One family of Canaanites (Gen_10:17; 1Ch_1:15). A place N. of Phoenicia, called subsequently Caesarea Libani (at the base of Lebanon) from being Alexander Severus' birthplace; well known to the crusaders. Now Arka, two and a half hours from the shore; twelve miles N. of Tripoli; and five S. of Nahr el Kebir (Eleutheris). The ruins are scattered on a hill of about two acres, and on a plateau N. of it.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Ark?ites,the inhabitants of Arka, mentioned in Gen_10:17; 1Ch_1:15, as descended from the Phoenician or Sidonian branch of the great family of Canaan. This, in fact, as well as the other small northern states of Phoenicia, was a colony from the great parent state of Sidon. Arka, or Acra, their chief town, lay between Tripolis and Antaradus, at the western base of Lebanon, 32 R. miles from Antaradus, and 18 miles from Tripoli Burckhardt, in traveling from the north-cast of Lebanon to Tripoli, at the distance of about four miles south of the Nahr-el-keber (Eleutherus), came to a hill called Tel-Arka, which, from its regularly flattened conical form and smooth sides, appeared to be artificial. Upon an elevation on its east and south sides, which commands a beautiful view over the plain, the sea, and the Anzeyry Mountains, are large and extensive heaps of rubbish, traces of ancient dwellings, blocks of hewn stone, remains of walls, and fragments of granite columns. These are no doubt the remains of Arka; and the hill was probably the acropolis or citadel, or the site of a temple.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.