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Like so many other rulers, Arcadius was perpetually hard put to challenge any of his ministers. Events
took place without his consent throughout his entire reign, and the power struggles whirling about him
were uncontrolled and bloody. The first major confrontations came in 395, when Flavius Rufinus and
Stilicho fought for supremacy, using the prefecture of Illyricum as a battleground. Stilicho earned the
eternal enmity of Arcadius by having Flavius Rufinus killed in Constantinople, on November 27, 395.
Arcadius next came under the sway of the eunuch Eutropius, who administrated his affairs and kept tight
rein on the new Praetorian prefect. Eutropius, however, fell from power circa 399 and was banished,
defeated by a new power on the scene, Aelia Eudoxia, the daughter of the magister militum Bauto.
Eudoxia married Arcadius and then ruled him with an iron hand.
Anyone foolish enough to oppose Eudoxia found himself stripped of rank and exiled. St. John
Chrysostom was one such victim of her wrath, facing his punishment in 401. Aelia Eudoxia died in 404,
and Arcadius handed over the imperial powers to his Praetorian prefect, Anthemius. This was his wisest act,
because Anthemius was genuinely concerned for the Empire. When Arcadius died in 408, Anthemius
ensured a smooth transition of rule to Theodosius II, the seven-year-old son of Arcadius. Arcadius lived
little more than 31 years.
¤ ARCHELAUS (fl. early 1st century A.D.) Son of HEROD THE GREAT, who sent him as a prince of
Judaea to be educated in Rome; like his brothers, kings Herod Antipas and Philip, he received control of his
own kingdom circa 4 B.C. This included Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea, but appears to have been reduced in
part by Augustus, who saw the need for breaking up the too centralized kingdom of Herod. As ruler of
Judaea, Archelaus from the start was beset with troubles. Public works were halted, and the
Roman presence upon which the king relied caused seething hatred on the part of the large Jewish
population, especially in the Roman headquarters of Jerusalem.
Further, Archelaus had married the ex-wife of his brother Alexander, who had borne her husband
children, a marriage thus considered invalid by Jewish law. Finally, in 6 A.D., Jewish and Samaritan
groups demanded that Rome remove him, and Augustus, agreeably accepting a province at the request of
its inhabitants, deposed Archelaus. He was sent into exile in Gaul (Gallia Narbonensis and Judaea
became an imperial province under the command of a procurator.
¤ ARCHELAUS OF CAPPADOCIA (d. 17 A.D.) Grandson of the king of same name, who had briefly
ruled Egypt, and a king in his own right. In 40 B.C., Marc ANTONY, who controlled the East, was
forced to execute the ruler of CAPPADOCIA, Ariarathes, and in his place installed Archelaus.
Subsequently, Archelaus became one of the pillars of Antony's support in the East, even though he was