Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/48

ACRE 4,840 square yards, the Scottish one, 6,104.12789 square yards, and the Irish one, 7,840 square yards. The imperial acre is current in the United States. The old Roman jugerum, generally translated acre, was about five-eighths of the imperial acre.

ACRE (ä´kr), or ST. JEAN D'ACRE, a seaport of Syria, formerly called Ptolemais; on a promontory at the foot of Mount Carmel. It was taken by the first crusaders in 1104, retaken by the Saracens in 1187, recovered by the Christians under Richard Cœur de Lion, in 1191, and given to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1291 it again fell into the hands of the Saracens. Bonaparte attempted to storm this place in 1799, but retreated after a siege of 61 days. It was taken by Ibrahim Pasha, in 1832, and again by the combined English and Austrian squadrons, in 1840.

ACROCORINTHUS, a steep and lofty mountain, shaped as a truncated cone, overhanging the city of Corinth, 1,885 feet in height, on which was built a citadel.

ACROPOLIS, the high part of any ancient Greek city, usually an eminence overlooking the city, and frequently its citadel. Notable among such citadels were the Acropolis of Argos, that of Messene, of Thebes, and of Corinth, but pre-eminently the Acropolis of Athens, to which the name is now chiefly applied. The Acropolis of Athens was the original city of Athens, later the upper city, as distinguished from the lower, and was built upon a separate spur or butte of Hymettus. The hill rises out of the plain, a mass of rock about 260 feet high. The summit of this rock forms an uneven plain 500 by 1,150 feet at the maximum breadth and length. Within this area were reared, chiefly in the days of Pericles, remarkable specimens of architectural art. The buildings were grouped around two principal temples, the Parthenon and the. Erechtheum. Between these temples stood the statue of Athena Promachos (fighter in front), by Phidias, the helmet and spear of which were the first objects visible from the sea. About these center pieces were lesser temples, statues, theaters, fanes, and odea (music halls). Among the famous buildings on the sides of the Acropolis were the Dionysiac theater and the Odeum of Pericles, and the Odeum, built by Herodes Atticus in honor of his wife, Regilla. The ravages of accident and war and Athenian marble-merchants have largely destroyed and despoiled these classic works. See ATHENS.

ACROSTIC, a poetical composition, disposed in such a manner that the initial letters of each line, taken in order, form a person's name or other complete word or words. This kind of poetical triflings was very popular with the French poets from the time of Francis I. until Louis XIV. In the Old Testament there are 12 psalms written according to this principle. Of these, the 119th Psalm is the most remarkable; it consists of 22 stanzas, each of which commences with a Hebrew letter.