Crossword Genius

Majestic city in Syria overlooking Euphrates, primarily built for the aristocracy to live in (7,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stately homes

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'syria overlooking euphrates primarily built for the aristocracy to live in' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'majestic city in' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'city' could be 'ely' (I've seen this before) and 'ely' is found in the answer.
'in' could be 'athome' ('at home' can be similar in meaning to 'in') and 'athome' is found within the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'sts' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for stately homes that I've seen is " Piles".)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and the Irish Times.
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