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.

[5] Archelais was founded by Archelaus, son of Herod the Great and ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.

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.

[9][10] 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).

Ruins of Byzantine church in Archelais, Palestine (2006)