EKRON, in the Septuagint and Apocrypha Accaron (Άκκαρών), a royal city of the Γhilistines, identified with the modern Syrian village of Akir, five miles from Ramleh, on the southern slope of a low ridge separating the plain of Philistia from Sharon. Though included by the Israelites within the limits of the tribe of Judah, and mentioned in Judges xix. as one of the cities of Dan, it was in Philistine possession in the days of Samuel, and apparently maintained its independence. According to the narrative of the Hebrew text, here differing from the Septuagint and Josephus, it was the last town to which the ark was transferred before its restoration to the Israelites. Its maintenance of a sanctuary to Beelzebub is mentioned in 2 King3 i. At the time of the Crusades it was still a large village; but now, according to Porter, it contains only 50 mud houses, and has no visible remains of antiquity except two finely built walls.