Archelais Explained

Archelaïs (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀρχελαΐς)^[1] was a town in the Roman province of Judaea/Palaestina, corresponding to modern Khirbet el-Beiyudat (also spelled Khirbat al-Bayudat). It was founded by Herod the Great's son Archelaus^[2] to house workers for his date plantation in the Jericho area.^[3] It is represented on the Madaba mosaic map with a towered entrance flanked by two other towers.^[4]

Geography

Archelaïs was located about 7.5 miles north of Jericho, on the road leading to Scythopolis.^[5]

History

Archelais was founded by Archelaus, son of Herod the Great and ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. Salome bequeathed it to Livia in her will.

Agrippa I, king of Judaea in the early 40s CE, established a road station at Archelais.

In Christian times, the town became a bishopric. The names of two of its bishops: Timotheus, who took part in two anti-Eutyches synods held in Constantinople in 448 and 449, and Antiochus, who was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.^{[6] [7]}

No longer a residential bishopric, Archelaïs is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.^[8]

Inscriptions on the floor of a church discovered among the ruins of the town indicate that it was paved with Byzantine mosaics during the 560s.^{[9] [10]}

Current destruction

Archelaïs is identified with Khirbet el-Beiyudat, an archaeological site, standing at the northern outskirts of the Palestinian West Bank town of al-Auja (31°57′58″N 35°28′18″E). The site is gradually being covered by modern construction and devastated by treasure hunters.^{[11] [12]}

Notes and References

1. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0526.tlg001.perseus-grc1:17.13.1 Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17.13.1
2. Encyclopedia: . . Archaelais . 397 . . . Macmillan Reference USA & Keter Publishing House . 2 . 2007 . 2 . 978-0-02-865930-5 . encyclopedia.com . 12 March 2022.
3. [William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]
4. Web site: "Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot) . 2014-07-27 . 2012-08-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120819140634/http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/009discuss.html . dead .
5. Book: Rogers, Guy MacLean . For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE . 2021 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-24813-5 . New Haven . 533.
6. Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 673-676
7. Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 453
8. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013), p. 837
9. H. Hizmi, "The Byzantine Church at Khirbet el-Beiyudat", in Christian Archaeology in the Holy Land. New Discoveries. Essays in Honour of Virgilio C. Corbo ofm (SBF Collectio Maior 36), Edd. G. C. Bottini - L. Di Segni - E. Alliata, Jerusalem 1990 – cited in "Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot)
10. Book: Hizmi, Hananya . Archelaïs (mod. al-Bayudat, Kh. el-Beyudat): Ground plan of the church (fig. 2672.A) . Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae. Volume IV: Iudaea/Idumaea: 2649-3324 . Walter de Gruyter . 2018 . 43 . 978-3-11-054421-3 . 1 June 2020.
11. Jacobson . David M. . Editorial: Vandalism and Worse at Herodian Sites . . 146 . 3 . 2014 . 173-176 . London . 10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000103 . 1743-1301 . free .
12. Web site: Ben Zvi . Sara Jo . Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale . Jerusalem . 8 January 2018 . Segula Magazine . 20 May 2021.