Debate over the location of a long-lost temple has been rekindled by the discovery of a mysterious inscription at the base of a column in the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs, Syria . Known in antiquity as Emesa, Homs lies at a crucial crossroads of ancient commerce routes linked to Antioch, Damascus and the wider Levant. Completed in the early 12th Century, Homs’ Great Mosque was built on the ruins of a late 4th Century church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. However, scholars have long