According to Josephus, Daniel built a tower in Ecbatana. The word translated tower is βᾶρις, but for the tower of Babel, Josephus uses πύργος. What is the difference between βᾶρις and πύργος?Josephus - The Antiquities of the Jews
10.264 Now when Daniel was become so illustrious and famous, on account of the opinion men had that he was beloved of God, he built a tower at Ecbatana, in Media: it was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made, and it is still remaining, and preserved to this day; and to such as see it, it appears to have been lately built, and to have been no older than that very day when any one looks upon it, it is so fresh flourishing, and beautiful, and no way grown old in so long timeὢν δὲ οὕτως ἐπίσημος καὶ λαμπρὸς ἐπὶ δόξῃ τοῦ θεοφιλὴς εἶναι Δανίηλος ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις τῆς Μηδικῆς βάριν εὐπρεπέστατόν τι κατασκεύασμα καὶ θαυμασίως πεποιημένον, ἣ μέχρι δεῦρο μὲν ἔστι καὶ σώζεται, τοῖς δ᾽ ὁρῶσι δοκεῖ προσφάτως κατεσκευάσθαι καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐκείνης ἧς ἕκαστος αὐτὴν ἡμέρας ἱστορεῖ γεγονέναι: οὕτως νεαρὸν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀκμαῖον τὸ κάλλος καὶ μηδαμοῦ γεγηρακὸς ὑπὸ τοσούτου χρόνου
10.265 for buildings suffer the same as men do, they grow old as well as they, and by numbers of years their strength is dissolved, and their beauty withered. Now they bury the kings of Media, of Persia, and Parthia in this tower to this day, and he who was entrusted with the care of it was a Jewish priest; which thing is also observed to this day.πάσχει γὰρ καὶ τὰ κατασκευάσματα ταὐτὸν ἀνθρώποις καὶ πολιοῦται καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν λυόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτῶν καὶ τὴν εὐπρέπειαν μαραινόμενα. θάπτουσι δ᾽ ἐν τῇ βάρει τούς τε Μήδων βασιλέας καὶ Περσῶν καὶ Πάρθων ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο, καὶ ὁ ταύτην πεπιστευμένος Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν ἱερεὺς καὶ τοῦτο γίνεται μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας
11.99 Whereupon a book was found at Ecbatana, in the tower that was in Media, wherein was written as follows: “Cyrus the king, in the first year of his reign, commanded that the temple should be built in Jerusalem.καὶ εὑρέθη ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις τῇ βάρει τῇ ἐν Μηδίᾳ βιβλίον, ἐν ᾧ τάδε ἦν ἀναγεγραμμένα: ‘ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς βασιλείας ἔτει Κῦρος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκέλευσεν τὸν ναὸν οἰκοδομηθῆναι τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις.
Ezra 6:2 There was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes
והשתכח באחמתא בבירתא די במדי מדינתה
καὶ εὑρέθη ἐν πόλει ἐν τῇ βάρει τῆς Μήδων πόλεως (LXX)
καὶ εὑρέθη ἐν πόλει ἐν τῇ βάρει τῆς Μήδων πόλεως (LXX)
Is Josephus quoting Ezra?
καὶ εὑρέθη ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις τῇ βάρει τῇ ἐν Μηδίᾳ (Josephus)
καὶ εὑρέθη ἐν πόλει ἐν τῇ βάρει τῆς Μήδων (Ezra)
Why is βάρει translated tower in Josephus, but palace in Ezra?
βρία (bría) בירה the Thracian word for city (πόλις).
Ecbatana
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... batana-geo
Ἐκβάτανα, Ἀποβάτανα, Ἀγβάτανα (אחמתא)
Strabo, Geography 11.13.4 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/te ... light=vera
Their royal summer palace is situated in a plain at Gazaca, and their winter palace in a fortress called Vera
βασίλειον δ᾽ αὐτῶν θερινὸν μὲν ἐν πεδίῳ ἱδρυμένον Γάζακα, χειμερινὸν δὲ ἐν φρουρίῳ ἐρυμνῷ Ὀυέρα
Γάζα a city in Media
γάζα treasure גנז
φρούριον fort, citadel, esp. hill-fort
ἐρυμνός fenced, fortified, strong, of hills, steep, sheer. ארמון
The Septuagint translates ארמון into βᾶρις/βᾶρος, so ארמון is probably from ἐρυμνός
Arrian, Anabasis 3.19.7 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ection%3D7
He instructed Parmenio to deposit the money which was being conveyed from Persis in the citadel at Ecbatana
Παρμενίωνα δὲ προσέταξε τὰ χρήματα τὰ ἐκ Περσῶν κομιζόμενα εἰς τὴν ἄκραν τὴν ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις παραδοῦναι
ἄκρα citadel built on a steep rock overhanging a town (usu. ἀκρόπολις)
εἰς τὴν ἄκραν τὴν ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις (Arrian)
ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις τῇ βάρει τῇ ἐν Μηδίᾳ (Josephus)
ἐν πόλει ἐν τῇ βάρει τῆς Μήδων (Ezra)
Strabo, Geography 15.3.10 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... t=ecbatana
They say that, besides the treasures in Babylon and in the camp of Alexander, which were not included in the sum, the treasure found at Susa and in Persis was reckoned to amount to 40,000, and according to some writers to 50,000, talents. But others say, that the whole treasure, collected from all quarters, and transported to Ecbatana, amounted to 180,000 talents, and that the 8,000 talents which Darius carried away with him in his flight from Media became the booty of those who put him to death.
