ACERRA, in Antiquity, a little box or pot, wherein were put the incense and perfumes to be burned on the altars of the gods, and before the dead. It appears to have been the same with what was otherwise called thuribulum and pyxis. The censers of the Jews were acerrae; and the Romanists still retain the use of acerrae, under the name of incense pots.

The name acerra was also applied to an altar erected among the Romans, near the bed of a person recently deceased, on which his friends offered incense daily till his burial. The real intention probably was to fumigate the apartment. The Chinese have still a somewhat similar custom.

ACERRA, a town of Italy, in the province of Terra di Lavoro, situated on the river Agno, 7 miles N.E. of Naples, with which it is connected by rail. It is the ancient Acerrae, the inhabitants of which were admitted to the privileges of Roman citizenship so early as 332 B.C., and which was plundered and burnt by Hannibal during the second Punic war. A few inscriptions are the only traces time has left of the ancient city. The town stands in a fertile district, but is rendered very unhealthy by the malaria rising from the artificial water-courses of the surrounding Campagna. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral and seminary. Flax is grown in the neighbourhood. Population, 11,717.