(2.) In Roman ecclesiastical usage — 1, a collection of preparatory prayers, used by the priests before the celebration of the mass ; 2, in the election of the pope, a transfer of votes from one candidate to another to secure the necessary number is called an access. If a voter wishes to change his vote to another person, he writes on his paper accedo domino, etc.
Ac'cho (Hcb. Alko, i2.V, from an Arab, root sig- nifying to be hot [sec Drummond, Origines, v, 3], re- ferring to the sultry sand in the neighborhood, used by the Phoenicians in the manufacture of glass [Pliny, v, 19 ; Strabo, xvi, 877] ; Sept. Akyw, Josephus, "Aki\ Ant. ix, 11, 2), a town and haven within the nominal territory of the tribe of Asher, which, however, never acquired possession of it (Judg. i, 31). It is, perhaps, likewise mentioned in Micah i, 10 ("i-3, prob. i~2 for 13?2l, in Acclio; Sept. iv 'Aiciip, Vulg. Idchrymis, Auth. Vers, "at all;" see Henderson, Comment, in loc). The Greek and Roman writers call it Am;, Ace (Strab. xvi, 877; Diod. Sic. xix, 93 ; C. Nep. xiv, 5); but it was eventually better known &&Ptolemais ( 1'lin. Hist. Nat. v, l!i), which name it received from the first Ptolemy, king of Egypt, by whom it was much im- proved. By this name it is mentioned in the Apocry- pha (1 Mace, x, 56; xi, £2, 24; xii, 45, 48; 2 Mace, xiii, 14), in the New Testament (Acts xxi, 7), ami I y Josephus (Ant. xiii, 12, 2 sq.). It was also called Colonia Claudii Ccesaris, in consequence of its receiv- ing the privileges, of a Roman city from the emperor Claudius (I'lin. v, 17; xxxvi, G5). It continued to lie called Ptolemais by the Greeks of the lower empire, as well as by Latin authors, while the Orientals ad- hered to the original designation (see Mishna, Ab< <tnh Zarah, iii, -1 ; Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. p. 117), which it still retains in the form Akka. During the Crusades the place was usually known to Europeans by the name of Aeon; afterward, from the occupation of 'lie Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, as st..l<<;n d'Acre, or simply Acre. The Romans at a late date appear to have called it also Ptolemaida (J'"' accusative being transformed into a nominative); at least the name ap- pears in this form in the Itin. Antonin. and Hierosol. The Greeks themselves, although using the name Ptolemais, were evidently aware of the original Hcb. (i. e. Phoenician) name Accho, which they merely Grsecized into Ace. Thus, the authors of the Etymo- logicvm Magnum, say, " Ace, a city of Phoenicia, which is now called l'tob-mais. Some say that the citadel of Ptolemais was called Ace because Hercules, being bitten by a serpent and there cured, named it so, from aKuaStai [to heal]." Other ancient authors speak of
ACCHO
44
ACCHO
the place by the same name, and some of them allude to the same, fable as the origin of the name (Keland, Pahest. p. 536, 537). These, however, were evidently but speculations common to the mythology of the Greeks, who were fond of giving Greek terminations as well as Greek derivations to foreign terms. See Ptolemais.
This famous harbor-city is situated in N. Lit. 32° 55', and E. long. 35° 5' ', and occupies the north-west- ' era point of a commodious bay, called the bay of Acre, the opposite or south-western point of which is formed by the promontory of Mount Carmel. The city lies on the plain to which it gives its name. Inland the hills, which from Tyre southward press close upon the sea-shore, gradually recede, leaving in the immediate neighborhood of Accho a plain of remarkable fertility about six miles broad, and watered by the small river 1 Belus (Nahr Naman), which discharges itself into the ; sea close under the walls of the town ; to the S.E. the still receding heights afford access to the interior in the direction of Sepphoris. Accho, thus favorably placed in command of the approaches from the north, both by sea and land, has been justly termed the " key of Palestine.-' The bay, from the town of Acre to the j promontory of Mount Carmel, is three leagues wide. The port, on account of its shallowness, can only be entered by vessels of small burden (Prokeseh, p. 146) ; but there is excellent anchorage on the other side of the bay, before Haifa, which is, in fact, the roadstead of Acre (Turner, ii, 111 ; G. Robinson, i, 198). In the time of Strabo Accho was a great city (xvi, p. 877), i and it has continued to be a place of importance down ' to the present time. But after the Turks gained pos- ! session of it, Acre so rapidly declined, that the travel- j ler-i of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries concur ■ in describing it as much fallen from its former glory, of which, however, traces still remained. The mis- I sionary Eugene Roger (La Terre Saincte, 1615, p. 44- j 46) remarks that the whole place had such a sacked anil desolate appearance that little remained worth}' of note except the palace of the grand-master of the j Knights Hospitallers and the church of St. Andrew ; all the rest was a sad and deplorable ruin, pervaded by a pestiferous air which soon threw strangers into dangerous maladies. The emir Fakr-ed-din had, how- ever, lately built a commodious khan for the use of the merchants; for there was still considerable traffic, and vessels were constantly arriving from France, Venice, England, and Holland, laden with oil, cotton, skins, and other goods. The emir had also built a strong castle, notwithstanding repeated orders from the Porte to desist. Roger also fails not to mention the immense stone balls, above a hundred-weight, which were found in the ditches and among the ruins, and which were thrown into the town from machines before the use of cannon. This account is confirmed by other travellers, who add little or nothing to it (Doubdan, Cotovicus, Zuallart, Morison, Nan, D'Ar- vieux, and others). Morison, however, dwells more on the ancient remains, which consisted of portions of old walls of extraordinary height and thickness, and of fragments of buildings, sacred and secular, which still afforded manifest tokens of the original magnifi- cence of the place. He affirms (ii, 8) that the metro- politan church of St. Andrew was equal to the finest of those he had seen in France and Italy, and that the church of St. John was of the same perfect beaut}', as might be seen by the pillars and vaulted roof, half of which still remained. An excellent and satisfactory account of the place is given by Nan (liv. v, eh. 19), who takes particular notice of the old and strong vaults on which the houses are built. Maundrell mentions that the town appears to have been encom- passed on the land side by a double wall, defended with towers at small distances ; and that without the walls were ditches, ramparts, and a kind of bastions faced with hewn stone {Journey, p. Ii). Pocockc