Dictionary Summary: Heb. haran, i.e., “parched;” or probably from the Accadian charana, meaning “a road.” A celebrated city of Western Asia, now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the Chaldees, till his father Terah died ([Gen. 11:31](/gen#Gen.11.31), [32](/gen#Gen.11.32)), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called “Charran” in the LXX. and in [Acts 7:2](/acts#Acts.7.2). It is called the “city of Nahor” ([Gen. 24:10](/gen#Gen.24.10)), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43). It stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates, about 70 miles above where it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia or Padan-aram, and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct line. It was on the caravan route between the east and west. It is afterwards mentioned among the towns taken by the king of Assyria ([2 Kings 19:12](/2kgs#2Kgs.19.12); [Isa. 37:12](/isa#Isa.37.12)). It was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name Carrhae. ²