or Homs ancient Emesa
City (pop., 1994: 540,133), central Syria.
It is located near the Orontes River . As Emesa, it contained a large temple to the sun god El Gebal and was the birthplace of the priest-king Elagabalus , who became Roman emperor in AD 218. The emperor Aurelian defeated Queen Zenobia of Palmyra there in 272. It was taken in 636 by the Muslims, who renamed it Ḥimṣ. In 1516 it passed into Ottoman hands, where it remained until the creation of Syria after World War I (1914–18). Ḥimṣ is a thriving agricultural market centre and has oil and sugar refineries. It is the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean Sea coast.