 The place appears in Greek as "Bambyce" and Pliny (v. 23) recorded its Syrian name as "Mabog" (also "Mabbog", ).As a center of the worship of the Syrian goddess Atargatis, it became known to the Greeks as () 'city of the sanctuary', and finally as () 'holy city' (in ).This worship of Atargatis was immortalized in "De Dea Syria" which has traditionally been attributed to Lucian of Samosata, who gave a full description of the religious cult of the shrine and the tank of sacred fish of Atargatis, of which Aelian also relates marvels.