Acra ( fortress ) The Acra ( or Akra , , ) , was a fortified compound in Jerusalem built by Antiochus Epiphanes , ruler of the Seleucid Empire , following his sack of the city in 168 BCE . The fortress played a significant role in the events surrounding the Maccabean Revolt and the formation of the Hasmonean Kingdom . It was destroyed by Simon Maccabeus during this struggle . The exact location of the Acra , critical to understanding Hellenistic Jerusalem , remains a matter of ongoing discussion . Historians and archaeologists have proposed various sites around Jerusalem , relying mainly on conclusions drawn from literary evidence . This approach began to change in the light of excavations which commenced in the late 1960s . New discoveries have prompted reassessments of the ancient literary sources , Jerusalem ' s geography and previously discovered artifacts . Yoram Tsafrir has interpreted a masonry joint in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount platform as a clue to the Acra ' s possible position . During Benjamin Mazar ' s 1968 and 1978 excavations adjacent to the south wall of the Mount , features were uncovered which may have been connected with the Acra , including barrack - like rooms and a huge cistern . The ancient Greek term " acra " was used to describe other fortified structures during the Hellenistic period . The Acra is often called the Seleucid Acra to distinguish it from references to the Ptolemaic Baris as an " acra " and from the later quarter in Jerusalem which inherited the name Acra . History . Background . Following Alexander the Great ' s death in 323 BCE , Judea was contested between the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt , and the Seleucid Empire based in Syria and Mesopotamia . Seleucid Emperor Antiochus III ' s victory over Egypt in the Battle of Panium brought Judea under Seleucid control . The Jewish population of Jerusalem had aided Antiochus during his siege of the Baris , the fortified base of Jerusalem ' s Egyptian garrison . Their support was rewarded with a charter affirming Jewish religious autonomy , including barring foreigners and impure animals from the Temple ' s precincts , and an allocation of official funds for the maintenance of certain religious rituals in the Temple . Despite being allowed religious freedom , many Jews were enticed by and adopted elements of the prestigious and influential Greek lifestyle . The imperial culture offered a route to political and material advancement , and this led to the formation of Hellenistic elites among the Jewish population . Hellenization produced tensions between observant Jews and their brethren who had assimilated Greek culture . Antiochus IV Epiphanes ascended the Seleucid throne in 175 BCE . Shortly afterward , the Emperor was petitioned by Jason for appointment to the position of High Priest of Israel — an office occupied by his brother Onias III . Jason , himself thoroughly Hellenized , furthermore promised to increase the tribute paid by the city and to establish within it the infrastructure of a Greek Polis , including a gymnasium and an ephebion . Jason ' s petition was granted , yet after a three - year rule he was ousted by Antiochus and forced to flee to Ammon . In the meantime , Antiochus IV had launched two invasions of Egypt , in 170 BCE and again in 169 BCE , and routed the Ptolemaic armies . Antiochus ' victories were short - lived . His intent to unify the Seleucid and Ptolemic kingdoms alarmed the rapidly expanding Roman state , which demanded that he withdraw his forces from Egypt . With Antiochus engaged in Egypt , a false rumor spread in Jerusalem that he had been killed . In the ensuing uncertainty , Jason gathered a force of 1 , 000 followers and attempted to take Jerusalem by storm . Although the attack was repulsed , when word of the fighting reached Antiochus in Egypt , he suspected his Judean subjects of exploiting his setback as an opportunity to revolt . In 168 BCE , Antiochus IV Epiphanes marched on and sacked Jerusalem , looting the temple treasury and killing thousands of its residents . Reversing his father ' s policy , Antiochus IV issued decrees outlawing traditional Jewish rites and persecuting observant Jews . Temple rituals were discontinued , Jewish observance of Sabbath prohibited , and circumcision outlawed . Construction . To consolidate his hold on the city , monitor events on the Temple Mount and safeguard the Hellenized faction in Jerusalem , Antiochus stationed a Seleucid garrison in the city : The name Acra derived from the Greek acropolis and signified a lofty fortified place overlooking a town . In Jerusalem , the word came to symbolize anti - Jewish paganism : a fortress of the " impious and wicked " . Dominating both the city