Harran

district and town in Şanlıurfa, Turkey and ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia

15 dated entries naming Harran, drawn from 14 separate years between 612 BCE and 1982 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Carrhae in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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7th century BC

  • 612 BCEAshur-uballit II attempts to keep the Assyrian state alive by establishing himself as king at Harran.source
  • 609 BCEThe Medes and the Babylonians defeat the Assyrians under Ashur-uballit II and capture Harran. Ashur-uballit II, the last king of Assyria, disappears from history.source

4th century BC

  • 311 BCEUpon entering Mesopotamia Seleucus manages to persuade some of the Macedonian veterans settled at Carrhae to join his cause. He then marches on to his old satrapy (province) of Babylonia gathering additional force along the way.source

3rd century

  • 242Emperor Gordian III begins a campaign against King Shapur I, and leads victories at Antioch, Carrhae, Nisibis, and Resaina.source
  • 242Shapur I makes a pre-emptive attack on Antioch to drive out the Romans. Gordian's father-in-law, Timesitheus, leads a Roman army to defeat the Sassanids at Carrhae and Nisibis.source
  • 296The Persian king Narseh invades Roman-held Upper Mesopotamia and Arsacid western Armenia, the latter territory being under the leadership of the pro-Roman king Tiridates III. With only a small army, Caesar Galerius fights three holding actions against Narseh's army in Mesopotamia. Somewhere in the open plains between Carrhae and Callinicum, Galerius' army suffers a defeat against the Persian army, which is both more numerous and contains superior numbers of high-quality cavalry. Nevertheless, Galerius succeeds in blunting the Persian offensive.source

4th century

  • 363April – Julian crosses the Euphrates near Hierapolis, using 50 pontoon ships, and moves eastwards to Carrhae. He destroys Perisapora and overruns Persian forts along the desert frontier (Limes Arabicus).source

8th century

  • 734June 3 – Simeon of the Olives, Syriac bishop of Harran (born 624/5)source
  • 793August 17 – Quriaqos of Tagrit is consecrated Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch at Harran.source

12th century

  • 1104May 7 – Battle of Harran: The Crusaders under Baldwin II are defeated by the Seljuk Turks. Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtenay are taken prisoner. Tancred (nephew of Bohemond I) becomes regent of Edessa. The defeat at Harran marks a key turning point of Crusader expansion.source
  • 1105Autumn – Kilij Arslan I, sultan of the Sultanate of Rum, leads a Seljuk expedition to take over Melitene (modern Turkey). He attempts to capture Edessa, but the Crusader fortress is too strongly defended by its garrison. Kilij Arslan then moves on to Harran, which surrenders to him.source
  • 1123May – Baldwin II and Joscelin I are rescued by 50 Armenian soldiers (disguised as monks and merchants) at Kharput. They kill the guards, and infiltrate the castle where the prisoners are kept. Joscelin escapes to seek help. However, the castle is soon besieged by Turkish forces under Belek Ghazi – and is after some time recaptured. Baldwin and Waleran of Le Puiset are moved for greater safety to the castle of Harran.source
  • 1127Imad ad-Din Zengi, a Turkish military leader, becomes governor (atabeg) of Mosul. He seizes the cities of Nisibin, Sinjar and Harran in the Jazira Region (Northern Mesopotamia).source
  • 1144Autumn – Imad al-Din Zengi, Seljuk governor (atabeg) of Mosul, attacks the Artuqid forces led by Kara Arslan – who has made an alliance with Joscelin II, count of Edessa. In support of the alliance Joscelin marches out of Edessa with a Crusader army down to the Euphrates River, to cut off Zengi's communications with Aleppo. Zengi is informed by Muslim observers at Harran of Joscelin's movements. He sends a detachment of Muslims to ambush the Crusaders and reaches Edessa with his main army in late November.source

20th century

  • 1982February 3 – Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.source

Named in the same entries