In this contribution I carried out an assessment of the archaeological discoveries from various districts of the present city of Homs, considering, in addition, the excavations carried out over the past thirty years, most of whose results have not yet been published. It follows from this assessment that the occupation of the city dates back only to Roman times and later, but not prior to this date. This first observation was supplemented by the study of epigraphic data. These have shown that no known inscription is dated to the Hellenistic period. Using these results, it therefore seems that Emesa, as an important city, did not exist before Roman times, although cities like Arethusa or Apamea, also located on the banks of the Orontes, were already important Hellenistic cities, located however in a natural context different from that of Emesa.