# Archelais

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For the town of ancient Cappadocia in Asia Minor, see [Archelais (Cappadocia)](/source/Archelais_(Cappadocia)).

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

## Geography

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

## History

Archelais was founded by [Archelaus](/source/Herod_Archelaus), son of [Herod the Great](/source/Herod_the_Great) and ethnarch of [Judea](/source/Judea), [Samaria](/source/Samaria), and [Idumea](/source/Idumea). [Salome](/source/Salome) bequeathed it to [Livia](/source/Livia)[clarification needed] in her will.[5]

[Agrippa I](/source/Herod_Agrippa), king of Judaea in the early 40s CE, established a road station at Archelais.[5]

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

No longer a residential bishopric, Archelaïs is today listed by the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church) as a [titular see](/source/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](/source/Early_Byzantine_mosaics_in_the_Middle_East) during the 560s.[9][10]

## Current destruction

Archelaïs is identified with *Khirbet el-Beiyudat*,[5] an archaeological site, standing at the northern outskirts of the Palestinian [West Bank](/source/West_Bank) town of [al-Auja](/source/Al-Auja,_Jericho) (31°57′58″N 35°28′18″E). The site is gradually being covered by modern construction and devastated by treasure hunters.[11][12]

## References

1. [Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17.13.1](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0526.tlg001.perseus-grc1:17.13.1)

1. [Avi-Yonah, Michael](/source/Michael_Avi-Yonah) & [Gibson, Shimon](/source/Shimon_Gibson) (2007). ["Archaelais"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/archelais). *[Encyclopaedia Judaica](/source/Encyclopaedia_Judaica)*. Vol. 2. 2 ed. [Fred Skolnik](/source/Fred_Skolnik) and [Michael Berenbaum](/source/Michael_Berenbaum) (ed.). [Macmillan Reference](/source/Macmillan_Reference) USA & Keter Publishing House. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-02-865930-5. Retrieved 12 March 2022. – via encyclopedia.com.

1. [William Smith](/source/William_Smith_(lexicographer)), *[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Geography)*, I, p. 193

1. ["Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120819140634/http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/009discuss.html). Franciscan Cyberspot. Archived from [the original](http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/009discuss.html) on 2012-08-19. Retrieved 2014-07-27.

1. Rogers, Guy MacLean (2021). *For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE*. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 533. ISBN 978-0-300-24813-5.

1. Michel Lequien, [*Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus*](http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5319060892;view=1up;seq=347), Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 673-676

1. Pius Bonifacius Gams, [*Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae*](http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1), Leipzig 1931, p. 453

1. *Annuario Pontificio 2013* (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 837

1. 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). G. C. Bottini, L. Di Segni, E. Alliata (eds.), Jerusalem 1990 – cited in ["Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot)](http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/009discuss.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120819140634/http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/009discuss.html) 2012-08-19 at the Wayback Machine

1. Hizmi, Hananya (2018). ["Archelaïs (mod. al-Bayudat, Kh. el-Beyudat): Ground plan of the church (fig. 2672.A)"](https://books.google.com/books?id=_oxsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43). *Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae. Volume IV: Iudaea/Idumaea: 2649-3324*. Walter de Gruyter. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-11-054421-3. Retrieved 1 June 2020.

1. Jacobson, David M. (2014). "Editorial: Vandalism and Worse at Herodian Sites". *[Palestine Exploration Quarterly](/source/Palestine_Exploration_Quarterly)*. **146** (3): 173-176. [doi:10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000103](https://doi.org/10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000103). [ISSN 1743-1301](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1743-1301)

1. Ben Zvi, Sara Jo (8 January 2018). ["Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale"](https://segulamag.com/en/news/wanton-destruction-calamitous-scale/). *Segula Magazine*. Retrieved 20 May 2021.

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