Archelaïs () was a town in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

of Judaea/ Palaestina, corresponding to modern ''Khirbet el-Beiyudat'' (also spelled ''Khirbat al-Bayudat''). It was founded by

Herod the Great Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...

's son Archelaus to house workers for his date plantation in the

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

area. It is represented on the Madaba mosaic map with a towered entrance flanked by two other towers.

Geography

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

History

Archelais was founded by Archelaus, son of

and ethnarch of

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

, and

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the ...

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

bequeathed it to

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC AD 29) was List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption ...

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

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

times, the town became a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. The names of two of its bishops: Timotheus, who took part in two anti-

Eutyches Eutyches (; c. 375–454) or Eutyches of Constantinople

synods held in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 448 and 449, and Antiochus, who was at the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

in 451. No longer a residential bishopric, Archelaïs is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. 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.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 i
"Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot)

Current destruction

Archelaïs is identified with ''Khirbet el-Beiyudat'', an archaeological site, standing at the northern outskirts of the Palestinian

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

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.

References

{{Authority control Catholic titular sees in Asia Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea Herod Archelaus