David Pingree, “The Sabians of Harran and the Classical Tradition,” IJCT 9 (2002-2003), pp. 8-35.

This article addresses questions concerning the characteristics of the paganism of Harran, its eclectic sources, and its development by examining the relationships — real, possible, and fictitious — of various personalities with the city of Harran from Assyrian times till the Mongol attack in 1271. It is suggested that the Sabians used Neoplatonism, which, if Tardieu’s analysis is correct, they originally learned from Simplicius, to develop, explain, and justify their practise of astral magic, and that their interest in the Greek astronomy and astrology that astral magic required served to maintain the study and to preserve the texts of these sciences during the centuries in which they were ignored in Byzantium. It is further shown that the Greek philosophical and scientific material available to them was mingled with elements from ancient Mesopotamia, India, Iran, Judaism, and Egypt to form a syncretic system of belief that they could claim to be mankind’s original and authentic religion.