and the surrounding countryside , it was occupied not only by a Greek garrison but by their Jewish confederates as well . The Seleucid suppression of Jewish religious life met with considerable resistance among the native population . While Antiochus was occupied in the east during 167 BCE , a rural priest , Mattathias of Modiin , raised a rebellion against the empire . Both the Seleucid administration and the local Hellenized faction failed to grasp the magnitude of the revolt . In 164 BCE Judas Maccabaeus liberated Jerusalem and reconsecrated the Temple . Although the surrounding city had fallen , the Acra and its inhabitants held out . Maccabaeus besieged the fortress , whose inhabitants sent an appeal to the Seleucid king ( now Antiochus V ) for assistance . A Seleucid army was dispatched to put down the revolt . When it laid siege to Beth - Zur , Maccabaeus was forced to abandon his siege of the Acra and face Antiochus in battle . In the subsequent Battle of Beth - Zechariah , the Seleucids won their first victory over the Maccabees , and Maccabaeus was forced to withdraw . Spared from capitulation , the Acra persisted as a Seleucid stronghold for 20 more years during which it weathered several Hasmonean attempts to oust the Greek garrison . Destruction . Judas was killed in 160 BCE and succeeded by his brother Jonathan Maccabeus , who attempted to build a barrier to cut off the Acra ' s supply line . Jonathan had already assembled the manpower required for the task when he was forced to confront the invading army of Seleucid general Diodotus Tryphon at Beth Shan ( Scythopolis ) . Having invited Jonathan to a friendly conference , Tryphon had him seized and murdered . Jonathan was succeeded by another brother , Simon Maccabeus , who besieged and finally captured the Acra in 141 BCE . Two sources provide information about the ultimate fate of the Acra , although their accounts are contradictory in places . According to Josephus , Simon razed the Acra after ousting its inhabitants , and then quarried the hill on which it had stood to render it lower than the temple , purge the city of its evil memory and deny it to any future occupier of Jerusalem . The account appearing in 1 Maccabees paints a different picture : Thus in this version , Simon did not immediately demolish the Acra , but instead had it occupied and may even have resided within it himself . 1 Maccabees does not mention its ultimate fate . The fortress had been built as an internal checkpoint to monitor and control Jerusalem and its population . If situated in the City of David as most scholars agree , its location would have added very little to Jerusalem ' s defenses against external threats . It may have fallen out of use and been dismantled around the end of the 2nd century BCE following the construction of the Hasmonean Baris and Hasmonean Palace in Jerusalem ' s upper city . Location . The location of the Acra is important for understanding how events unfolded in Jerusalem during the struggle between Maccabean and Seleucid forces . This has been the subject of debate among modern scholars . The most detailed ancient description of the nature and location of the Acra is found in Josephus ' " Antiquities of the Jews " , where it is described as residing in the Lower City , upon a hill overlooking the Temple enclosure : The location of the " lower part of the city " , elsewhere referred to as the " Lower City " , at the time of Josephus ( 1st century CE ) is accepted to be Jerusalem ' s south - eastern hill , the original urban center traditionally known as the City of David . Lying to the south of the Temple Mount , however , the area exposed today is significantly lower than the Mount itself . The top of the Mount is approximately above the ground level at the southern retaining wall of the later Herodian - era expansion of the Temple enclosure . The elevation decreases to the south of this point . Josephus , a native of Jerusalem , would have been well aware of this discrepancy , yet is nevertheless able to explain it away by describing how Simon had razed both the Acra and the hill on which it had stood . Archaeological research south of the Temple Mount , however , has failed to locate any evidence for such large scale quarrying . On the contrary , excavations in the region have uncovered substantial evidence of habitation from the beginning of the first millennium BCE down to Roman times , casting doubt on the suggestion that during Hellenistic times the area was significantly higher than it was at the time of Josephus or that a large hill had been cleared away . This had led many researchers to disregard Josephus ' account and his placing of the Acra , and suggest several alternate locations . Since 1841 , when Edward Robinson