Homs

( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast.

Before the Syrian civil war, Homs was a major industrial hub with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflected Syria's general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite Muslims, and Christians. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a World Heritage Site.

Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st century BC in the Seleucid Empire, becoming the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesene dynasty who gave the city its name. Originally a center of worship for El-Gabal, a pagan idol linked to the sun, it later gained importance in Christianity under the Byzantines. Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century and made capital of a district that bore its current name. Throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the city's strategic position in the area. Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its economic importance when its cotton industry boomed. During French Mandate rule, the city became a center of insurrection and, after independence in 1946, a center of Baathist resistance to the first Syrian governments.

During the civil war, much of the city was devastated due to the Siege of Homs; reconstruction to affected parts of the city is underway. In December 2024, Syrian rebels began an offensive, entering Homs and taking control of the city on December 8.

Etymology

The city's modern name is an Arabic form of the city's Latin name Emesus, derived from the Greek Émesa or Émesos, or Hémesa.

Most sources claim that the name Emesa in turn derived from the name of the nomadic Arab tribe known in Greek as Emesenoi, who inhabited the region prior to Roman influence in the area. Émesa was shortened to Homs or Hims by its Arab inhabitants, many of whom settled there prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria.

Other sources claim that the name Émesa or Hémesa was derived from that of the Aramean city of Hamath-zobah, a combination of Hamath (; ; "fortress") and Sawbah (; Ṣwba; "nearness"). Thus, the name collectively means "The fortress surrounding" which refers to the Citadel of Homs and the encircling plains.

The city was subsequently referred to as (Khémps) in Medieval Greek, and as "la Chamelle" (literally meaning "the female camel" in French but likely a corruption of the Arabic name according to René Dussaud) by the Crusaders (e.g. William of Tyre, Historia, 7.12, 21.6), although they never ruled the city.

History

For approximately 2,000 years, Homs has served as a key agricultural market, production site and trade centre for the villages of northern Syria. It has also provided security services to the hinterland of Syria, protecting it from invading forces. a battle took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River near Homs. It was possibly the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000–6,000 chariots.

Emesene dynasty and Roman rule

Strabo only mentioned Arethusa in his Geography, as a "very strong place" of the Arab Sampsigeramos and of his son Iamblikhos, "phylarchs" of the Emesene, who had allied themselves to Q. Caecilius Bassus against Caesar in 47 BC; the translators above cited have thought strange Strabo's not saying a word about Emesa. Claims have been made that Emesa was founded by Seleucus I Nicator who established the Seleucid Empire upon the death of Alexander the Great. However, according to Henri Seyrig, Emesa does not seem to have received any Greek colony and the authors' complete silence makes one think that it did not increase its visibility under the Seleucid kings. According to Henri Seyrig, it even seems that Posidonius, to whom Strabo probably referred concerning the Emesenes' phylarchs' alliance with Q. Caecilius Bassus, regarded the Emesenes as a simple tribe, governed by its sheikhs, and still devoid of a real urban existence;