Sergiopolis

(Arabic Rasafah)

   Major sixth-century garrison city on the Euphrates (q.v.) frontier, north of Palmyra (q.v.). Anastasios I (q.v.) named the town after a saint named Sergios (q.v.), who was martyred during the reign of Diocletian (q.v.) with a saint named Bakchos (the church of Sts. Sergios and Bakchos in Constantinople [q.v.] is named after them). Justinian I (q.v.) rebuilt the city, refortifying its walls, but it fell to Chosroes I (q.v.) in 540, and to the Arabs (q.v.) in the seventh century. Today its ruins, including the monumental Basilica A, form (along with the Monastery of Symeon Stylites [q.v.]) an impressive example of the architectural richness of late antique Syria (q.v.).