proposed the area near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the site of the Acra , at least nine different locations in and around the Old City of Jerusalem have been put forward . Western hill . Several researchers have attempted to place the Acra in the Upper City on Jerusalem ' s western hill , within the area currently occupied by the Old City ' s Jewish Quarter . These propositions seek to locate the Acra within " Antiochia " , the Hellenistic polis established in Jerusalem according to 2 Maccabees . This conjectural new city would have been hippodamic in plan and therefore would have required a flat expanse of land which only the western hill could have provided . Furthermore , the eastern edge of the hill is adjacent to the Temple Mount and higher in altitude — two characteristics attributed to the Seleucid citadel . Opponents of this proposed location point out that there is very little archaeological or historical evidence supporting the establishment of a Hellenistic polis within Jerusalem , let alone sited on the western hill which appears to have been only sparsely populated during the Hellenistic period . Excavations in today ' s Jewish Quarter display evidence of habitation from the First Temple Period , as well as renewed Hasmonean and Herodian settlement , but scant evidence of Hellenistic occupation . Research into the disperal of stamped Rhodian amphorae handles has revealed that over 95 % of these handles found in Jerusalem were excavated from the City of David , indicating the city had not yet expanded to the western hill during Seleucid rule . Furthermore , the western hill is separated from the Temple Mount and the City of David by the steep Tyropoeon Valley — a distinct tactical disadvantage for any force that may have been required to intervene in events within the temple precincts or heavily populated eastern sectors of Jerusalem . North of the Temple . The Acra was not the first Hellenistic stronghold in Jerusalem . Sources indicate that an earlier citadel , the Ptolemaic Baris , had also occupied a location overlooking the Temple ' s precincts . Although the exact location of the Baris is still debated , it is generally accepted to have stood north of the Temple Mount on the site later occupied by the Antonia Fortress . The Baris fell to Antiochus III at the turn of the 2nd century BCE and is absent from all accounts of Maccabean Revolt . Despite the narratives which have the Acra constructed within a very short time - span , it was nevertheless formidable enough to weather long periods of siege . These factors , coupled with references in which the Baris was itself called an " acra " , have led some to suggest that the Baris and the Acra were in fact the same structure . Although both 1 Maccabees and Josephus seem to describe the Acra as a new construction , this may not have been the case . " Antiquities of the Jews " 12 : 253 may be translated to give the sense that the " impious or wicked " had " remained " rather than " dwelt " in the citadel , which could be taken to mean that the Acra had been standing before the revolt and that only the Macedonian garrison was new . Koen Decoster proposes that Josephus wrote of " a citadel in the lower part of the city " to an audience that would have been familiar with the Jerusalem of the 1st century CE — a city that did feature two citadels : the Antonia Fortress and the Herodian palace . As Josephus ' Roman Jerusalem had already expanded to the higher western hill , " a citadel in the lower city " could have referred to anything located east of the Tyropoeon Valley , including the Antonia which stood north of the Temple and did indeed rise above and dominate it . In his view , this is the place Josephus must have had in mind when he wrote of the Acra . Opponents of a northern location counter that this site is not supported by the historical sources , and that this would place the Acra away from Jerusalem ' s population center . Unlike its predecessor and successor citadels , it was not meant as a defence against external threat , but rather to oversee the inhabited Jewish parts of the city , a role incompatible with a proposed northern location . A fortified compound in the City of David . The available sources do indicate the Acra stood south of the temple , and because 1 Maccabees is a contemporaneous account of the Maccabean revolt , its account of the Acra ( 1 : 35 – 38 ) is considered the most reliable . Josephus provides an unlikely account of the razing of a hill on which the Acra had stood , yet his description of the end of the Great Revolt ( 70 CE ) provides additional evidence for it being located south of the Temple Mount : As the other buildings mentioned in the account all stood to the south in