The tradition of Abraham's migration

THE TRADITION OF ABRAHAM'S MIGRATION

The narrative about the migration of the patriarchal ancestor of the Israelite nation emphasizes their origin in Mesopotamia and their subsequent association with Egypt, the two great riverine cultures of the ancient Near East. Ur of the Chaldees was the venerable city of the moon god Sin in southern Mesopotamia, Sumer. It had once controlled a vast commercial empire in the late third millennium B.C. The Chaldees, however, are the former nomadic people who settled there in the early Iron Age and achieved supremacy with their capital at Babylon, during the seventh century B.C. Haran was at the principal crossroads of commerce in Upper Mesopotamia. Several of the patriarchal relatives are actually the patronyms of known cities in that vicinity; Haran and Nahor appear in the Mari letters of the eighteenth century B.C. while Tell Terah and Serug are known from later Assyrian sources.

Article abstract from The Sacred Bridge