Archelais
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
( Ἀρχελαίς ) , a city built by Archelaus, after whom it was named (Josephus, Ant. 17, 13, 1). It was situated in the plain of the Jordan, near Jericho and Phasaelis (Josephus, Ant. 18, 2, 2). In the Peutinger Table (p. 434) it is placed twelve miles from Jericho toward Scythopolis. Ptolemy reckons it among the cities of Judaea (see Reland, Palaest. p. 462; comp. p. 576), and Pliny (13:4) speaks of it as a valley near Phasaelis and Livias. Antiochus is named in the Latin version of acts of the council of Chalcedon as bishop of Archelais in Palestine (Acta concilior general. 4, 80); but the Greek copies read Arce ( ῎Αρκη ), which likewise occurs in other notices (Ib. 4, 327), as also the name Alcenon ( Ἀλκήνων , ib. 4, 460). Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 287) coincides in Schulze's identification of the site with the ruins el-Basaliyeh, at the south base of a hill in the lower section of Wady Fariah.
