Acre

ACRE. A harbour town or city of Palestine (Egypt. Ak (a), Assyr. Akku, Heb. Akko, Gr. Ake [Josephus, 'Arke], Lat. Ac(c)e; on Crusading coins Ac(c)on, Arab. Akka). From the 3rd century B.C. it was known as Ptolemais, perpetuating, perhaps the name of Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus). The name St. Jean d'Acre dates from the time when it was the headquarters of the Knights Hos pitallers.

Topography.

Acre is situated on a low, rocky promontory at the northern end of the Bay of Acre. A strong wall, shot pitted, girds it to seaward, and to landward a double rampart. The an cient harbour has silted up leaving now only a few feet depth of water. In the roadstead there is good anchorage for small craft. To the south of the city, broadening as it advances, stretches the marshy malaria-stficken Plain of Acre. There enters the sea not far from the city the classic river Belus (Na `man) which of old provided, and still provides the murex from which the Phoeni cians extracted the renowned Tyrian purple.

History.

Acre has had a most stirring and tragic history. Its strategic position on the military highway along the coast, its proximity to the western entrance to the Plain of Esdraelon, its significance as the natural port not only for Galilee, but for Da mascus and the Hauran, coupled with the peculiar military value of its site, attached to it an enduring importance, both the polit ical and commercial. The name first appears in the conquest lists of the Egyptian monarchs Thutmose III. (c. 1500 B.c.) and Seti I. (c. 1315 B.c.). From the Amarna dispatches of Amenhotep IV. (c. 1375 B.c.) it would appear that the caravans of Burra-Buriash II., king of Babylonia were plundered, much to his annoyance, by the king of Acre. In the Old Testament it is named ( Judges i. 31) as one of the places whence the Israelites did not drive the Canaanite inhabitants. At the beginning of the 7th century B.C.

when the Assyrian was in the pride of his strength Acre appears to have been subordinate to Tyre for a time at least, since the two names are regularly coupled in inscriptions (Sinaherib, Asar haddon). It is first mentioned apart in the records of Ashur banipal (668-628). During the Persian period Acre is not much in evidence. It appears, however, to have been the rendezvous for Artaxerxes Mnemon in his expedition against Egypt (Strabo cvi. 2). From this time on "for Egypt, for Asia Minor, for the Greek isles and mainland, and for Italy its harbour was the most convenient on the Syrian coast, and its history till the end of the New Testament period is that of the arrival of great men from these shores, of the muster of large armies, of the winter camps of the invaders of the Syrian hinterland, and of bitter conflicts between Greeks and Jews" (G.A. Smith). Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees record its varying fortunes. Within its walls the Syrian Greeks, routed by Simon Maccabaeus, sought ref uge (164 B.c.). In the struggle for the Syrian throne, Alexander Balas wrested Acre from Demetrius (153). Jonathan was lured within its gate (Acre has only one) by Trypho and taken prisoner (143). Round about the year 104 B.C. Alexander Jannaeus laid siege to Acre but abandoned it from fear of Ptolemy Lathyrus, who besieged and took it, but was forced to yield it to his mother Cleopatra. Tigranes of Armenia stormed it (7o B.c.) but relin quished it under fear of the Romans and it surrendered without a struggle to the Parthian Pacorus (Josephus, B.J. i. 13). Herod entertained Caesar here and here he built a gymnasium. It was established a colonia by Claudius. St. Paul spent a day in Ptole mais while coasting from Tyre to Caesarea (Acts xxi. 7). In the wars with the Jews the Roman leaders realized its value as main base for their armies (Varus, Vitellius, Petronius, Cestius, Vespa sian).

