Hems, HOMS, or HUMS

Hems, HOMS, or HUMS (Lat. Emesa), a city of Syria, is situated near the right bank of the Orontes, 63 miles NE. of Tripoli. It is surrounded by ancient walls, now greatly ruined, and is entered by six gates. Its streets are narrow and dirty, and its houses mean. In ancient times it was chiefly celebrated for its temple of the Sun, now destroyed, though probably its site is occupied by the dilapidated castle or fortress, ruined by Ibrahim Pasha in 1831. One of the priests of this temple, Heliogabalus, was raised to the imperial throne of Rome in 218. Under the walls of Hems (Emesa) Zenobia was defeated by the Emperor Aurelian in 272. In 636 the city was taken by the Saracens, when its old Semitic name Hems was revived; and in 1098 it fell into the hands of the Crusaders. It has a considerable trade in oil, cotton, and sesame, and produces, besides these commodities, silk goods and gold wares. Pop. about 20,000.