Archela'us
4. A son of the preceding. (Strab. xvii. p.
796.) In B. C. 34, Antony, after having expelled Ariarathes, gave to Archelaus the kingdom of Cappadocia --a favour which he owed to the charms of his mother, Glaphyra. (
D. C. 49.32;
Strab. xii. p.540.) Appian (
de Bell. Civ. 5.7), who places this event in the year B. C. 41, calls the son of Glaphyra, to whom Antony gave Cappadocia, Sisinna; which, if it is not a mistake, may have been a surname of Archelaus. During the war between Antony and Octavianus, Archelaus was among the allies of the former. (
Plut. Ant. 61.)
After his victory over Antony, Octavianus not only left Archelaus in the possession of his kingdom (
D. C. 51.3), but subsequently added to it a part of Cilicia and Lesser Armenia. (
D. C. 54.9;
Strab. xii. p.534, &c.) On one occasion, during the reign of Augustus, accusations were brought before the emperor against Archelaus by his own subjects, and Tiberius defended the king. (Dio Cass. Ivii. 17;
Suet. Tib. 8.)
But afterwards Tiberius entertained great hatred of Archelaus, the cause of which was jealousy, as Archelaus had paid greater attentions to Caius Caesar than to him. (Comp. Tacit.
Annal. 2.42.) When therefore Tiberius had ascended the throne, he enticed Archelaus to come to Rome, and then accused him in the senate of harbouring revolutionary schemes, hoping to get him condemned to death. But Archelaus was then at such an advanced age, or at least pretended to be so, that it appeared unnecessary to take away his life.
He was, however, obliged to remain at Rome, where he died soon after, A. D. 17. Cappadocia was then made a Roman province. (Dio Cass., Tacit.
ll. cc.; Suet. Tib. 37,
Calig. 1;
Strab. xii. p.534.) [
L.S]
The annexed coin of Archelaus contains on the reverse a club and the inscription
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΡΧΕΛΑΟΥ ΦΙΔ(
Λ?)
ΟΠΑΤΡΙΔΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΤΙΣΤΟΥ.
He is called
κτίστης, according to Eckhel (iii. p. 201), on account of his having founded the city of Eleusa in an island of the same name, off the coast of Cilicia. (Comp.
J. AJ 16.4.6.)