The temple was sacked by Crassus on his way to meet the Parthians (53 B.C.); but in the 3rd century of the empire the city was the capital of the Euphratensian province and one of the great cities of Syria. Procopius called it the greatest in that part of the world. It was, however, ruinous when Julian collected his troops there ere marching to his defeat and death in Mesopotamia, and Chosroes I. held it to ransom after Justinian had failed to put it in a state of defence. Harun restored it at the end of the 8th century and it became a bone of contention between Byzantines, Arabs and Turks. The crusaders captured it from the Seljuks in the 12th century, but Saladin retook it (1175), and later it became the headquarters of Hulagu and his Mongols, who completed its ruin. The remains are extensive, but almost wholly of late date, as is to be expected in the case of a city which survived into Moslem times. The walls are Arab, and no ruins of the great temple survive. The most noteworthy relic of antiquity is the sacred lake, on two sides of which can still be seen stepped quays and water-stairs. The first modern account of the site is in a short narrative appended by H. Maundrell to his _Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem_. He was at Mumbij in 1699. The coinage of the city begins in the 4th century B.C. with an Aramaic series, showing the goddess, either as a bust with mural crown or as riding on a lion. She continues to supply the chief type even during imperial times, being generally shown seated with the _tympanum_ in her hand. Other coins substitute the legend [Greek: Theas Surias Hieropoliton], within a wreath. It is interesting to note that from _Bambyce_ (near which much silk was produced) were derived the _bombycina vestis_ of the Romans and, through the crusaders, the bombazine of modern commerce. See F. R. Chesney, _Euphrates Expedition_ (1850); W. F. Ainsworth, _Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition_ (1888); E. Sachau, _Reise in Syrien_, &c. (1883); D. G. Hogarth in _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ (1909).