BARIS. This was the name of the Palace begun by John Hircanus upon the mountain of the Temple, which was afterwards made use of for the abode of the Asmonæan Princes1. Herod the Great perfected it, and made a Citadel of it, which he called Antonia, in honour of his friend and protector Mark Antony. This building was square, situated upon a steep rock, fifty cubits high from the side of the valley which looked towards the City of Jerusalem; but it was upon a level with the Temple. The whole edifice was two furlongs about, that is to say, sixty three paces and something more in every front. In this palace the pontifical ornaments of the High-Priest were kept, and lockt up after they had been worn upon great festival days.
The Septuagint use the name Baris to denote a palace, a great house closed on all sides, in the form of a Tower2. This word is derived from the Chaldee, Berah, which we often meet with in the same sense, in the Hebrew books written after the Captivity of Babylon, such as Daniel, Esdras, Nehemiah, Esther. S. Jerom says, it is a term peculiar to Palestine, for signifying what we have just now mentioned. The plural number of Baris is Bareis, which is something ambiguous, because it may come from Barus which signifies heavy. Hence some of the Latins, in their interpretation of the xliv. Psalm, ver. 10. where we read à domibus eburneis, read à gravibus eburneis, which has no sense, and has produced another fault; for others attempting to correct these words have read à gradibus eburneis, from steps of ivory, which have no relation to the passage in the Psalm. Thus in Psalm xlvii. 14. where we read distribuite domos ejus, others deceived by the same ambiguity of the term Bareis, have read Graves ejus; and others desiring to outdo the rest, and spin the matter finer, distribuite gradus ejus.
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