Ezra 6
1. Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace.
So accordingly, the treasures and the decree that where in Babylon where transported to Ecbatana.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6.17 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... t=ecbatana
Ecbatana, the capital of Media, was built by king Seleucus (I Nicator)
Strabo, Geography 11.14.15
these the Abus is near the road that leads into Ecbatana past the temple of Baris.
ὁ Ἄβος ἐγγύς ἐστι τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς εἰς Ἐκβάτανα φερούσης παρὰ τὸν τῆς Βάριδος νεών
Temple of Baris? (Βάριδος νεών)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_Baris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Baris
Herodotus mentions another location called Ecbatana, but in Syria.This citadel is the Birah (Hebrew: בירה) referred to in Nehemiah 2:8, 7:2, appearing as the Baris in Greek translations of the Septuagint.
Herodotus 3.62 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... t=ecbatana
So this proclamation was made everywhere. The herald appointed to go to Egypt, finding Cambyses and his army at Ecbatana in Syria ( Συρίης ἐν Ἀγβατάνοισι), came out before them all and proclaimed the message given him by the Magus.
Herodotus 3.64 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... t=ecbatana
Cambyses asked what was the name of the town where he was. They told him it was Ecbatana. Now a prophecy had before this come to him from Buto, that he would end his life at Ecbatana; Cambyses supposed this to signify that he would die in old age at the Median Ecbatana, his capital city; but as the event proved, the oracle prophesied his death at Ecbatana of Syria (ἐν Συρίῃ Ἀγβατάνοισι).
According to the Book of Judith, Arphaxad was the ruler of Ecbatana and built walls and raised towers.No Ecbatana is known in Syria, and the attempts to explain the name (see Rawlinson ad loc.) are unconvincing. The religious coincidence is more than suspicious.
Judith 1:1 Arphaxad Fortifies Ecbatana
It was the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh.
In those days Arphaxad (᾿Αρφαξάδ) ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana ( Μήδων ἐν ᾿Εκβατάνοις)
He built walls around Ecbatana with hewn stones three cubits thick and six cubits long
he made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide.
At its gates he raised towers ( πύργους) one hundred cubits high and sixty cubits wide at the foundations.
Summer home?
Strabo, Geography 11.13
Media is divided into two parts. One part of it is called Greater Media, of which the metropolis (μητρόπολις) is Ecbatana (μητρόπολις), a large city (μεγάλη πόλις) containing the royal residence of the Median empire (the Parthians continue to use this as a royal residence even now, and their kings spend at least their summers (θερίζουσι) there.
לקוצרים, יקצרון θερίζουσι
Xenophon, Anabasis 3.5.15
Ecbatana, where the King is said to spend his summers
Ἐκβάτανα φέροι, ἔνθα θερίζειν λέγεται βασιλεύς,
לחריש, לקציר θερίζειν
Xenophon, Cyropedia 8.6.22
Cyrus himself made his home in the centre of his domain, and in the winter season he spent seven months in Babylon, for there the climate is warm; in the spring he spent three months in Susa, and in the height of summer two months in Ecbatana. By so doing, they say, he enjoyed the warmth and coolness of perpetual spring-time.
αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐν μέσῳ τούτων τὴν δίαιταν ποιησάμενος, τὸν μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸν χειμῶνα χρόνον διῆγεν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἑπτὰ μῆνας: αὕτη γὰρ ἀλεεινὴ ἡ χώρα: τὸν δὲ ἀμφὶ τὸ ἔαρ τρεῖς μῆνας ἐν Σούσοις: τὴν δὲ ἀκμὴν τοῦ θέρους δύο μῆνας ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις: οὕτω δὴ ποιοῦντ᾽ αὐτὸν λέγουσιν ἐν ἐαρινῷ θάλπει καὶ ψύχει διάγειν ἀεί.