Acosta, Gabriel (afterward Uriel), a Portu- guese, of Jewish extraction, born at Oporto, and brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. About the age of twenty-two he began to entertain doubts first as to the doctrine of indulgences, and, finally, as to the truth of Christianity; and being unable to sat- isfy himself, he returned to the religion of his ances- tors, became a Jew, retired from Portugal to Amster- dam, and was circumcised. He soon, however, be- came disgusted with the Pharisaism of the Jews of Amsterdam, and advocated a doctrine like that of the ancient Sadducees. He wrote in the Portuguese lan- guage a treatise entitled " The Traditions of the Phar- isees compared with /If written Law" (Amsterd. 1624), which so exasperated the Jews that the}' accused him of atheism before the civil tribunals. His book was confiscated, he was imprisoned ten days, and fined 300 guilders. He was also expelled from the Jewish syn- agogue. After seven years he submitted to a painful penance, and was readmitted, though it docs not ap- pear that he really changed his views. He died, ac- cording to Fabricius, in 1047, whether by suicide or not is uncertain. He left an autobiography which fell into the hands of Limborch, and was reprinted in 1847 (Uriel Acosta's Selbs/biographie, Lat. u. Deutsch, Leipzig). His life afforded Gutzkow the material for a novel, "The Sadducees in Amsterdam'" (1834), and for a drama, "Uriel A cos/a" (Leips. 1847). — Jellinck, Ueber Acosta's Leben uml Lehre (Zerbst, 1847).
Acosta, Joseph, a Spanish Jesuit, born about 1539, appointed provincial of the Jesuits in Peru, and died rector of the university of Salamanca in 1600. He wrote The Natural awl Moral History of the Indies
(Seville, 1590, 4to); a treatise De Christo Revelato li- bri novem (Lugd. 1592, 8vo) ; De Promulgalione Eran- gelii opud Barbaros (Cologne, 1596, 8vo).
Acra ("A/v-po), a Greek word, signifying a summit or citad I, in which sense its Hebraized form Chakra (K^pn) also occurs in the Syriac and Chaldaic (Bux- torf, Lex. Talm. col. 818). Hence the name of Acra was acquired by the eminence north of the temple at Jerusalem, on which a- citadel was built by Antiochus Epiphanes, to command the holy place (1 Mace, iii, 45 ; iv, 2, 41 ; vi, IS, -JO, 32 ; ix, 52 sq. ; x, G ; xi, 41 ; 2 Mace, iv, 12, 27, etc.). It thus became, in fact, the Acropolis of Jerusalem (see Michaelis, in Mace. p. 30 sq. ; Crome, in the Hall. Eneykl. ii, 291 sq.). Jose- phus describes this eminence as semicircular (see Re- land, Palais/, p. 852); and reports that when Simon Maccabseus had succeeded in expelling the Syrian garrison, he not only demolished the citadel, but caused the hill itself to be levelled, that no neighbor- ing site might thenceforth be higher than or so high as that on which the temple stood. The people had suf- fered so much from the garrison, that they willingly la- bored day and night, for three years, in this great work [Ant. xiii, G, G; 117/?-, v, 4, 1). At a later period the palace of Helena, queen of Adiabene, stood on the site, which still retained the name of Acra, as did also, probably, the council-house, and the repository of the archives [War, vi, G, 3; see also Descript. Urbt's lero- solmyce, per J. Ileydenum, lilt, iii, cap. 2). — Kitto,s.v. A good deal of controversy has lately arisen as to the position of this eminence, Dr. Robinson (Bib. Pes. i, 414; new ed. iii, 207-211) strongly contending for the sloping eminence now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and others (especially Williams, Holy City, ii, 25, 49) placing Acra more northwardly from the temple. The latter position, in the middle of the Mohammedan quarter, on the whole, seems best to accord with the present state of the surface and the ancient notes of place (see Strong's Harmony and Ex- pos, of /he Gospels, Append, ii, p. 4, 5) ; especially with Josephus's statements ( War, v, 4, 1) respecting; the valley of the Tyropceon (q. v.). See Jerusalem.
A place by the name of Acra ("Aiepa) is mentioned by Josephus (War, ii, 2, 2) as having been taken by Simon Maccaba?us, in connection with Gazara, Joppa, and Jamnia; which some suppose to mean Ekron (by a change of reading), while others take the word in the ordinary sense of tower. The passage is evident- ly parallel with 1 Mace, xiv, 7, where Simon is said, after having taken Gazara and Bethsura, to have cleansed "the tower" (dicpa); which, by a compari- son with chap, xiii, 49, appears to mean no other than the above fortress in Jerusalem. See Baris.
For the Acra or Acre (Hebraized -npX l>y Benja- min of Tudela) of the Crusades, see Accho.
Acrabbattine ('AicpafiaTTivn sc, xi''P"^ tne name of two regions in Palestine.
1. A district or toparchy of Judaea, extending be- tween Shechem (Nablous) and Jericho eastward, be- ing about 12 miles long (see Reland, Palcest. p. 192). It is mentioned by Josephus (War, ii, 12, 4 : 20, I; 22, 2 ; iii, 3, 4, 5), and doubtless took its name from a town called Acrabbi, mentioned by Eusebius (Ono- mast. s. v. 'AicpafSfiiiv, Jerome corruptly "Adorabi," see Clerici ed. Amst. 1707, p. 17, note 5) as a large village 9 Roman miles east of Neapolis, on the road to Jericho; probably the same found by Dr. Robinson under the name Ahrabeh (Researches, iii, 103), and de- scribed as a considerable town, finely situated on the slope of a fertile hill, with a mosque (new ed. of Re- searches, iii. 296, 297) and a ruined fort (Van de Velde, Narrative, ii, 304 -307).