatolian city has probably existed for at least 5,000 years. Like I say Abraham once lived here and that would have been 2,000 years before Christ. So we're going back 4,000 years plus to when Abraham was here. But here we would have had all types of civilizations from the Byzantian, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, the Byzantines and then after them of course the Islamic civilization. Then it wasn't until the Mongols came through in 1263 the grandson of Genghis Khan and his men came through here. Sacked the place. Completely destroyed all of this and effectively several years later the city was abandoned and then only after then did we have nomadic tribes passing through from time to time. And it really hasn't recovered ever. Water has come into this area through irrigation so it's become a much more fertile land. So there's a little bit of build-up but yeah it's a mess. It really is a mess but what happens when you have a clash of civilizations. After those catastrophes the city shrank dramatically. Grand structures were abandoned or quarried for stone. What remains were scattered ruins. The castle sitting on old layers. The broken moss. The fragments of ancient walls alongside some traditional beehive houses that were later rebuilt or preserved. The repeated sacking and destruction first by Muslim forces enforcing dominance over the pagan holdouts and then by the Mongols who left the trail of ruin across the Middle East are the main reasons this once great crossroads ended up looking the way it does. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Hello. How are you? Not too bad. How are you? You can speak English? English. Yeah. Does it cost money to see? I am manager. Your manager. So is it 300 or 400? Okay so it's donation. Yes. Okay. Welcome to Haran. My name is Ali. This is the Haran culture house. Yeah. This Haran culture house winter warm summer is cool. This Haran culture house 300 years old. Wow. 850 bricks. Each day the bricks have more to raise oil. So it's 300 years old. Yes. Just 300. Okay. This Haran culture house is family. 58 boys, 8 girls. His mother, father is big family. Yeah. This is the living room. This is the living room. It's nice. Very cool. Wow. This is the guest room. Guest room yeah. Yes. And here is kitchen. Grandfather's room. Cold water tank. Yeah. Two years restoration. Okay. Two years restoration. They restored this in two years. People lived here three years ago. Yes. Eggs. Why did they leave? Right. Is there a hot water tank? Yeah. Just cold. The bedroom. Brilliant. Ah. The last supper. Were they Christian? No. He's Muslim. It's decoration. Decoration. Okay. He's Christian. He's Muslim. He's no problem. He's people. Good people. No problem. Yeah. No. Absolutely. I can see the Islamic here. And this floor is... What's the floor made of? It's clean. It's clean. But what is it? Is it dirt? Yes. It's dirt. Yeah. Okay. So let me show you around. This is the kitchen. Now we got the the kitchen. Notice we got dirt floors. Dirt floors. Very airy though. It doesn't feel like you're in a barn or anything like that. But it is airy. The floor feels soft despite him going very clean. Very soft. I'm amazed that they use ostrich shells. But there's no ostriches living around here anymore. So they I guess they ate them all. But this is something you see. I saw up on the drive. This is cotton. This is cotton from the cotton plants that are everywhere in the fields driving up to this location. And what's interesting is these houses haven't really changed. So this house is only 300 years old. So just outside now. This gives you some perspective on this place. It's a bit of a compound really. But obviously this is now played up for the few Here we have some sort of herbs. Some sort of scent. Smells pretty good. Might want that near your toilet. We got the of course we have the fridge magnets. I guess this is possibly the gift shop. I didn't even notice. We have the saris and the sort of typical wear that the ladies and the men might wear. The veils over here. And over here we got some some branches. Maybe lying the floors with. The trees are down here. I don't know what. Got some trees. Maybe some decoration. I like the palm trees that sort of sit in the forest. Sit in the courtyard I mean. Over here the garage. Or we got the bike parked here. But we have the dining area. So the kitchen would have been inside. But if you wanted to entertain lots of people you'd have the dining area. This would have been a large family home. So a lot of people living here. As you know you've got the guest rooms. You've got the grandfather's room. You've got the main bedrooms. The living rooms. Each one a place for someone to live. Someone to go about their daily lives. And like the gentleman said as I entered. People were living here until three years ago. I guess Covid finally got the better of them. They thought let's get let's get out of here. We need a different place to live. And now it's become a museum. But in entering this city there are still lots and lots of houses just like this. One quick look just in case I've missed something. I guess the sort of entrance. Maybe the place where you greet your guests. The first place you bring them and then duck down here. Interesting though that there's one brick. You pull it out the whole thing collapses. That's really interesting. Very interesting. And look out the front here there's a well. Look at this. The well is out the front. So get the well from the front. Water tank. These iconic beehive houses are pretty much one of the main reasons people visit Haran today. Built entirely from mud brick with no wood. They're thick walls and elegant dome roofs. Perfectly designed for the harsh climates. Keeping the interiors cool in the blistering summer and the warm winter. Though most of the ones still in Haran today were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I just noticed my head really does blend in with this. Look at that. Bang. Bang. My head. I have a beehive. A beehive head. No money man. How are you? A money? No money. What about be happy? It's sunny. I gave your boss some money though. You have a good day though. Okay? Okay. I'm just in this little area. This is what a typical house now looks like. Breeze blocks. Probably less nice to live in than sort of the old fashion houses. I'll show you over here as I walk across this manure. Oh geez it is manure. This is someone's actual house here. It's not a tourist destination. People walk around the Cotswolds taking pictures of people's houses. So I think it's perfectly fine to walk around here taking pictures of one's houses. Yeah well I'm not sure I'd want to live in that. Oh so the breeze block house does have these cones at the back. This is the breeze block house. Cars parked in there. Having been inside them I think you can appreciate that that sort of shape with the air sockets makes for a much more cooler environment. Out here it's sweltering but inside it was much much cooler and if they had the blankets on the doors and I wasn't walking through it would be even cooler. I get it. I do get it. But as you see there's not really much around here. I guess there are loads of some goats maybe. So we're very close to the Syrian border right now which obviously makes things a little bit risky. So I've just stumbled across the most touristy cone-shaped houses. This has been the original one. The one that everyone's been going to since 1989 this place has been open. Definitely a money-making scheme this one but this is the original. Maybe this is the original owner. Maybe this one could be the original owner. 