the Lower City , this also places the Acra there . This account attests to the persistence of the name " Acra " in this part of Jerusalem many years after Hellenistic rule ended and its citadels had been overthrown , and it can also be seen as referring not to a distinct building but rather to an entire region of the city . Indeed , several clauses in 1 Maccabees may be read as making a similar point : These suggest that , after the sacking of Jerusalem by Antiochus IV in 168 BCE , at least part of the City of David to the south of the Temple Mount was rebuilt as a fortified Hellenistic quarter of Jerusalem . More than a citadel , it was a Macedonian colony where Jewish renegades and supporters of the new regime lived . This is also supported by archaeological evidence , including Rhodian amphorae handles and 18 box graves found on the eastern slope of the City of David . The latter are dated to the early 2nd century CE , and are uncharacteristic of Second Temple era Jewish burial practices , yet similar to other known Hellenistic graveyards such as the one in Acre ( Ptolemais ) . A citadel nevertheless . Even were the name " Acra " applied to an entire Hellenistic quarter rather than to only a fortress , a citadel certainly would have stood within that compound to billet the Macedonian garrison which we are told occupied it . It was normal for a Hellenistic city to have a fortified stronghold at or near the highest point of its walled area . Thus , whether a part of a larger enclave or independent of its surroundings , a citadel probably did stand at the northern tip of the City of David just south of the Temple Mount . Archaeologists have tried to use finds from excavations conducted in the area to pinpoint this citadel ' s precise location . Yoram Tsafrir has attempted to place the Acra underneath the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount enclosure . Tsafrir points to a straight vertical seam in the enclosure ' s eastern masonry wall as evidence of different periods of construction . North of the seam is an early section of the wall built of large ashlar blocks . These blocks have faces with drafted margins around a prominent boss and are laid in homogeneous header and stretcher courses , one above the other . This style of construction is Hellenistic and distinct from the Herodian construction apparent south of the seam . Although the exact dating of this construction in uncertain , Tsafrir believes it is a remnant of the Acra ' s foundations which were later incorporated into Herod the Great ' s extension of the Temple platform . As further proof , Tzafrir also points to significant similarity between construction methods evident north of the seam , including the use of trapezoid shaped stones , with the methods employed in the Seleucid city of Perga in Asia Minor . 1 Macabees 1 : 30 attributes construction of the Acra to Apollonius , Antiochus III ' s " chief collector " ( , " Sar Hamissim " ) , which appears to be an ancient mistranslation or his original title as chief ( , " Sar " ) of the Mysians , a people of Asia Minor . Meir Ben - Dov believed that the Acra stood just south of the Huldah Gates of the southern wall of the Herodian Temple Mount platform . Benjamin Mazar ' s excavations of the Ophel , the area adjoining the southern portion of the platform , have unearthed the foundations of a massive structure and a large cistern , both possibly dating to the Hellenistic period . These have been tentatively identified as remnants of the Acra , with the structure , featuring rows of small interconnected rooms , believed to be the remains of a barracks . These had been demolished and built - over during the Hasmonean period , matching the descriptions in Josephus . The Hasmonean constructions were , in turn , flattened to create a public square fronting the main gates to the Temple platform during the Herodian renovations . Several cisterns under the Temple Mount itself have also been proposed as possible remnants of the Seleucid citadel . These include a cistern shaped like an E , the northern edge of which is adjacent to the proposed southern line of the Temple Mount precinct before its Herodian expansion . This has been identified as the " be ' er haqar " or " bor heqer " mentioned in the Mishnah , Erubin Tract 10 . 14 , and commonly translated , perhaps incorrectly , as the " cold well " . Additional evidence for the existence of the Acra may come from the chance discovery , published by , of a fragmentary Greek inscription in the Old City of Jerusalem . The inscription is part of a fragment from the top of a sandstone stele and contains what may be an oath taken by soldiers stationed in the Acra , although the reading of the name " Acra " in the text has been contested .