Archelaus (high priest of Comana Cappadocia)

Archelaus (Greek: Ἀρχέλαος; fl. 1st century BC, died January/February 55 BC) was a high priest of the temple-state of Comana, Cappadocia.

Archelaus was a Cappadocian Greek nobleman, possibly of Macedonian descent. He was the first son and namesake of the Pontic high-ranking General Archelaus who participated in the Mithridatic Wars while his brother was the Pontic soldier Diogenes, who served in the army of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. His paternal uncle was the distinguished Pontic General Neoptolemus and the family of Archelaus were active in the Pontic Court.

The identity of his mother is unknown. Archelaus was descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus. According to Strabo, Archelaus claimed to be a son of Mithridates VI, but this claim is not plausible. Chronologically, Archelaus may have been a maternal grandson of the Pontic King; his father, Mithridates VI’s favorite general, may have married one of the daughters of Mithridates VI. There is a possibility that the mother of Archelaus may have been a Pontic princess, one of the daughters born from the concubine of Mithridates VI.

He had a homonymous character. In 63 BC, the Roman Triumvir, General Pompey, appointed Archelaus as High Priest and Roman Client King of the temple state of Comana, Cappadocia. When Pompey raised him to the priesthood, Archelaus became the priest of the Roman Goddess of War, Bellona. The dignity of the priest to the Goddess at Comana conferred upon the person who held it the power of a monarch over the place and its immediate vicinity.

Archelaus had control over the temple serfs, numbering 6,000, and he was not empowered to sell them. A considerable revenue accrued to the priest from the associated territories. By the time of his appointed priesthood and rule, Archelaus had married an unnamed Greek woman as his first wife and she died by 56 BC. From his first wife, he had two children: one son called Archelaus and an unnamed daughter.

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