Difference between revisions of "Ptolemais"

<p> (Πτολεμαΐς) </p> <p> [[Ptolemais]] is the ancient [[Canaanite]] town of [[Acco]] (mentioned in &nbsp;Judges 1:31 and in the corrected text of &nbsp;Joshua 19:30), still known in Arab. as ‛ Akka. [[Standing]] on the rocky promontory which forms the northern boundary of the sandy Bay of Acre, protected by the sea on the W., S., and S.E., and strongly fortified on the landward side, it came to be regarded as the key of Palestine, and its chequered history is chiefly a record of sieges, of which it has probably had to endure more in ancient and modern times than any other [[Syrian]] town. Between it and the hills of [[Galilee]] lies the fertile Plain of Acre, six miles in width, watered by the Nahr Namein, the ancient Belus, a river famous for the manufacture-Pliny (HN_ xxxvi. 65. 26) says the invention-of glass at its mouth, as well as for the murex shells from which purple dye was extracted by the Phcenicians. </p> <p> The town rose to considerable importance under the [[Macedonian]] kings of Egypt, who converted it into a Greek city, and its new name-given probably by [[Ptolemy]] Soter, and retained when the rival kings of Syria gained the mastery-continued to be used till the end of the Roman period, after which the old native name was revived. The city played a prominent part in the Maccabaean wars. There Simon routed the Syrian [[Greeks]] (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 5:15), and there [[Jonathan]] was treacherously captured by [[Trypho]] (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 12:45-48). Ptolemais had an era dating from a visit of [[Julius]] [[Caesar]] in 47 b.c. [[Augustus]] was entertained in it by Herod the Great (Jos. Ant. xv. vi. 7), and [[Claudius]] established it as a colonia (Pliny, HN_ v. 17). The Romans used it as a base of operations in the [[Jewish]] war, at the outbreak of which its inhabitants proved their loyalty to Rome by massacring 2,000 [[Jews]] resident in the city and putting others in bonds (Jos. BJ_ II. xviii. 5). </p> <p> Ptolemais is mentioned only once in the NT. St. Paul touched it in sailing from [[Tyre]] to [[Caesarea]] (&nbsp;Acts 21:7). Its distance from Tyre is 25 miles. The [[Apostle]] saluted the [[Christians]] whom he found in the town, and remained a day in their company. The founder of the Church is not known. [[Philip]] the Evangelist, who laboured in Caesarea, has been suggested. </p> <p> Under the name of Accon (St. Jean d’Acre of the Knights of St. John), the town was the scene of many conflicts in the time of the Crusaders, who made it their chief port in Palestine. Its capture by the [[Saracens]] brought the kingdom of the [[Franks]] to an end. The destruction of the city ‘produced terror all over Europe; for, with its fall in 1291, the power of the [[Christian]] nations of the West lost its last hold upon the East’ (C. Ritter, The Comparative [[Geography]] of [[Palestine]] and the Sinaitic Peninsula, 1866, iv. 361). Reconstructed in the 18th cent., besieged in vain by Napoleon (1799), captured by Ibrahim [[Pasha]] (1831), and bombarded by the fleets of Britain, Austria, and [[Turkey]] (1840), it still has some commercial importance, though the recent growth of [[Haifa]] has told heavily against it. </p> <p> Literature.-A. P. Stanley, [[Sinai]] and Palestine, new ed., 1877, p. 265 f.; G. A. Smith, HGHL_4, 1897; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1864, p. 308; C. Baedeker, Palestine and Syria4, 1906; E. Schürer, HJP_ II. [1885] i. 90 f. </p> <p> James Strahan. </p>

<p> (Πτολεμαϊ v ς ), the name of two places in Scripture. </p> <p> '''1.''' The same as [[Accho]] (q.v.). The name is, in fact, an interpolation in the history of the place. The city which was called Accho in the earliest Jewish annals, and which is again the ''Akka'' or ''St. Jean D'' '[[Acre]] of crusading and modern times, was named Ptolemais in the Macedonian and Roman periods. In the former of these periods it was the most important town upon the coast, and it is prominently mentioned in the first book of Maccabees (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 5:15; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 5:55; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 10:1; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 10:58; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 10:60; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 12:48). In the latter its eminence was far outdone by Herod's new city of Caesarea. It is worthy of notice that Herod, on his return from Italy to Syria, landed at Ptolemais (Josephus, ''Ant.'' 14:15, 1). Still in the New Test. Ptolemais is a marked point in Paul's travels both by land and sea. He must have passed through it on all his journeys along the great coast road which connected Caesarea and [[Antioch]] (&nbsp;Acts 11:30; &nbsp;Acts 12:25; &nbsp;Acts 15:2; &nbsp;Acts 15:30; &nbsp;Acts 18:22); and the distances are given both in the Antonine and [[Jerusalem]] itineraries (Wesseling, ''Itin.'' p. 158, 584). But it is specifically mentioned in &nbsp;Acts 21:7 as containing a Christian community, visited for one dav by Paul. On this occasion he came to Ptolemais by sea. He was then on his return voyage from the third missionary journey. The last harbor at which he had touched was Tyre (&nbsp;Acts 21:3). From Ptolemais he proceeded, apparently by land, to Caesarea (&nbsp;Acts 21:8), and thence to Jerusalem (&nbsp;Acts 21:17). (See [[Paul]]). </p> <p> '''2.''' A place described as ροοοφορος '', Rose-Producing'' (&nbsp;3 Maccabees 7:17), and supposed to be the ὅρμος Πτολεμαϊ v ς of Ptolemy (4:5, 57), in Central Egypt, in the Arsinoite nome, a district still abounding in roses (Mannert, ''Geogr. Der Griechen U. Romanen,'' 10:1, p. 419; Ritter, ''Erdkunde,'' i, 795, 797). </p>