22 little huts apparently. What's strange is all around the these buildings actually do exist but obviously the opportunity rather than invading private property is to see how they live by walking into one of these museums. You can see they would have hung maybe the meat up here but as soon as I walk in it's much cooler. It's dramatically cooler despite the door being wide open. My guess is there would probably be blankets over the door maybe there'd be even a door itself. This is so much cooler as soon as I step out. Well obviously I'm going to step out into the sun. Temperature climbs dramatically. So we're going to step in here. I've just been sweating for the last couple of hours while I've been in this city. More food hanging. I wish that was wine. Exactly the same as the last one. See up there there's a little slit over the top which stops the rain pouring in. Although I imagine if you had sideways rain you'd probably get it but they don't get much rain in this part of the world so it's not such a concern for them. You know it happens but it's just not frequent. And here we have again see the ledge. That's a bit of sunshine. You know what's interesting there's less holes in the side of the walls here than there are in the other one. I wonder why that is. I can see there's an air hole. Is that an air hole? I don't know it's maybe a light sensor. Wow this one's definitely more of a maze than the previous one. You see the the bed I mean it's livable. You wouldn't have the worst life living here once you got used to the smell. I imagine it would probably smell for a bit of time while you got used to the surroundings. You can see the straw. Like the gentleman said eggshell in the last place. Nails. They don't want heavy rain do they? Because as soon as they get heavy rain it'll wash away but every rug almost looks like Scotland. Scotland and then here we have Istanbul. But yeah this is um I've just walked up and a busload of Chinese tourists rocked up just before me. So it's the first time I've actually seen a bucket load of tourists since I've been in the city. And obviously the one place they're going to get dropped off is this place. This is on the horses. I guess it's an attack for him. Horseshoes. Stirrups. Saw. Like the garage. And then just like the last one there's a living room here which obviously cordoned off because you don't want to get people's muddy shoes on the beautiful carpets. This is where everyone chills out. Has a bit of a smoke. Dreams of Scotland. This place being on the tourist bus trail they obviously have the camels over here. So you know get your feeling for a few camels. Climb up here get a better view. See that. Camels over there in the distance. So you see right behind me the lady is dressed up in typical gear. She's a tourist gentleman taking a video. Taking a photograph. Perfect for the gram. The TikTok. Hello how are you? Maybe shouldn't have gone on that I don't know. We shall see. Let's go have a look in the shop then. All I have is no money. When you come through here you stop the car you're subjected to kids asking for money. It's unfortunate. It really is unfortunate. But look there's a camel in the distance. I have to say I understand why Abraham left now. Abraham left because there isn't much going on here. There really isn't much going on here. Anyway what's your name? Ishmael. Mehmet. Mehmet. Mehmet. Good to meet you. I'm Alex. Alex. High five. Sabiha. High five. What? I got no money. You go back to your parents okay. Anyway I gotta go okay. You better let go of the car okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye kid. I don't run you over okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye kid. Let go of the car please. Let go of the car. Kid come on let's let go of the car. Let go of the car. Your destination is on the left. Kid let go of the car. Kid no no come on. No no no it's good. Yeah trying to show me um over there. I'm a bit concerned. They've got to let go of the car. I don't want to like drag this kid under the car. Can you let go of the car please? Okay bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Oh my word. Oh she just hit my car okay. He just she's not under the car but she's in the distance just in case you know. I don't recommend wasting a good hour plus driving through harsh terrain to see much of this place. I'm normally very very favourable about places. I say look you've got to go visit yourself. But these ruins look at this over here. Look you can see the ruins. Everything's just a ruin destroyed by the Mongols and destroyed by Islam. Iran went from a thriving city with temples academies and busy streets to a much smaller settlement surrounded by ruins. Today the mess, the overgrown archaeological areas, the half-collapsed structures, the contrast between a few preserved domes and the general state of abandonment is a direct legacy of those historical catastrophes. Later regional conflicts, neglect and economic decline didn't help but the foundational damage was done centuries earlier by conquest suppression and sacking. It's a stark picture. Iran wasn't just conquered. Its old religion was crushed and its buildings were destroyed by successive powers. First the Islamic rulers ended the pagan era with force then the Mongols who delivered the physical knockout. The city that once hosted Abraham's journey, moon worship, Roman battles and Islamic scholars was repeatedly broken. Yet even among the ruins there's still power here. The layers remain visible. The castle rises over the old temple site. The stars still shine over the plain where priests once read omens. The beehive houses show practical ingenuity that somehow survived everything thrown at it. But we shouldn't pretend the current state is just history happening. Much of it is a result of deliberate destruction and sacking by Islamic authorities who destroyed the temples and by the Mongols who sacked the city. Standing here you can really feel what was lost. Hopefully you enjoyed this content and also a big thank you to my subscribers. A big thank you to the members. You enable these videos to keep being made. And a big thank you for watching to the end of the video. So until next time keep progressing, keep wandering. I'll see you then!