ARCHELÀO, ERODE. – The eldest surviving son of Erode the Great (and of Maltace) and his principal successor (4 B.C.–A.D. 6). Like his ANTIPAPA (v.), he assumed the dynastic name Herodes (on coins; Dio Cassius 55, 27; never, however, in Flavius Josephus). Designated by his father as heir to the throne, after Erode’s death the party opposed to the Herodians attempted a revolt, which was suppressed by the killing of 3,000 Jews (Flavius Josephus, Ant. Iud., XVIII, 9, 1). Since his father’s will required Augustus’ approval, A. went to Rome. The emperor did not entirely confirm Erode’s will. He did not recognize A. as universal successor with the title of king, but only as “ethnarch” (v.) of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; he confirmed to the two brothers the assignment of the other parts of their father’s kingdom. The entire territory, thus divided, remained under the supervision of the Roman governor of Syria.
In reporting that St. Joseph, on returning from Egypt, “audiens quod Archelaus reguareit” in Judea in place of his father Erode, refrained from going there, Mt. 3:22 seems to indicate the interval before A.’s journey to Rome, when he had been designated as Erode’s successor but had not yet been recognized; it also aptly characterizes A.’s cruel and tyrannical rule, hated by Jews and Romans alike. A. in fact arbitrarily deposed two High Priests, repudiated his wife, and married Glafira, the widow of his half-brother Alessandro. He conducted himself as an independent sovereign and minted coins. Fond of ostentation, he rebuilt the royal palace at Jericho, and to its north (11 km.) founded the city of Archelaide (now the ruins of Hirbet el-‘Augâ et-Tabta).
In the tenth year of his ethnarchy (A.D. 6), accused of tyranny by a delegation of Jewish and Samaritan nobles who had gone to Rome, he was summoned to the capital, tried, and banished to Vienna in Gaul, where he seems to have died (Strabo, XVI, 2, 45), leaving no children (before A.D. 18). Direct Roman administration, exercised by a procurator, was established in his territory.