Haran, eldest son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father Terah, which, from the manner in which it is mentioned, appears to have been a much rarer case in those days than at present (, sq.).
Haran, 2
Ha´ran, or rather Charan, called by the Greeks Charran, and by the Romans Charræ. It was situated in the north-western part of Mesopotamia, on a river of the same name running into the Euphrates. It is supposed to have been so called from Haran, the father of Lot and brother of Abraham; but there appears no ground for this conclusion except the identity of names. Abraham, after he had been called from Ur of the Chaldees tarried here till his father Terah died, when he proceeded to the land of Canaan (;; ). The elder branch of the family still remained at Haran, which led to the interesting journeys thither described in the patriarchal history—first, that of Abraham's servant to obtain a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24), and next, that of Jacob when he fled to evade the wrath of Esau (). The plain bordering on this town is celebrated in history as the scene of a battle in which the Roman army was defeated by the Parthians, and the Triumvir Crassus killed.
Haran still retains its ancient name in the form of Harran, and is only peopled by a few families of wandering Arabs, who are led thither by a plentiful supply of water from several small streams. It is situated in a flat and sandy plain, in 36° 40´ N. lat., 39° 2´ 45˝ E. long.