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worshiper, and there is a mutually story told that after
contemplatingthe setting of Sun and the Moon, he came to the
conclusion that there
must be one God. There was a great temple dedicated to the
moongod Sin at Harran, and it is claimed that Harran was one of
seven cities
each of which was dedicated to one of the seven planets. Such
a
system of astrolatry could be the oldest religion of man.
Ancientstructures like Stonehenge and the pyramids are known to
be
constructed on the basis of very fine astronomical calculations
suchplanetary and stellar movements, seasons and eclipse. It is
also the
source for astrology which seeks to establish a unity between
the
greater phenomenon in the macrocosmos, and the lesser
phenomenonin the microcosmos (man).
In 639 A.D. Harran came under Islamic rule The Caliph Marwan
(744-750 AD) moved to Harran and brought the Umayyad Empire
from
Damascus to Harran. In 830 A.D. It is said that the Caliph
al-Ma'mum
while passing through Harran during an expedition to
Byzantium,asked the Harranians what religion they belonged to. They
said, "We
are Harranians," and made it clear that they were neither
Muslims,Christians or Jews, the Caliph said that was not good
enough, they had to be either Muslims, Jews, Christians or
Sabians, as only these are lawfully "People of the
Book"according to the Koran. The Caliph continued on his journey
and said
they when he got back, they better convert to one these or it
would belawful to shed the blood of idolaters. After consultations
the anxious
Harranians were advised by someone clever to say "We are
Sabians,"
and thereby the Pagan "Sabians" were able to continue their
faithundisturbed until in 1251, when Harran was destroyed by a
Mongol
invasion.
The Harranian school drew from many resources, they had their
rootsin Chaldea and schools of the Magi; they harbored priceless
Greek
scrolls and which would have otherwise may have been lost.
Theywere influenced by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They
revered
Hermes Trismegistus as theri prophet and the Corpus Hermeticum
astheir holy book. Hermes Trismegistus was believed to be an
ancient
great Egyptain sage, perhaps Imhotep, who as the founder of
writing
and the author of many books on science, medicine, theology,
ethics,astrology, alchemy and magic. In the Hermeticum we have
his
teaching in the form of mystic visions, He has been equated with
theGreek god Hermes, and the Egyptian god Thoth or Tehuti, but
the
Hermeticum portrays a divinely inspired teacher. He has also
been
equated with Enoch in the Bible, and Idris in the Koran. Through
theHermeticum's monotheistic teachings, the Harranians where able
to
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claim themselves as one of the "People" of the book, though
Sabianmight
haveactually
referred
more tothe
Mandaians of Iraq, who are followers of John the Baptist.
Seven years after the conquest of Constantinople in 1460, the
ruler ofFlorence, Cosimo de' Medici obtained a rare manuscript.
This was but
one of many that made its way to the West from Byzantium after
its
fall. Medici immediately told Marsilio Ficino to delay his
translation ofPlato and to begin translating this new manuscript
without delay. This
manuscript was the Corpus Hermeticum, which may have been
passedinto Byzantine hands from Harran. The work had wide
influence. There
was even a suggestion that it should be placed into the Bible.
However,eventually the interest died down when it was claimed that
the
Hermeticum, which was written in Greek, was a recent work
influenced
by Christianity and Neo-Platonism. However this did not stop
thespread of various Hermetic movements. Today, with the discovery
of a
Hermetic text in Nag Hamada, scholarship is confirming an
Egyptianroot for the Corpus Hermeticum.
It is interesting that Hermeticism as a cult of knowledge was
upheld in
Harran, which as a cultural crossroad has embodied many
differentscientific and spiritual enrichments. Could Harran be the
last inheritor
of a lost knowledge thqt at one time was spread throughout the
world?It is known that the Sabians played a part in Ataturk's
theory of a
Solar Cult in the ancient world and it is believed to be the
source of
Ruins of the Harran University destroyed in 1251
