ARBELA är be’ lə (̓́Αρβηλα, en Arbelois). A place along Bacchides’ line of invasion from Syria to Judea (1 Macc 9:1ff.; Jos. Antiq. XII, xi, 1). Josephus also wrote (Antiq. XIV. xv. 4f.; War, 1. xvi. 2ff.) that it was from the village of Arbela in Galilee that Herod dislodged the robbers that were plaguing the countryside and fortified the caves of Arbela in lower Galilee (Life, 37). The exact site of Arbela is unknown. It has been identified with Beth-Arbel in Gilead and with the Galilean Khirbet Irbid overlooking the Wadi el-Hamam W of the Sea of Galilee.