User:Beodizia/Ekhulkhul

The Elkhulkhul or Elhulhul (Sumerian: 𒂍𒄾𒄾 É.ḪÚL.ḪÚL, transliterated in Akkadian as šubat ḫidāti, meaning "Temple of Rejoicing")

History
The Elkhulkhul made Harran into a famous religious site as the seat of Sin. Sin was in later times referred to as the Lord of Harran (bēl Ḫarrān) and his association with Harran was so strong that he was also designated as such in personal names across the Assyrian Empire. Even in Nineveh, the temple dedicated to Sin was called the "house of the Lord of Harran" (bīt bēl Ḫarrān).

The Elkhulkhul was restored many times throughout ancient Mesopotamian history, sometimes as a political act and sometimes out of devotion for Sin. The temple was restored by the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser III ((r. 859 – 824) BC) and Ashurbanipal ((r. 669 – 631) BC). Ashurbanipal further installed his younger brother Ashur-etel-shame-erseti-muballissu the high priest of Sin in Harran.

Harran and the Elkhulkhul were left damaged and in need of restoration during the fall of Harran in 610 BC. It was eventually restored by the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus ((r. 556 – 539) BC).

Decline and fate
The pagan temples of Syria and Egypt were closed in the 380s on the orders of the Praetorian Prefect Maternus Cynegius. Many temples were outright destroyed but the Elkhulkhul survived with partial damage. The idols kept in the Elkhulkhul were however taken away and some were destroyed. There are records of the Roman emperor Theodosius I ((r. undefined – undefined)379–395) destroying a "great pagan temple without equal" somewhere in the east in the 380s or 390s, sometimes suggested to have been the Elkhulkhul.

The ultimate fate of the Elkhulkhul is uncertain. It is believed that one of the later major medieval buildings in Harran from its time under Islamic rule either originated as a conversion of the temple or were constructed on top of its ruins. Most scholars favor the as standing on the site of the Elkhulkhul   due to having been a site of worship and due to archaeological finds from its ruins including Babylonian inscriptions mentioning the ancient temple, four stelae of Nabonidus, and an ancient altar with moon iconography. The identification with the mosque fits with records of Iyad ibn Ghanm, the Islamic general who conquered Harran from the Byzantine Empire in 640, converting a great temple in the city into a mosque and providing the pagans of Harran with a different new temple. Ghanm's mosque was later rebuilt into the Grand Mosque under the Umayyad caliph Marwan II ((r. undefined – undefined)744–750).

Design and description
No archaeological evidence of the Ekhulkhul has yet been uncovered. The fourth-century Roman author Libanius wrote that many in his time considered the great temple of Harran to be the "equal of the Serapeum in Alexandria". Libanius also described the temple as having a tower from which it was possible to overlook the entire surrounding the city. This tower was at times used as a watchtower and military outpost.