Hums Homs, Or Hems (Anc. Emesa or Emissa), a fortified city of Syria, 90 m. N. by E. of Damascus, about 1 m. from the river Aasy or Orontes; pop. about 30,000, including 7,000 Greek Christians. It is a prosperous town, having considerable trade, and manufactories of woollen, cotton, and silk fabrics, and of gold and silver thread. The houses are built of black basalt, and many of the streets are paved with the same material. In pagan times Emesa was celebrated for its magnificent temple of the sun, one of whose priests, Elagabalus, was made emperor of Rome in A. D. 218 by the legions of Syria. Odenathus, husband of Zenobia, the renowned queen of Palmyra, was murdered in this city in 266, and Zenobia herself was vanquished in its vicinity, in 273, by the emperor Aurelian. Lying in the direct route which an army must traverse in passing between Egypt and the Euphrates, the ancient Emesa was occupied in turn by invaders from either direction. In G36 it was captured by the Saracens, and it passed under the control of the successive Moslem dynasties. In 1099 it was taken by the crusaders, and in 1175 by Saladin. After many vicissitudes it was in 1517 added to the Ottoman empire.

In July, 1832, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt here gained a decisive victory over the pasha of Aleppo. In 1840 it was with the rest of Syria restored to Turkey by the intervention of the European powers.