A city of the tribe of Asher, Jg 1:31. In the New Testament, Accho is called Ptolemais, Ac 21:7; from one of the Ptolemais, who enlarged and beautified it. The crusaders gave it the name of Acre, of St. John of Acre. It is still called Akka by the Turks. It sustained several sieges during the crusades, and was the last fortified place wrested from the Christians by the Turks.

The town is situated on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, thirty miles south of Tyre, on the north angle of a bay to which it gives its name, and which extends in a semicircle of three leagues, as far as the point of Mount Carmel, south-west of Acre. After its memorable siege by Bonaparte, when he was repulsed by Sir Sidney Smith, in 1799, Accho was much improved and strengthened, and its population was estimated at from 18,000 to 20,000. It has since then suffered greatly, having been besieged six months by Ibrahim Pacha, in 1832, and bombarded by an English fleet in 1840. Present population, (1859), 10,000 or 12,000.

Accho and all the seacoast beyond it northwards, was considered as the heathen land of the Jews.

sultry or sandy, a town and harbour of Phoenicia, in the tribe of Asher, but never acquired by them (Jg 1:31). It was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans by the name of Ptolemais, from Ptolemy the king of Egypt, who rebuilt it about B.C. 100. Here Paul landed on his last journey to Jerusalem (Ac 21:7). During the crusades of the Middle Ages it was called Acra; and subsequently, on account of its being occupied by the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem, it was called St. Jean d'Acre, or simply Acre.

Ptolemais in the New Testament, Jean d'Acre (named from the knights of John of Jerusalem); called "the key of Palestine." Its sands were employed by the Sidonians in making glass. The name is akin to the Arab Akeh, a sandy shore heated by the sun. The chief seaport in Syria, 30 miles S. of Tyre; on the N. of the only inlet on the Palestine coast, with Carmel on the S. side. The distance across is eight miles. The river Belus flows into the sea close under the town walls. Accho was Asher's portion, but never was wrested from the original dwellers (Jg 1:31). Paul landed here from Tyre, and stayed one day with Christian brethren, before sailing on to Caesarea (Ac 21:7).

Ac'cho

A seaport in the Mediterranean, about 30 miles south of Tyre. It was assigned to Asher, but it was one of the places they failed to possess. It is mentioned in the O.T. only in Jg 1:31. After the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire Accho could not fail to excite attention in the numerous contests that took place during the Era of the Ptolemies: by one of whom it was gained and was called PTOLEMAIS. By this latter name it is frequently referred to in the books of Maccabees and by Josephus. In Ac 21:7 also we read that Paul sailed to Ptolemais. It was made a Roman colony by the emperor Claudius and named Colonia Claudii Caesaris. It was besieged and taken by the Crusaders, who called it ACRE and ST. JEAN D'ACRE on account of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1799 it was held by the English against Napoleon, who was defeated. Notwithstanding all these changes it retains its ancient name, and is still called Acco. An ancient coin gives the name in Greek letters AKE. It lies in the north of the bay of Acre, 32 55' N, 35 4' E. The population is 40,000 of which two-thirds are Jews AD2000, this compares with about 5,000 in AD1800, of which 2,250 males were Muslims and Druzes, and about 800 Christians and Jews.

Ac'cho

(the PTOLEMAIS of the Maccabees and New Testament),

See Ptolemais

Now called Acca, or more usually by Europeans St. Jean d'Acre, the most important seaport town on the Syrian coast, about 30 miles south of Tyre. It was situated on a slightly projecting headland, at the northern extremity of that spacious bay which is formed by the bold promontory of Carmel on the opposite side. Later it was named Ptolemais, after one of the Ptolemies, probably Soter. The only notice of it in the New Testament is in

Ac 21:7

where it is called Ptolemais.

ACCHO, afterward called Ptolemais, and now Akka by the Arabs, and Acre by the Turks. It was given to the tribe of Asher, Jg 1:31. Christianity was planted here at an early period, and here St. Paul visited the saints in his way to Jerusalem, Ac 21:7. It is a seaport of Palestine, thirty miles south of Tyre, and, in the first partition of the holy land, belonged to the tribe of Asher; but this was one of the places out of which the Israelites could not drive the primitive inhabitants. In succeeding times it was enlarged by the first Ptolemy, to whose lot it fell, and who named it after himself, Ptolemais.

This city, now called Acre, which, from the convenience of its port, is one of the most considerable on the Syrian coast, was, during almost two centuries, the principal theatre of the holy wars, and the frequent scene of the perfidies and treacheries of the crusaders.

Among its antiquities, Dr. E. D. Clarke describes the remains of a very considerable edifice, exhibiting a conspicuous appearance among the buildings on the north side of the city. "In this structure the style of the architecture is of the kind we call Gothic. Perhaps it has on that account borne among our countrymen the appellation of 'King Richard's Palace,' although, in the period to which the tradition refers, the English were hardly capable of erecting palaces, or any other buildings of equal magnificence. Two lofty arches, and part of the cornice, are all that now remain to attest the former greatness of the superstructure. The cornice, ornamented with enormous stone busts, exhibiting a series of hideous distorted countenances, whose features are in no instances alike, may either have served as allusions to the decapitation of St. John, or were intended for a representation of the heads of Saracens suspended as trophies upon the walls." Maundrell and Pococke consider this building to have been the church of St. Andrew; but Dr. E. D. Clarke thinks it was that of St. John, erected by the Knights of Jerusalem, whence the city changed its name of Ptolemais for that of St. John d'Acre. He also considers the style of architecture to be in some degree the original of our ornamented Gothic, before its translation from the holy land to Italy, France, and England.

Mr. Buckingham, who visited Acre in 1816, says, "Of the Canaanitish Accho it would be thought idle perhaps to seek for remains; yet some presented themselves to my observation so peculiar in form and materials, and of such high antiquity, as to leave no doubt in my own mind of their being the fragments of buildings constructed in the earliest ages.

Of the splendour of Ptolemais, no perfect monument remains; but throughout the town are seen shafts of red and grey granite, and marble pillars. The Saracenic remains are only to be partially traced in the inner walls of the town; which have themselves been so broken down and repaired, as to leave little visible of the original work; and all the mosques, fountains, bazaars, and other public buildings, are in a style rather Turkish than Arabic, excepting only an old, but regular and well-built khan or caravanserai, which might perhaps be attributed to the Saracen age. The Christian ruins are altogether gone, scarcely leaving a trace of the spot on which they stood. Acre has been rendered famous in our own times by the successful resistance made by our countryman Sir Sydney Smith, aided by the celebrated Djezzar Pasha, to the progress of the French under Buonaparte. Since this period, the fortifications have been considerably increased; and although to the eye of an engineer they may still be very defective, Acre may be considered as the strongest place in Palestine.

Mr. Conner says, on the authority of the English consul, that there are about ten thousand inhabitants in Acre, of whom three thousand are Turks, and the remainder Christians, chiefly Catholics.