THE CITY OF THE MOON GOD RELIGIONS IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD FORMERLY ETUDES PRELIMINAIRES AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTA LES DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN EDITORS R. VAN DEN BROEK HJ.W. DRIJVERS H.S. VERSNEL VOLUME 114 THE CITY OF THE MOON GOD RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS OF HARRAN BY TAMARA M. GREEN EJ. BRILL LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN 1992 The series Religions in the Graeco-Roman World presents a forum for studies in the social and cultural function of religions in the Greek and the Roman world, dealing with pagan religions both in their own right and in their interaction with and influence on Christianity and Judaism during a lengthy period of fundamental change. Special attention will be given to the religious history of regions and cities which illustrate the practical workings of these processes. Enquiries regarding the submission of works for publication in the series may be directed to Professor H.]. W. Drijvers, Faculty ofL etters, University of Groningen, 9 712 EK Groningen, The Netherlands. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Green, Tamara M. The city of the Moon god: religious traditions of Harran I by Tamara M. Green. p. cm.-(Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, ISSN 0927-7633 v. ll4=Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans !'Empire romain) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9004095136 (alk. paper) I. Harran (Turkey)-Religion. 2. Cults-Turkey-Harran. 3. Moon worship. 4. Islam-Origin. I. Title. II. Series: Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans !'Empire romain; t. 114. BL2320.G74 1992 291 '.0935-dc20 91-39380 CIP ISSN 0927-7633 ISBN 90 04 09513 6 © Copyright 1992 by E.]. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by E.]. Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Copyrzght Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, SALE1\;/ MA 01970, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS CONTENTS Acknowledgements VII Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter One: Harranian Religion:from the City's Foundation to the Fall of Nabonidus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Historical backgrounds: 2000-539 B.C.E. Harranian Religion Introduction . . . The Moon God . . . The Moon God as Fertility Deity ... Fertility and the Underworld ... The Moon God and the Demonic World ... The "Lamp of Heaven" and Prophecy ... The Moon God and the Power of Kings ... The Moon, Astral Religion and Astrology in Mesopotamia Chapter Two: Harranian Religion: from Alexander to the Muslim Conquest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Historical backgrounds: 539 B.C.E. -640 C.E. Alexander the Great and the Seleucids . . . Parthians and Arabs ... Harran in the Roman Period (65 B.C.E. -363 C.E.) ... From julian to the Muslim Conquest (363-639 C.E.) The Religion of Harran: Survival and Continuity Bath Nikkal, Tar'atha and al-'Uzza ... The Moon and the Sun ... The Gods at Sum a tar Harabesi ... My Lord with His Dogs Chapter Three: Harranian Religion: Syncretism and Assimilation 74 The Identification of Traditions Language and Texts ... Christianity at Edessa ... Per- sians and Semites ... Greeks and the Near East ... Greek Philosophers and the Traditions of Wisdom . . . Hermes Trismegistus and the Hermetic Tradition Chapter Four: Harran After the Muslim Conquest: Muslims and Sabians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Historical Backgrounds: 640-1271 C.E. Harran and the Identity of the Harranians VI CONTENTS Introduction ... The Sabians of the Qur)an: Chwolsohn and his critics Chapter Five: Muslim Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Introduction cI lm and Fiqh Kalam and Falsafah Kalam and Esoteric Islam The Writing of History Chapter Six: Harranian Paganism and Islam 144 Introduction The Calendars of the Catalog and the Chronology Traditional Worship in the Catalog and the Chronology The Moon God and Other Male Deities ... al-cUzza, Tarcatha and Bath Nikkal Evidence for a Planetary Cult in the Catalog Conclusions Chapter Seven: Harran, Hermeticism and Esoteric Islam 162 Introduction Greek Philosophy and Harran Harran and the Hermetic Tradition Harran and the Esoteric Sciences Astrology . . . Alchemy The "Brethren of Purity" and the Harranians Conclusions Chapter Eight: The Mysteries of the Sabians According to Muslim Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Introduction The Catalog of Ibn al-Nadim The "Mystery to the North" ... The Mysteries of the North and Mesopotamian Demonology The Mysteries of the House of the Bughadharis The Mandaeans and the Sabian Mysteries The "Brethren of Purity" and the Sabian Mysteries The Aim of the Sage Mascudi Conclusions Selected Bibliography 218 General Index ..................................... . 