PTOLEMAIS. - A maritime city of northern Palestine, 16 km. northwest of Haifa, situated on a rocky promontory that bounds its bay to the north. Its original name was 'Akkô, perpetuated in the Arabic 'Akkâ; it was called Ptolemais after Ptolemy III Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.).
Conquered by Thutmose III, in the 14th century B.C. it was provided with an Egyptian garrison of 400 soldiers and 40 chariots. Although assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Asher (Josh. 19:30), the Hebrews were unable to take possession of it (Judg. 1:31). It took part in the revolts of Phoenicia and Israel against the Assyrians; but it was first plundered by Sennacherib (v.) and then punished by Ashurbanipal with the deportation of its citizens. It was subsequently under the sovereignty of the Persians and the Seleucids. Destroyed in 302 by Ptolemy I, it was restored and embellished by Ptolemy II. Its inhabitants were hostile to the Jews (1 Macc. 5:15, 22; 2 Macc. 13:25); Jonathan, at first received with honors, was taken prisoner there and met his death there (1 Macc. 10:39, 56, 60; 11:22, 26; 12:45). Alexander Jannaeus attempted its conquest in 103 B.C.; but he desisted from the siege for fear of Ptolemy III. For a short time occupied by Tigranes of Armenia, incorporated in 47 B.C. into the Roman province of Syria, it was an autonomous colony called Colonia Claudia Ptolemais.
Christianity had followers there from the beginning, and St. Paul (Acts 21:7) visited its community on his journey from Caesarea to Rome. The city, which was an episcopal see, was occupied in 634 by the Muslims, from whom the Crusaders took it in 1104; but in 1187 it was captured by Saladin. Two years later it was besieged by Guy of Lusignan and in July 1191 occupied by Richard the Lionheart. Acre, as it was called by the Latins, became the metropolis of the Crusader Kingdom, receiving within its walls all the remnants of the army. Each prince had his residence there, each maritime republic its own quarter, each military order its fortress. In 1229 it was placed under the control of the Knights of St. John. Once the Latin Kingdom ended, it steadily declined; the imposing ruins of the fortress of St. John earned it, among pilgrims and navigators, the title of St. John of Acre. Despite attempts at restoration in the 18th century, through the work of the emir Dāhir, the town and port steadily lost importance. The original city stood on Tell el-Fubhār, 1500 m. east of the present city, where archaeological soundings have revealed signs of habitation from 2000 to 900 B.C. Although the occupation of the tell continued from 900 to 300 B.C., the urban center shifted to the maritime quarter.
Bibliography
Donato Baldi