speaks chiefly of the ruins (East, ii, 17G sq.). After the impulse given to the prosperity of the place by the measures of sheik Daher, and afterward of Djezzar Pasha, the descriptions differ (Clarke, Trav. ii, 379). It is mentioned by Buckingham (i, 116) that, in sink- ing the ditch in front of the then (181G) new outer wall, the foundations of small buildings were exposed, twenty feet below the present level of the soil, which must have belonged to the earliest ages, and probably formed part of the original Accho. He also thought that traces of Ptolemais might be detected in the shafts \ of gray and red granite and marble pillars, which lie about or have been converted into thresholds for large doorways, of the Saracenic period ; some par- ' tial remains might be traced in the inner walls ; and he is disposed to refer to that time the now old khan, [ which, as stated above, was really built by the emir Fakr-ed-din. All the Christian ruins mentioned by the travellers already quoted had disappeared. In actual importance, however, the town had much in- creased. The population in 1819 was computed at 10,000, of whom 3000 were Turks, the rest Christians of various denominations (Connor, in Jowett, i, 423). Approached from Tyre the city presented a beautiful appearance, from the trees in the inside, which rise above the wall, and from the ground immediately around it on the outside being planted with orange, lemon, and palm trees. Inside, the streets had the usual narrowness and filth of Turkish towns; the 1 houses solidly built with stone, with flat roofs ; the ; bazaars mean, but tolerably well supplied (Turner, ii, 113). The principal objects were the mosque, the ! pasha's seraglio, the granary, and the arsenal (Irby and Mangles, p. 195). Of the mosque, which was built by Djezzar Pasha, there is a description by Pliny j Fisk (Life, p. 337 ; also G. Robinson, i, 200). The trade I was not considerable ; the exports consisted chiefly of grain and cotton, the produce of the neighboring t plain ; and the imports chiefly of rice, coffee, and sugar ! from Damietfca (Turner, ii, 112). As thus described, | the city was all but demolished in 1832 by the hands I of Ibrahim Pasha; and although considerable pains [ were taken to restore it, yet, as lately as 1837, it still J exhibited a most wretched appearance, with ruined houses and broken arches in every direction (Lord Lindsay, Letters, ii, 81). It is only important at pres- ent as a military post, and all its municipal regulations are according to the laws of war (Thomson, Land and Booh, i, 480).
Accho continued to belong to the Phoenicians (Strab. ii, 134; Plin. v, 17; Ptol. v, 15) until the}-, in com- mon with the Jews, were subjugated by the Babylo- nians (comp. 1 Mace, v, 15). By the latter it was doubtless maintained as a military station against Egypt, as it was afterward by the Persians (Strabo, xvi, p. 877). In the distribution of Alexander's do- minions Accho fell to the lot of Ptolemy Soter, who valued the acquisition, and gave it his own name. In the wars that ensued between Syria and Egypt, it was taken by Antiochus the Great (Ptol. v, 62), and at- tached to his kingdom. "When the Maccabees estab- lished themselves in Judaea, it became the base of operations against them (1 Mace, v, 15, 55). Simon drove his enemies back within its walls, but did not take it (1 Mace, v, 22). In the endeavor of Demetrius Soter and Alexander Balas to bid highest for the sup- port of Jonathan, the latter gave Ptolemais and the lands around to the temple at Jerusalem (x, 1, 39). Jonathan was afterward invited to meet Alexander and the king of Egypt at that place, and was treated with great distinction by them (x, 56-66): but there he at length (B.C. 144) met his death through the treachery of Tryphon (xii, 48-50). On the decay of the Syrian power it was one of the few cities of Judaea which established its independence. Alexander Jan- nams took advantage of the civil war between Anti- ochus Philometer and Antiochus Cyziccnus to besiege
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Ptolemais, as the only maritime city in those parts, except Gaza, which he had not subdued ; but the. siege was raised by Ptolemy Lathyrus (then king of Cy- prus), who got possession of the city(Josephus, Ant. xiii, 12, 2-6), of which he was soon deprived by his mother, Cleopatra (xiii, 13, 2). She probably gave it, along with her daughter Selene, to Antiochus Grypus, king of Syria. At least, after his death, Selene held possession of that and some other Phoenician towns, after Tigranes, king of Armenia, had acquired the rest of the kingdom (xiii, 1(5, 4). But an injudicious at- tempt to extend her dominions drew upon her the ven- geance of that conqueror, who, in B.C. 70, reduced Ptolemais, and, while thus employed, received with favor the Jewish embassy which was sent by queen Alexandra, with valuable presents, to seek his friend- ship (xiii, 16, 4). A few years after, Ptolemais was absorbed, with all the country, into the Roman em- pire, and the rest of its ancient history is obscure and of little note. It is only mentioned in the New Testa- ment from Paul's having spent a day there on his voy- age to Cresarea (Acts xxi, 7). The importance ac- quired by the last-named city through the mole con- structed by Herod, and the safe harbor thus formed, must have had some effect on the prosperity of Ptole- mais ; but it continued a place of importance, and was the seat of a bishopric in the first ages of the Christian Church. The see was filled sometimes by orthodox and sometimes by Arian bishops ; and it has the equiv- ocal distinction of having been the birthplace of the Sabellian heresy (Niceph. vi, 7). Accho (or vlcco as the Latins style it) was an imperial garrison town when the Saracens invaded Syria, and was one of those that held out until Caesarea was taken by Armu, in A.D. 638 {Mud. Univ. Hist, i, 473).— Kitto, s. v.