The constant use of cuneiform signs in architectural structures, in business forms and in every department of social and industrial life and the ever present schools for scribes in all the great cities of Mesopotamia made this impossible. The art of writing was no new thing to this young Semite prince. It was an art even then hoary with age. With all to whom Abraham is a historic personality, the story of his life and times as recorded in the biblical narrative, is illuminated as never before in the testimony of these cuneiform documents from old Chaldea. The biblical narrative does not touch upon the causes which led Abraham away from the land of his nativity. Jewish and Arabian traditions, however, state (and there may be a grain of truth in these traditions), that this was the result of the revolt of Abraham against the idols of Ur, and his refusal to acknowledge them as divine; that this brought upon him and his father’s family a storm of persecution from the priests and people which ended in their banishment from Ur, and their departure for a distant country. The references in the scripture narrative to Terah, the father of Abraham, as an idolator, and the Arabian tradition as a sculptor or maker of idols, is significant in these connections. The destination of this family was Haran, at that time a Turanian city in northern Mesopotamia, an important frontier station on the high road to Syria and Palestine, and the various roads to the fords of the Tigris and Euphrates. The word Haran is from the Accadian, Kharran, “a road,” and was thus named for its position. It is said to lie in a region of exceeding fertility and beauty. Its fine, free air and commanding views make it the delight of the Bedaween tribes who find here luxuriant pasturage for innumerable flocks and herds. Previous to the time of Abraham, there seems to have been at Haran, and in the region round about, a considerable colony of Semitic people, as indicated by Assyrian inscriptions. Since Abraham’s date, “Nahor’s City” and the “Well of Rebekah,” located near Haran, bear these ancient names to the present day. The deity of Haran was then the Moon God, the same deity as worshipped at Ur, always a favorite divinity with all Semitic people, and which might have been an influence that drew Terah there. During the remaining years of Terah’s life, Abraham remained in this locality, prospering greatly; but with his father’s death his long conceived purpose of establishing himself in Canaan was finally achieved. After Abraham’s arrival in Canaan with his numerous household, his princely retinue and his great possessions, we find him again in contact with certain Babylonian princes who have invaded Canaan and have obtained sovereignty in various localities.