Mentioned only twice in Scriptures Acco is of little importance for biblical studies. It was listed as one of the cities from which the tribe of Asher had failed to drive out the inhabitants (Judg 1:31). Renamed Ptolemais during the Hellenistic era, it was the port where Paul landed and stayed a night with the believers of the city before continuing his journey to Caesarea and then on to Jerusalem (Acts 21:7) towards the end of his last missionary journey.
Acco, or Acre, however, is famous for being the last crusader stronghold to fall back into Muslim hands in 1291. By the end of that decade, Pope Bonaface VIII began to offer indulgences to pilgrims going to Rome instead of Jerusalem; this was as good an admission as could be squeezed from a medieval pope that the Crusades had failed.
Historically, the city was important because it sat at the junction of coastal roads and the routes through Galilee and the Jordan to Syria (Damascus).
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