Archela'us. (prince of the people). Son of Herod the Great, by a Samaritan woman, Malthake, and, with his brother, Antipas, brought up at Rome. At the death of Herod, (B.C. 4), his kingdom was divided between his three sons, Herod Antipas, Archelaus and Philip. Archelaus never properly bore the title of king, Matthew 2:22, but only that of ethnarch.

In the tenth year of his reign, or the ninth according to Dion Cassius, that is, A.D. 6, a complaint was preferred against him by his brothers and his subjects on the ground of his tyranny, in consequence of which he was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where he is generally said to have died.