ACCARON (Heb. Egrân; Assyr. Amqarrâna). - The northernmost of the five Philistine cities (Ios. 13, 3), Beelzebub (v.) (II Reg. 1, 2-16). It is commonly identified (after E. Robinson, 1838) with present-day Aqr, 10 km southwest of Ramle; J. Garstang (Jeshua, Judges, London 1931, pp. 330-36), however, identifies it with Qatra, 7 km southwest of Aqr.
Occupied by the Israelites, A. at first marked the northwestern boundary of the tribe of Judah (Ios. 15, 45), which had captured it (Iudc. 1, 18); but shortly afterwards it was ceded to the neighbouring tribe of Dan (Ios. 19, 43). In the time of Samuel, A. was again in the power of the Philistines (I Sam. 5, 10; 6, 16 ff.; 17, 52), under whom it remained in the period of the monarchy. In 702, when Padi, king of A., refused to join the anti-Assyrian league, he was handed over as a prisoner to Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem; but the following year he was freed and restored to the throne by Sennacherib during his march against Egypt (E. Schrader, Keilinschr. Bibliothek, II, Berlin 1890, pp. 92, 94).
The Prophets mention A. together with Gaza, Ascalon, and Azotus, foretelling its ruin (Am. 1, 8; Ier. 25, 20; Soph. 2, 4; Zach. 9, 5-7). In 147 Alexander Balas, king of Syria, gave A. with its district to Jonathan Maccabaeus (I Mach. 10, 89).
Gaetano M. Perrella