Ancient Acco Located on a promontory at the northern end of Haifa Bay. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III 1504-1450 BC. Once a leading port in the Middle East. Today, it is home primarily to small fishing boats. Acco was incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great after his conquest in 332 B.C. The city was subsequently seized by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II, who renamed the city Ptolemais in the 2nd century B.C. This name stuck until the Muslim conquest in the 7th century A.D. when its ancient name was restored. Confusion over what to call the city was compounded by the Crusaders' conquest in 1104, after which it became known as St. Jean d'Acre, or Acre for short. King Richard I of England, took Acre in 1191 from the Saracens. He executed 2,700 Muslim prisoners of war, he became known as Richard the Lion-Hearted. In 1291, the Mamluks invaded and destroyed the city, killing every remaining Crusader and putting an end to the Latin Kingdom. Acre ceased to be a major city for almost 500 years. When the Bedouin sheikh Daher el-Omar carved a small fiefdom out of it in the mid-18th century, he made Acre his capital and built a large fortress. It was subsequently fortified by the Turkish governor, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer ("The Butcher") 1775-1804 The mosque He built is one of the most beautiful in Israel and the most distinctive building in the old city. Napoleon landed in Palestine and assaulted Acre in 1799, but he was unable to take the city. Ottoman controled until the Turks were defeated in 1918 by the British. The city subsequently became part of the British Mandate for Palestine. The British used the ancient fortress, which had never been breached, as a high-security prison to hold /execute members of the various Jewish underground groups. May 4, 1947, members of the Irgun staged a dramatic rescue. May 17, 1948, shortly after the Arab invasion, Israeli troops took control of Acre and most of the Arab inhabitants fled. It was subsequently incorporated into Israel after the War of Independence. Paul landed on his last journey to Jerusalem {Acts 21:7} RETURN