_Ešrit pirê buḫali dannūti_ Ten powerful bull-elephants _ina mât Ḫarrāni u šidi nâr_ in the land of Haran and on _Ḫabur_ the banks of the Ḫabour _lu-adûk; irbit pirê balṭūti_ I killed; four elephants alive _lu-uṣabita. Maškani-šunu_ I took. Their skins, _šinni-šunu itti pirê_ their teeth, with the living _balṭūti, ana âli-ia Aššur elephants, I brought to my ubla._ city Asshur. If there were elephants in “the land of Haran” 1100 years before Christ, it is very probable that they were to be found in the neighbourhood a thousand years earlier, but notwithstanding any disadvantage which may have been felt from the presence of these enormous beasts, it was in all probability a sufficiently safe district for one possessing flocks and herds. There is no reason to suppose that the presence of elephants around Haran in any way influenced the patriarch to leave the place, for these animals were to be found (according to an inscription supposed to have been written for the same Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser I.) in Lebanon, and therefore in the country where Abraham settled after quitting Haran. As has already been noted, this was the centre of the worship of the Moon-god Sin or Nannaru,(38) and Terah and his family, in settling in this place, doubtless saw the same ceremonies in connection with the worship of this deity as they had been accustomed to see in Babylonia, slightly modified; and this would be the case whether Terah’s family came from Uriwa or not, the Moon-god being worshipped in more cities than one in Babylonia. Something of the importance of the shrine of Nannaru at Haran may be gathered from the fact, that the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (to all appearance) was crowned there. As the text recording this is very interesting, and reveals something of the beliefs of the Assyrians and the natives of Haran, I quote here the passage referring to the ceremony, restoring the wording where defective. The writer is apparently addressing Aššur-banî-âpli, “the great and noble Asnapper”— “When the father of the king my lord went to Egypt, he was crowned (?) in the _qanni_ of Haran, the temple (lit. ‘Bethel’) of cedar. The god Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two crowns upon his head, (and) the god Nusku stood before him. The father of the king my lord entered, (and) he(39) placed (the crown?) upon his head, (saying) thus: ‘Thou shalt go and capture the lands in the midst.’ (He we)nt, he captured the land of Egypt. The rest of the lands not submitting (?) to Aššur and Sin, the king, the lord of kings, shall capture (them”). [Here follow an invocation of the gods, and wishes for a long life for the king, the stability (?) of his throne, etc.]