Acre
Acre is a major city on the Mediterranean Levant coast. After 1191 it is the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Government
Acre is ruled by the King of Jerusalem, but large parts of the cities are franchised to different factions. The Italian merchant city states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa each control large quarters of the city, as to the fighting orders of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.
Defences
City walls, harbour chain
Industry & Trade
Acre is the largest trade port on the Levant coast and the major source of wealth for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Assets
Excellent natural harbour
Guilds and Factions
- Ruling faction: Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Merchant factions: Pisa, Venice, Genoa
- Military factions: Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller
History
Acre was a Phoenician trade port. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges as a Canaanite city - Judges 1:31 mentions that Jacob's son Asher, who went to dwell among Canaanites, did not drive them from Acre or several other cities.
It became a Persian trade port until it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Following Alexander's death his successor Ptolemy II renamed it Ptolemais. The city changed hands several times in antiquity - it was conquered by the Syrian Seleucids, the Kingdom of Judea, Egypt under Cleopatra, and the Kingdom of Armenia unter Tigranes the Great. The biblical King Herod built a gymnasium in the city, and the early Christian leaders St Luke the Evangelist and St Paul visited the city.
The city fell without a fight to the Rashidun Caliphate in 638, and it remained in Muslim hands until conquered by Crusaders in 1104, after which it became the major trade port of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Ayyubid forces under Sultan Salah ad-Din captured the city along with Beirut and Sidon without a fight following the victory over Crusader forces at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. In 1189 Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, unexpectedly laid siege to the city with military and logistical support from the Italian city-state of Pisa, initiating the two-year Siege of Acre. Muslim forces controlling the city surrendered to King Richard the Lionheart in July 1191 following the arrival of thousands of fresh Christian troops with the Third Crusade.
Founding Date
Antiquity
Alternative Name(s)
Akka (Arabic), Akko (Hebrew), Ptolemais (classical)
Type
Large city
Population
25,000+
Owning Organization
Comments