Category:Ptolemais (subject)

Ptolemais / Acco (see Places)

Overview

Ptolemais / Acco (now Acre or Akko, Israel) is a city on the Mediterrenean coast.

Acco is one of the oldest settlements of the region, due to its strategic geographical location. The Canaanite-Phoenician city is mentioned already in Egyptian sources. It was conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians.

In the Persian period Acco raised again as an important administrative, military and economic center, especially from the time of Cambyses I on.

In 332 BCE the city peacefully surrendered to Alexander the Great. Ptolemy II Philadelphus secured its possession to the Ptolemaic kingdom and renamed it Acco-Ptolemais. At the beginning of the 2nd century Ptolemais then fell into the hands of the Seleucids. In 104 it was briefly conquered by Alexander Jannaeus, went back to Ptolemaic rule, and in 69 BCE was besieged and taken by the Armenian King Tigranes the Great.

With the Roman conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE, Ptolemais was annexed to the province of Syria with an autonomous status. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul of Tarsus visited it while traveling from Tyre to Caesarea Maritima.

Ptolemais, sources

Josephus, Jewish War

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities

Acts of the Apostles

Acts 21:7 -- When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

References

• Acco / Moshe Dothan / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary, 1:50-53

External links

• Wikipedia
• Jewish Virtual Library / BiblePlaces.com