Aram-Naharaim Aramaic:
ארם נהריים is a region that is mentioned five times in the
Hebrew Bible or
Old Testament. It is commonly identified with
Nahrima mentioned in three tablets of the
Amarna correspondence as a geographical description of the kingdom of
Mitanni. In Genesis, it is used somewhat interchangeably with the names
Paddan Aram and
Haran to denote the place where
Abraham stayed briefly with his father
Terah's family after leaving
Ur of the Chaldees, while
en route to
Canaan (Gen. 11:31), and the place to which later patriarchs obtained wives, rather than marry daughters of Canaan.
Paddan Aram refers to the part of Aram-Naharaim along the upper Euphrates, while
Haran is mainly identified with the ancient
Assyrian city of
Harran on the
Balikh River. According to one rabbinical Jewish tradition, the birthplace of
Abraham (Ur) was also situated in Aram-Naharaim.