Archelais
Archelaïs (Ancient Greek: 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[edit]
Archelaïs was located about 7.5 miles north of Jericho, on the road leading to Scythopolis.[5]
History[edit]
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.[5]
Agrippa I, king of Judaea in the early 40s CE, established a road station at Archelais.[5]
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[edit]
Archelaïs is identified with Khirbet el-Beiyudat,[5] 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]
References[edit]
- ^ Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17.13.1
- ^ Avi-Yonah, Michael; Gibson, Shimon (2007). "Archaelais". In Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 2 (2 ed.). Macmillan Reference USA & Keter Publishing House. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-02-865930-5. Retrieved 12 March 2022 – via encyclopedia.com.
- ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, I, p. 193
- ^ ""Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot)". Archived from the original on 2012-08-19. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 673-676
- ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 453
- ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 837
- ^ 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) Archived 2012-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hizmi, Hananya (2018). Archelaïs (mod. al-Bayudat, Kh. el-Beyudat): Ground plan of the church (fig. 2672.A). Walter de Gruyter. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-11-054421-3. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Jacobson, David M. (2014). "Editorial: Vandalism and Worse at Herodian Sites". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 146 (3). London: 173-176. doi:10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000103. ISSN 1743-1301.
- ^ Ben Zvi, Sara Jo (8 January 2018). "Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale". Segula Magazine. Jerusalem. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
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