Wars of the Diadochi
Greek historians refer to the city as "Ake" (), meaning "cure." According to the Greek myth, Heracles found curative herbs here to heal his wounds. Josephus calls it "Akre". The name was changed to "Antiochia Ptolemais" () shortly after Alexander the Great's conquest, and then to Ptolemais, probably by Ptolemy I Soter, after the Wars of the Diadochi lead to the partition of the kingdom of Alexander the Great and its inclusion first into the Egypt-based Lagid empire, then in the Seleucid Empire.