Archelais

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For the town of ancient Cappadocia in Asia Minor, see Archelais (Cappadocia).
Ruins of Byzantinian church in Archelais, Israel

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

History[]

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.[4][5]

No longer a residential bishopric, Archelaïs is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[6]

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.[7][8]

Current destruction[]

The archaeological site, standing at the northern outskirts of the Palestinian West Bank town of al-Auja at Khirbet el-Beiyudat, is gradually being covered by modern construction and devastated by treasure hunters.[9][10]

References[]

  1. ^ Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17.13.1
  2. ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, I, 193
  3. ^ "Archelais - (Kh. al-Bayudat)" (Franciscan Cyberspot)
  4. ^ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 673-676
  5. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 453
  6. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 837
  7. ^ 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)
  8. ^ Hizmi, Hananya (2018). 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. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-11-054421-3. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  9. ^ Jacobson, David M. (2014). "Editorial: Vandalism and Worse at Herodian Sites". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. London. 146 (3): 173-176. doi:10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000103. ISSN 1743-1301. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  10. ^ Ben Zvi, Sara Jo (8 January 2018). "Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale". Segula Magazine. Jerusalem. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
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