Tracing its roots back over 4,000 years, Acre, Akko in the Bible, is one of the oldest-running seaports in the world. Its name was first recorded when the expanding Egyptian Empire conquered it in the 15th century BC. Growing as a trading center when Phoenician mariners were masters of the seas, Akko exploited its strategic position on the famous Via Maris – the Way of the Sea. By then its glass industry was so important that one ancient historian even claimed that glass was invented here.
Unmentioned by the Gospels, St. Paul passed through the city on his travels and speaks of it in Acts 21:7. by its Greek name, Ptolemais.
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
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