Encyclopedia entry · Place
Acco
also called Accho · Ptolemais · Akko · Acre
Acco — Hebrew Akko (עַכּוֹ), KJV-spelled *Accho — is an ancient Mediterranean port city in Western Galilee, on the coast just north of modern Haifa. It appears under three different names across two thousand years: Acco* in the Old Testament (Judges 1:31), *Ptolemais* in the New Testament (Acts 21:7), and Akko or *Acre* today.
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The single OT mention names Acco among the Canaanite cities that the tribe of Asher did not drive out: *Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib* (Judges 1:31). It remained a Phoenician-influenced port for most of Israel's history. In the third century BC, Ptolemy II Philadelphus renamed it after himself — Ptolemais — and under that name Paul stopped there for a single day on his final journey to Jerusalem, saluting the brethren who had already established a Christian community in the city (Acts 21:7).
The city has been continuously inhabited for at least four thousand years. It served as the chief Crusader stronghold of the Latin Kingdom under the name Acre, fell to the Mamluks in 1291, and remains today — under its Hebrew name Akko — a port city of about fifty thousand and a UNESCO World Heritage site for its preserved Crusader and Ottoman architecture.
Source · AI-drafted from biblical text and standard reference works (Smith's, Easton's, ISBE) — verify and refine against authoritative sources before publication.