Acco Accho Dor

(Judg. 1:31) (sandy and scorched by the sun) — now Akko, or Acre, or, from its connection with the Knights of St. John, Saint-Jean-d’Acre, or Ptolemais (so named after the first Egyptian king Ptolemy, into whose hands it fell about a hundred years before Christ), was a seaport city on the Bay of Acre, opposite Mount Carmel, thirty English miles (about forty-five versts) from Tyre. Acco lay in territory allotted to the tribe of Asher, and was one of the cities from which the Israelites were altogether unable to drive out the Canaanites.

Even today Acre is considered the strongest fortified place in Palestine. This city is mentioned in the Book of Acts under the name Ptolemais (Acts 21:7). Its population, from 5,000 to 10,000 people, consists chiefly of Jews. There are a great many remains of antiquity in this city. Buckingham, who visited it in 1816, found here a multitude of ruins of various buildings, undoubtedly built in great antiquity, especially fragments of doors, columns, and the like. These ruins are now used for the construction of new buildings, and all the monuments of ancient greatness are gradually disappearing with each year. Acre was reckoned a famous city at the time of the Crusades.