In Christian times Ptolemais became a bishopric and its bishop attended the great councils of the Church, Caesarea (198), Nicea (325), Constantinople (381), Chalcedon (451), Jerusalem (536). The Arabs took possession of the city in 638. Baldwin I. captured it with the aid of a Genoese fleet in 1104 (1st crusade). Saladin re-captured it in 1187 (2nd crusade). In 1191 after a siege by Guy de Lusignan of about two years, it was taken on the arrival of Richard Coeur de Lion (3rd crusade), and was finally lost by them in 1291. The Turks under Salim I. entered into possession in 1517, after which the city fell into decay. Its revival began in 1749 with its capture by Omar ez-Zahir, and it emerged into prominence, prosperity and virtual independence under his suc cessor "Ahmad el-Jezzar" ("the butcher"). Supported by a British fleet under Sir Sidney Smith it resisted successfully Napoleon in 1799. The year 1832 saw its capture and wreck by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. On Nov. 4, 1840, the city was attacked by the allied fleets (British, Austrian, Turkish) under Sir Charles Napier and after three hours' bombardment reduced. Restored in the follow ing year to Turkey it remained in Turkish hands till Sept. 23, 1918, when it was occupied by the 13th Cavalry Brigade (5th Cavalry Division) of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force with little or no opposition.

Modern.

Acre with a population of 6,5oo (about 5,000 Mus lims) is in British mandated territory and under the existing ad ministrative partition of Palestine in the northern Province (Phoenicia and Galilee). Under Turkish rule it was the chief town of a governmental district. Formerly the chief port of shipment for grain brought on camel-back from the Hauran, its trade was much diminished with the opening of the Damascus-Beirut rail way in 1896 and practically extinguished when the Haifa-Damas cus railway in 2906 diverted what remained to Haifa. It has now a small coasting trade in locally grown grain, sesame seed and oil and a small export of oranges to Beirut. Brass and copper ware are made to a small extent. It is now a customs sub. station to Haifa. Acre is the chief seat of Baha'i religion, an offshoot of Babism, with an estimated number of adherents at 2 millions. The founder `Abdu-1 Baha died here in 1921 and was succeeded by his grandson Shauki Effendi, who has been made Life-president of the council of Nine, which regulates the affairs of the com munity. Few buildings of interest have survived the buffetings to which the city has been repeatedly subjected. The most no table, perhaps, is the large mosque built by El- Jezzar. Four com modious khans recall the times when 2,000 to 3,00o camels, grain laden, would arrive in a day. British administration has been re sponsible for the establishment of a government hospital, a forest nursery, and a large convict prison. A railway from Beirut along the coast to Acre is projected by the French.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Reland's Palestine (1714) ; E. Robinson, Later Bibliography.—Reland's Palestine (1714) ; E. Robinson, Later Biblical Researches in Palestine (1852) ; G. A. Smith, (Encyc. Biblica. 1902 ) ; Luke and Keith Roach, The Handbook of Palestine (1922). (E. Ro.) Battle of Acre.—The battle of 1189, fought on the ground to the east of Acre, affords a good example of battles of the Crusades. Saladin's victory at Tiberias in 1187 had led to the fall of Jerusalem and to that of almost all the Christian strong holds in Palestine and Syria, save Tyre, Antioch, and Tripoli. The attempt to regain Acre led to the battle described below and was in turn a prelude to the Third Crusade under Richard I. of England and Philip of France. The crusading army under Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, which was besieging Acre, gave battle on Oct. 4, 1189, to the relieving army raised by Saladin. The Saracens lay in a semicircle east of the town, facing inwards towards Acre. The Christians opposed them with crossbowmen in first line and the heavy cavalry in second. At Arsuf (q.v.) the Christians fought coherently; here the battle began with a disjointed combat between the Templars and Saladin's right wing. The crusaders were so far successful that the enemy had to send up reinforcements from other parts of the field. Thus the steady advance of the Christian centre against Saladin's own corps, in which the crossbows prepared the way for the charge of the men-at-arms, met with no great resistance. But the victors scattered to plunder. Saladin rallied his men and, when the Christians began to retire with their booty, let loose his light horse upon them. No connected resistance was offered, and the Turks slaughtered the fugitives until checked by the fresh troops of the Christian right wing. Into this fight Guy's reserve, charged with holding back the Saracens in Acre, was also drawn, and, thus freed, 5,00o men sallied out from the town to the northward; uniting with the Saracen right wing, they fell upon the Templars, who suffered severely in their retreat. In the end the crusaders repulsed the relieving army, but only at the cost of 7,000 men.

See Oman., Hist. of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, vol. I. (1924).