ARACEANS, or Arkites, people descended from Arak the Son of Canaan, who dwelt in the City of Arce or Arca, of the foot of mount Libanus. Josephus and Ptolemy both speak of this City. Antoninus’s itinerary places it between Tripolis and Antaradus. Josephus1 produces a fragment of the history of Assyria, wherein it is related, that the inhabitants of Arce submitted to the Assyrians, together with those at Sidon and old Tyre. And in another place he says2, that the river Sabbaticus empties itself into the Mediterranean between Arce and Raphanæa. I do not at all doubt, but that this is the very Arce mentioned in Josephus, and said to belong to the tribe of Asher3, and otherwise called Antipas. In Solomon’s time Baariah was intendant of the tribe of Asher, according to the Hebrew Text; but 1 Kings iv. 16.Josephus says, he was governor of the country round about the City of Arce, which lies upon the sea4. In the latter times of the Jewish commonwealth, this City was part of Agrippa’s Kingdom5.
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