ACCHO, a city of the tribe of Asher, Judg. i. 31. In the New Testament, Accho is called Ptolemais, (Acts xxi. 7.) from one of the Ptolemies, who enlarged and beautified it. The Christian crusaders gave it the name of Acre, or St. John of Acre, from a magnificent church which was built within its walls, and dedicated to St. John. It is still called Akka, by the Turks. When Syria was subjected by the Romans, Akka was made a colony by the emperor Claudius. It sustained several sieges during the crusades, and was the last fortified place wrested from the Christians by the Turks.

The town is situated on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, on the north angle of a bay to which it gives its name, and which extends in a semicircle of three leagues, as far as the point of mount Carmel. The town was originally surrounded by triple walls, and a fosse cut out of the rock, from which, at present, it is a mile distant. At the south and west sides it was washed by the sea ; and Pococke thinks that the river Belus, which flows into the Mediterranean, was brought through the fosse, which ran along the ramparts on the north ; thus making the city an island. Since the time of its memorable siege by Buonaparte, Accho has been much improved and strengthened. Its present population is estimated at from 18,000 to 20,000.

Accho, and all beyond it northwards, was considered as the heathen land of the Jews.

There are several medals of Accho, or Ptolemais, extant, both Greek and Latin. Most of the former have also the Phoenician name of the city, AK — or Accho. The one here given (as also others) represents the head of Alexander the Great, and appears to have been coined in consequence of favors received from that prince, perhaps at the time when he was detained in Syria by the siege of Tyre.