225 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council for their support during the earliest stages of this work. A grant from the ACLS allowed me to study sociological theory with Professor Peter Berger, with whom I spent many stimulating afternoons discussing the theoretical frame work of this work. The SSRC generously supported the initial research, including a remarkable trip to Harran and Edessa. Two institutions deserving much gratitude are the Warburg Insti tute in London and the Oriental Room of the New York Public Library; the professional assistance and unfailing courtesy of their staffs were a marvel to behold. The seeds of this book were planted more than 25 years ago in an undergraduate course in Near Eastern history at New York Univer sity taught by F.E. Peters. Later, as thesis advisor, and then as col league and friend, he unfailingly provided a model of scholarship that I have tried hard to emulate. Most recently, Frank has proved to be a patient listener and perceptive critic of this work. Thanks must also be given to Karl Schaefer, who taught me Arab ic, and to J .B. Segal, who was kind enough to spend an afternoon discussing with me the the archaeological puzzles presented by Har ran, and who graciously allowed me to consult unpublished site reports. Professor Gordon Newby of the University of North Caroli na was an attentive reader of the manuscript, and I am grateful for his comments and suggestions. A continuing source of knowledge about Near Eastern religion, both pagan and Christian, in the late antique period has been H .J. W. Drijvers, who read a draft of this work, and who has pro vided both innumerable bibliographical references and illuminating comments on complex textual problems. His friendship has been one of the most delightful consequences of this research. Much affection and gratitude are felt toward my colleagues in the Department of Classical and Oriental Studies at Hunter College who tolerantly listened to my expositions on topics as diverse as Is lamic theology and hermetic doctrine. Two must be especially sin gled out: the late Claireve Grandjouan, who enthusiastically en couraged me as I ventured outside the field of classics; and Robert VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS J. White, who not only listened tolerantly but also cheerfully as sumed my duties as chairman of the Department for a semester so that this study might be completed. This work is dedicated to my husband, Martin Green, who has served faithfully and lovingly as listening post, editor, computer consultant, traveling companion and brewer of endless pots of coffee. INTRODUCTION "Survival is never mere continuity, but the continuity of change." ... Henri Frankfort Twenty-five miles southeast of the busy commercial city of Urfa, once called Edessa, and now a provincial capital in southeastern Turkey, lie the ruins of the city of Harran. Harran, whose climate Ammianus Marcellinus described as very mild in the winter and very hot in the summer, with an abundance of gnats and lions, 1 is situated on the J ullab river near the source of the Balikh at the inter section of several ancient caravan routes to Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia. Edessa's chief rival in late antiquity, Harran's most notable fea tures now are a few distinctive beehive-shaped mud brick houses that once dotted the region and the remains of an eighth-century Ummayad fortress-palace complex. Partially standing, too, are the walls of a mosque, which also had its foundations in the Ummayad period, but which was enlarged and rebuilt several times, for the last time at the end of the twelfth century, when it was restored by Saladin. The ruins of an extensive city wall can still be seen; and almost completely intact is the upper part of the Aleppo gate, seem ing now to extend open to nowhere, and which is dated by an in scription to A.H. 588 (1192 C.E.). The surrounding landscape is desolate, the lack of an adequate water supply everywhere evident. It seems almost beyond the capa bilities of the imagination to recognize in these ruins a city which had its foundation in the early second millennium B.C .E., a city where the patriarch Abraham, it is claimed, had once resided amid poplar, almond and plane trees, 2 whose prosperity the Prophet Elijah had noted, and that had, at its height, perhaps 20,000 inhabi tants. Impossible to visualize, too, is the great temple of the Moon god, Sin, the protecting deity of Harran, whose oracles were sought by succeeding generations of Semites, Persians, Greeks and Romans. 1 Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, XVIII.7,5. 2 Genesis 30:37.