ACRA, a Greek word, signifying, in general, a citadel, in which sense it is also used in the Chaldee and Syriac. King Antiochus built a citadel at Jerusalem, on an eminence north of the temple, which commanded the holy place ; and for which reason it was called Acra. Josephus says (Antiq. lib. xii. cap. 7. & 14 ; lib. xiii. cap. 11.) that this eminence was semicircular, and that Simon Maccabeus, having expelled the Syrians, who had seized Acra, demolished it, and spent three years in leveling the mountain on which it stood; that no situation in future should command the temple. On mount Acra were after wards built the palace of Helena, queen of the Adiabenians ; Agrippa's palace, the place where the public records were lodged, and that where the magistrates of Jerusalem assembled, Joseph, de Bello, lib. vii. cap. 15 ; Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7.