The Acra Citadel

In 168 BCE, Antiochus IV built a fortress called "the Acra," in order to control Jerusalem and monitor activity in the Temple. Acra in Greek refers to a reinforced citadel.Josephus, Antiquities 12.5.4“... the King (Antiochus IV) came up to Jerusalem… And he burnt the finest parts of the city and, pulling down the walls, built the Acra in the Lower City; for it was high enough to overlook the Temple, and it was for this reason that he fortified it with high walls and towers, and stationed a Macedonian garrison therein. “ Various writings describe the Acra as a thorn in the flesh of the Jewish inhabitants of the City of David, as Jews who joined the wicked ruler as Hellenists, mocked their fellow "narrow-minded" Jews for "suffering" from their outdated religious traditions.1 Maccabees 1:33-35"They ​(the Seleucid forces) then rebuilt the City of David with a great strong wall and strong towers and made this their Citadel.  There they installed a brood of sinners, of renegades, who fortified themselves inside it, storing arms and provisions, and depositing there the loot they had collected from Jerusalem..."In 2015, its ruins were discovered in the City of David, the location of Ancient Jerusalem, placing the Acra south of the Temple Mount, in the center of the City of David, spreading its colossal self over the width of the whole southern hill. Its location severed the Temple Mount from the rest of the city.The excavation produced bronze arrowheads and ballista stones, numerous coins, ranging in date from the reign of Antiochus IV to that of Antiochus VII testifying to the citadel’s chronology.