A C R 



JcricKo, about !2 miles In Itnjrth ; anj another on the 

 frontier of Idiimxa, towards the louthcrn extremity of the 

 Dead Sea. 



ACRACANUS, a river of Afui in Abydene, fuppofed 

 by Eufebius to be the fame witli Maarfarcs. 

 ACRADINA. See AcHKADiNA. 



ACRTK, an ancient town of Sicily, founded according 

 to Thucydides (hb. 6. p. 381. Ed. Diikeri) 70 years after 

 Syracufe, built uj)i)n an eminence, as Sihus Itahcus (hb. 14. 

 *. 207.)defcribei it, and inhabited by a people wliom Pliny 

 (II. N. vol. i. p. 163.) denominates Acrenfes. It wasfitu- 

 ated about 24 miles to the fouth of Syracufc, not far from 

 the fea, and near the monailer)- which the Sicilians call Sania 

 Maura (fylrcia, between the cities of Nolo and Avula. 

 There arc medals of this city in bronze, gold and filver. 



AcRyi: Stjiianjr, a dillrict of Spain, S. E. of tiie pro- 

 montory of Arlabrum. 



AcR«, wasalfo an epithet of Diana, who was generally 

 worfliipped in higli places. 



ACR.iEA, a furname of Juno of Corinth, who had a 

 temple in the citadel of the Sicilian Acrr ; and alfo a furname 

 of Fortune for the fame rcalon. 



ACR/EPHIA, AcR/r.PHiuM, or as Paufanias (lib. 9. 

 c. 23. p. 755. Ed. Kuhnli) calls it, /Icrttphnium, was a city 

 of ficcotia, fituate on Mount Ptoos, where was a temple of 

 Apollo. This place, according to Paufanias, afforded re- 

 fuge to the Thebans, when Alexander demolilhed their city. 

 ACRjEUS, was a furname of Jupiter, who was honoured 

 by the inhabitants of Smyrna in a temple on an eminence 

 neai the fea. 



ACRAGAS, a town of Sicily, built upon a mountain, 

 at the confluence of the rivers A^ragas and Hypfa, and 

 within two miles of the fea, by the people of Gela in the 

 year before Chrift 584. It took its name from the river 

 Acragas, now called Fiume di Gergenti ; whence other cities, 

 enumerated by Stephanus (de Urb. voL i. p. 53.) were de- 

 pominated Acra^antes. Acragas was very Itrongly fortified. 

 The inhabitants were luxurious in their diet, and magnifi- 

 cent in their dwellings ; and they are reprefem^ed by Empe- 

 docles, fays Diogenes Laertius (torn. I. p. 532.) to be per- 

 fons, who lived to-day as if they were to die to-morrow, 

 and who built, as if they were to live for ever. The adja- 

 cent country abounded with vines and olives, the produce 

 of which afforded a lucrative commerce with Carthage. 

 Acragas has been more generally diftinguifhed by its Roman 

 appellation ^(tgi'igcntum. The medals of this city were gold, 

 filver and bronze. 



ACRA Japygia, a promontory in the kingdom of Na- 

 ples, to the S. E. of Otranto, where was formerly a town, 

 now in ruins, on the Ionian Sea, oppofite to the Monies 

 acroceraun'i't of Epirus. Ptolemy called it Sa/entia, and it is 

 BOW denominated Capo dt San Maria di Leuce. 



Agra of Scylax, an ifland on the coafl of Numidia, that 

 forms the modern part of Har(hgoone, imder which veffels 

 of the greateft burden may lie in fafety. Stephanus (de 

 Urb. vol. i. p. 53.) enumerates 10 cities under the appella- 

 tion of Acra. 



ACRAMAR, or Van, in Geography, a town and lake 

 ef the Greater Armenia in Afia. N. lat. 36° 30'. E. long. 

 44° 14'. Thetown, which is the capital of the government 

 of Van, is fituated at the foot of the mountains of Diar- 

 bekir, and is faid to have been built by Semiramis. It is 

 large, populous and commercial. In the adjoining lake, 

 which abounds with fifh, there are two finaU iflands, inhabit- 

 ed by religious Armenians. 



