[3][4] According to Andreas Kropp, the monument may be considered to have been a "hybrid creation" and a "fascinating one-off experiment" that resulted from "the cultural choices which the ruling class of Emesa had to face when attempting to reconcile Roman allegiance and Near Eastern tradition.

Louis-François Cassas' reproduction of an inscription bearing the name "CAIUS CÆSAR" on plate 23 of Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, published 1799, is considered to have been a fantasy of the artist.

[12] In the 19th century, William Henry Waddington copied a Greek inscription said to have belonged to the monument[13] and a copy of the latter by Dr. Skender Effendi (hereafter reproduced with the characters Ε, Ξ and Ω): ΓΑΙΟϹΙΟΥΛΙΟϹΦΑΒΙΑϹΑΜϹΙΓΕΡΑΜΟϹΟΚΑΙϹΕΙΛΑϹΓΑΙΟΥΙΟΥΛΙΟΥΑΛΕΞΙΩΝΟϹΥΙΟϹΖΩΝΕΠΟΙΗϹΕΝΑΥΤΩΚΑΙΤΟΙϹΙΛ ΟΙϹΕΤΟΥϹϞΤ[14]Γάϊος Ἰούλιος, Φαβίᾳ, Σαμσιγέραμος ὁ καὶ Σεί[λ]ας, Γαΐου Ἰουλίου Ἀλεξίωνος υἱός, ζῶν ἐποίησεν [ἑ]αυτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἰ[δί]οις, ἔτους ϟτʹ[15]Carlos Chad has given the following translation of the inscription reconstituted by Waddington: "Caius Julius Sampsigéram, de la tribu Fabia, dit Seilas, fils de Caius Julius Alexion, a construit de son vivant ce tombeau, pour lui-même et les siens, l'an 390 [of the Seleucids]", id est in 78 or 79 CE.

"[19] Upon completion, the monument was about 25 meters high and, as worded by Kropp, "retained the basic formal characteristics of a traditional nefesh, i.e. a pyramidal stele, albeit on an immense scale", comparable with those of Kamouh el Hermel (in Lebanon) and the Tomb of Hamrath at Suwayda (also destroyed).

[21] The outer walls and the roof were conceived in opus reticulatum, which is considered a rarity in the Orient,[10][22] following a purely Roman construction technique using concrete which certainly necessitated the intervention of workers of Italian origin or having undergone a specific training.