Ptolemais
Ptolemais is an ancient city mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Acre. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Ptolemais appears by name in Acts 21:7, where Paul stopped during his third missionary journey on his voyage from Tyre to Caesarea. Luke records that Paul and his companions sailed from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where they greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for one day before continuing south. Though this is its only New Testament mention, the city had a long biblical history under its earlier name Acco (or Akko), which appears in Judges 1:31 among the Canaanite cities that the tribe of Asher failed to conquer. The city's strategic coastal location on the Bay of Haifa made it an important port throughout antiquity. By Paul's time, it had been renamed Ptolemais by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt and served as a thriving Hellenistic and Roman port city. The existence of a Christian community there by the time of Paul's visit indicates that the gospel had already penetrated the coastal cities of the Levant, likely through the dispersion following Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 11:19).
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Ptolemais is identified with modern Acre (Akko) in northern Israel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ancient tel (Tell el-Fukhar) southeast of the Old City has been excavated, revealing occupation layers from the Middle Bronze Age through the Persian period. The visible remains of the Old City date primarily to the Crusader and Ottoman periods, including the impressive Hospitaller fortress and the Al-Jazzar Mosque. Underwater archaeology in the harbor has uncovered Phoenician and Hellenistic port installations. Roman-period remains, including portions of the city wall and aqueduct, attest to the city's importance in Paul's era. The city's continuous habitation over four millennia makes stratigraphic excavation challenging, but surveys have confirmed extensive Hellenistic and Roman occupation consistent with the biblical account.
Verse Appearances (1)
Acts
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →