Meaning of PTOLEMIDA

City named in honor of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 BC). This was the name it had in Paul's time. It is currently called Akkõ, as before this name change.

The Crusaders gave him the name of Saint John of Acre. Its ancient name, Akkõ, means "burning sands." The Hebrews sometimes called him Acasaph (Josh. 11:1; 12:20; 19:25).

It is located on a small promontory on the Palestinian coast, just over 40 km south of Tyre. The city faces Mount Carmel, from across the Bay of Acre.

It was assigned to the tribe of Asher, who did not occupy it (Judg. 1:31). In the time of Hosea he surrendered to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (Ant. 9:14, 2). During the reign of Assurbanipal he suffered Assyrian harassment.

The name Ptolemais was given almost a century BC. Key city for the entrance to Galilee, seaport and terminal of the trade routes of the Decapolis and Arabia, it acquired great political importance (1 Mac. 5:15, 21, 55; 10:1; Ant. 13:12, 2 H.H.).

It is in this city that Jonathan Maccabeus was perfidiously murdered (1 Mac. 12:48; Ant. 13:6, 2). Large numbers of Jews found refuge within its walls (Wars 2:18, 5).

A Christian community soon emerged in this city. Paul spent a day there with his brothers during his final journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:7). Ptolemaida later became the seat of a Christian episcopate.

The Arabs restored its ancient name of Akkõ, which the French Crusaders corrupted to Acre. In the year 1191, Philip Augustus, king of France, and Richard I, king of England, conquered it.

Since 1229 it became the property of the Knights of Saint John, which is why it was frequently known as Saint John of Acre. It later fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Jazzar Pacha was a notable ruler for his ferocity, earning the title of "the butcher," and he reinforced his defenses in 1799.

That same year Napoleon attacked it, but was defeated and quickly retreated to Syria. A British fleet contributed decisively to Napoleon's defeat by coming to Jazzar's aid.

In 1832, Saint John of Acre was taken from the Sultan of Turkey by one of his subjects, Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mohamed Ali, governor of Egypt.

In 1840 an Anglo-Austrian intervention returned the city to Türkiye. During the First World War, in 1917, the English took over the city, becoming part of their administration of Palestine.

Finally, in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Akkõ, which had been handed over by the English to the Arabs before withdrawing from Palestine, was taken by the forces of the nascent State of Israel.