Phoenicia, Akko Ptolemais
Caracalla (198-217), BI Tetradrachm 215-217, Akko mint
Obverse: laureate head right
AYT KAI ANTΩNINOC CEB
Reverse: eagle with slightly raised wings and a wreath in its beak turned to the left. Between the claws, two Dioscur caps with stars, denoting the Akka mint
ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞ ΥΠΑΤΟΧ ΤΟ Δ
Weight 13.65 g
The city of Akka-Ptolemais is now within the territory of Israel, 40 km east of the Sea of Galilee, strongly associated with biblical history. It is situated on a low headland at the northern end of Haifa Bay, on the Mediterranean Sea. Its strategic location meant that since antiquity it was considered the key to the Levant. Akka was first mentioned in the 15th century BC. It was then listed in the list of cities captured by Pharaoh Thutmose III and in the letters from Amarna. Akka was one of the mother settlements of the Phoenicians mentioned in Judges 1:31 as one of those places from which the Israelites failed to expel the Canaanites. In theory, Akka lay in the lands assigned to the Jewish tribe of Asher. The historian Josephus Flavius reports that at the time of King Solomon, the city belonged to the Kingdom of Israel. Throughout the entire period of Jewish domination, however, Akko was strongly associated politically with Phenicia and economically with Galilee. In 725 BC she joined Sidon and Tire in rebellion against Assyrian King Shalmanesar V.
After the conquest of Judea by Alexander of Macedon in 332 BC the city was renamed Antioch Ptolemais and then Ptolemais. After the death of Alexander of Macedon, Akka came under the Ptolemaic rule. However, the Seleucids considered these lands part of their legitimate territory, and this was a constant, significant point of contention between these Hellenistic kingdoms. Frequent wars ravaged this region of the coast, numerous fortresses and towns were demolished. In 198 BC Akka came under the rule of the Seleucids. In 47 BC Julius Caesar visited the city and soon it became a Roman colony for several centuries.