ACRASIA, formed of « priv. and x(fav»vf»i, to mix, 

 '}i ufed by fome writer? in Phyjic, for the cxcefs or predominan- 



A C R 



cy of one quafity above another, either in artificial mixture, 

 or in the conilitution oi the human body. The word is ufed 

 by Hippocrates, and olher Gitek medicinal writei-s, to ex- 

 prefs excefi of any kind, intemperance and imbecility. 



ACRASUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia 

 Minor in Lydia. There are fome imperii'! Greek medals of 

 this city, which were (truck under t!ie prxtors, in honour of 

 Severus, PlautUIa, Gcta, Julia Paula, Alex. Sevcrus and 

 Canicalla. 



AC RATH, a town In Mauritania Tingitana, fuppofed 

 to be the prefent Vrle':. de Gomara. 



ACRATISMA, in AiUirjuily, a breakfaft among the 

 old Greeks, confilling of a morfel of bread foaked in piue 

 unmixed wine. 



ACRATOMELI. Sec Mvlsum. 



ACRATOPHORUS, a furname of Bacchus, under 

 which he was honoured at Pliigalia, a city of Arcadia. 



ACRATOS, from a, priv. and v.!,«nt//a, to mix, de- 

 notes fimple or unmixed. This term is very often ufed by 

 Hippocrates, and applied to excretions of different lorls, and 

 is always of very bad prefage. Thus, in his Pm-jiotiones, he 

 obfcrves, that in all painful diforders ot the pleura and lungs, 

 the fplttle (liould appear mixed and yellow j and that it is 3 

 dangerous iymptoiu, if it be altogctlier yellow, without 

 any mixture : and he adds, that if the ipittlc be fo unmixed, 

 as to appear black, it is a very bad prefage. 



ACRE, or AcRA, in Geography, 3 fea-port town on the 

 Phoenician coaft in Syria. Its ancient Hebrew name was 

 Acco or Accho, under which appellation it is mentioned as a 

 place of confiderable ftrength in the book of Judges, ch. i. 

 V. 3 1 . and it is Hill called by tlie Arabs Akha. It was after- 

 wards denominated Pro LE MAIS, from one of the Ptcdemysin 

 Egypt, and Acra, on account of its fortifications and im- 

 portance : whence the knights of St. John of Jerufalem 

 called it St. John d'Acre. The fituation of Acre poffeffes 

 every poffible advantage both of fea and land : as it is en- 

 compaffed on the N. and E. by a fpacious and fertile plain, 

 on the W. by the Mediterranean, and on the S. by a large 

 bay, extending from the city to Mount Carmel» This 

 city fucceffively under the dominion of the Romans and af^ 

 terwards of the Moors, was for a long time the theatre of 

 contention between the Chriftians and the Infidels in the pro- 

 grefs of the crufades. It was taken by the victorious Saladin 

 in 1187 ; and furrendered to the united arms of Philip Auguf- 

 tus of France, and Richard I. of England in 1191, after a 

 fiege of two years, which confumed a great multitude offerees, 

 both of Europe and Afia. Although the Europeans thus 

 acquired a ftrong town and convenient harbour, the advantage 

 was very dearly purchafed. It is faid (fee Gibbon's Hift. 

 vol. xi. p. 144. 8vo.) that on this oceafion more than 100,000 

 Chriftians were (lain ; that a far greater number was loil by 

 difeafe or fhipwreck ; and that a fmall portion of an army, 

 confifting of five or fix hundred thoufand pcrfons, returned in 

 fafety to their native countric,;. After the lofs of Jerufaleiii 

 in unfuccefsful attempts for recovering the Holy Land from 

 the poffeffionof the Saracens, renewed by St. Louis with the 

 co-operation of our Edward I. and other powers. Acre be- 

 came the metropolis of the Latin Chriftians, and was adorn- 

 ed with ftrong and ilately buildings, with aquedufts, aa 

 artificial port and a double wall. Its population was in» 

 creafed by an influx of pilgrims and fugitives ; and the trade 

 of the Eaft and Weft was attraifted to this convenient fta- 

 tion. At this time, however, the inhabitants v/ere ex- 

 tremely corrupt } and the government, though exercifed by 

 many lovereigns, feeble and ineffectual to any purpofe of 

 falutary reftraint. Adventurers iffued from this city, under 

 the banner of the crofs, to plunder the Mahometan villages ; 

 3 and 



