History
Few towns have had a more chequered or calamitous history. Of great antiquity, it is probably to be identified with the 'Aak of the tribute-lists of Tethmosis (Thothmes) III. (c. 1500 B.C.), and it is certainly the Akka of the Tell el-Amarna correspondence. To the Hebrews it was known as Acco (Revised Version spelling), but it is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely Judges i. 31, as one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanite inhabitants. Theoretically it was in the territory of the tribe of Asher, and Josephus assigns it by name to the district of one of Solomon's provincial governors. Throughout the period of Hebrew domination, however, its political connexions were always with Syria rather than with Palestine proper: thus, about 725 B.C. it joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser IV. It had a stormy experience during the three centuries preceding the Christian era. The Greek historians name it Ake (Josephus calls it also Akre); but the name was changed to Ptolemais, probably by Ptolemy Soter, after the partition of the kingdom of Alexander. Strabo refers to the city as once a rendezvous for the Persians in their expeditions against Egypt. About 165 B.C. Simon Maccabaeus defeated the Syrians in many battles in Galilee, and drove them into Ptolemais. About 153 B.C. Alexander Balas, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, contesting the Syrian crown with Demetrius, seized the city, which opened its gates to him. Demetrius offered many bribes to the Maccabees to obtain Jewish support against his rival, including the revenues of Ptolemais for the benefit of the Temple, but in vain. Jonathan threw in his lot with Alexander, and in 150 B.C. he was received by him with great honour in Ptolemais. Some years later, however, Tryphon, an officer of the Syrians, who had grown suspicious of the Maccabees, enticed Jonathan into Ptolemais and there treacherously took him prisoner. The city was also assaulted and captured by Alexander Jannaeus, by Cleopatra and by Tigranes. Here Herod built a gymnasium, and here the Jews met Petronius, sent to set up statues of the emperor in the Temple, and persuaded him to turn back. St Paul spent a day in Ptolemais. The Arabs captured the city in A.D. 638, and lost it to the crusaders in 1110. The latter made the town their chief port in Palestine. It was re-taken by Saladin in 1187, besieged by Guy de Lusignan in 1189 (see below), and again captured by Richard Cceur de Lion in 1191. In 1229 it was placed under the control of the knights of St John (whence one of its alternative names), but finally lost by the Franks in 1291. The Turks under Sultan Selim I. captured the city in 1517, after which it fell into almost total decay. Maundrell in 1697 found it a complete ruin, save for a khan occupied by some French merchants, a mosque and a few poor cottages. Towards the end of the 18th century it seems to have revived under the comparatively beneficent rule of Dhahar el-Amir, the local sheikh: his successor, Jezzar Pasha, governor of Damascus, improved and fortified it, but by heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780 Jezzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul. In 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March - May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir W. Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Jezzar was succeeded on his death by his son Suleiman, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. On the 4th of November 1840 it was bombarded by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule.
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This article is from the 1911 edition of an encyclopedia, which is out of copyright here in the U.S. It is in the public domain and you may copy, download, print and distribute this work as you see fit.
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