Berenice or Berenike (Greek: Βερενίκη, Berenikē) is the Ancient Macedonian form for Attic Greek Φερενίκη (Pherenikē), meaning "bearer of victory", from φέρω (pherō) "to bear" + νίκη (nikē) "victory"[1]. Berenika priestess of Demetra in Lete ca. 350 BC is the oldest epigraphical evidence[2][3]. The Latin form of the same name is Veronica.
Many historical figures bear the name "Berenice":
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BERENICE, or Bernice, the Macedonian forms of the Greek Pherenice, the name of (A) five Egyptian and (B) two Jewish princesses.
(A) 1. Berenice, daughter of Lagus, wife of an obscure Macedonian soldier and subsequently of Ptolemy Soter, with whose bride Eurydice she came to Egypt as a lady-in-waiting. Her son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was recognized as heir over the heads of Eurydice's children. So great was her ability and her influence that Pyrrhus of Epirus gave the name Berenicis to a new city. Her son Philadelphus decreed divine honours to her on her death. (See Theocritus, Idylls xv. and xvii.) 2. Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, wife of Antiochus Theos of Syria, who, according to agreement with Ptolemy (249), had divorced his wife Laodice and transferred the succession to Berenice's children. On Ptolemy's death, Antiochus repudiated Berenice and took back Laodice, who, however, at once poisoned him and murdered. Berenice and her son. The prophecy in Daniel xi. 6 seq. refers to these events.
3. Berenice, the daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene, and the wife of Ptolemy III. Euergetes. During her husband's absence on an expedition to Syria, she dedicated her hair to Venus for his safe return, and placed it in the temple of the goddess at Zephyrium. The hair having by some unknown means disappeared, Conon of Samos, the mathematician and astronomer, explained the phenomenon in courtly phrase, by saying that it had been carried to the heavens and placed among the stars. The name Coma Berenices, applied to a constellation, commemorates this incident. Callimachus celebrated the transformation in a poem, of which only a few lines remain, but there is a fine translation of it by Catullus. Soon after her husband's death (221 B.C.) she was murdered at the instigation of her son Ptolemy IV., with whom she was probably associated in the government.
4. Berenice, also called Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy X., married as her second husband Alexander II., grandson of Ptolemy VII. He murdered her three weeks afterwards.
5. Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, eldest sister of the great Cleopatra. The Alexandrines placed her on the throne in succession to her father (58 B.C.). She married Seleucus Cybiosactes, but soon caused him to be slain, and married Archelaus, who had been made king of Comana in Pontus (or in Cappadocia) by Pompey. Auletes was restored and put both Berenice and Archelaus to death in 55 B.C.
(B) 1. Berenice, daughter of Salome, sister of Herod I., and wife of her cousin Aristobulus, who was assassinated in 6 B.C. Their relations had been unhappy and she was accused of complicity in his murder. By Aristobulus she was the mother of Herod Agrippa I. Her second husband, Theudion, uncle on the mother's side of Antipater, son of Herod I., having been put to death for conspiring against Herod, she married Archelaus. Subsequently she went to Rome and enjoyed the favour of the imperial household.
2. Berenice, daughter of Agrippa I., king of Judaea, and born probably about A.D. 28. She was first married to Marcus, son of the alabarch 1 Alexander of Alexandria. On his early death she was married to her father's brother, Herod of Chalcis, after whose death (A.D. 48) she lived for some years with her brother, Agrippa II. Her third husband was Polemon, king of Cilicia, but she soon deserted him, and returned to Agrippa, with whom she was living in 60 when Paul appeared before him at Caesarea (Acts xxvi.). During the devastation of Judaea by the Romans, she fascinated Titus, whom along with Agrippa she followed to Rome as his promised wife (A.D. 75). When he became emperor (A.D. 79) he dismissed her finally, though reluctantly, to her own country. Her influence had been exercised vainly on behalf of the Jews in A.D. 66, but the burning of her palace alienated her sympathies. For her influence see Juvenal, Satires, vi., and Tacitus, Hist. ii. 2.
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From Ancient Greek (Doric) Βερενίκη (Berenike) "bringer of victory", (Ionic Φερενίκη Pherenike) < φέρω (phero) "to bear, to carry, to bring" + νίκη (nike) "victory".
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Singular |
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Berenice
Classification System: APG II (down to family level)
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Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiospermae
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Asparagales
Familia: Alliaceae
Genus: Berenice
Species: B. victorialis
Berenice Salisb., 1866.
Daughter of Herod Agrippa I. and of Cypros, the daughter of Phasael; born in 28. She was first married to Marcus, son of the alabarch Alexander of Alexandria. Her husband dying within a short time, her father married her to his brother Herod of Chalcis (Josephus, "Ant." xix. 5, § 1). Berenicianus and Hyrcanus were the children of this union ("Ant." xx. 5, § 2; "B. J." ii. 11, § 6). Again a widow in the year 48, Berenice went to herbrother Agrippa II., with whom it was whispered she lived in incestuous relations ("Ant." xx. 7, § 3; Juvenal, "Satires," 6). These rumors may not have been unfounded, since Agrippa tried to stop them by betrothing Berenice to Polemo, king of Cilicia. The latter, won by her wealth as much as by her beauty, embraced the Jewish faith and was circumcised.
Berenice, however, soon left her third husband to return to her brother, resuming apparently their old relations. In 60 she went to Cæsarea with Agrippa II. to welcome the new governor, Festus, and took part in the proceedings against Paul (Acts 25:13 et seq., xxvi.). When, in 66, the governor Florus had by his measures provoked a riot in Jerusalem, Berenice, who was then in the city to fulfil a Nazarite vow, implored him on her knees to stop the bloodshed and to spare the town. But Florus was deaf to her prayers, and, being in danger of maltreatment, she had to seek refuge in her palace ("B. J." ii. 14, §§ 6-9; 15, §§ 1, 2). Berenice appeared with Agrippa before the proconsul Cestius Gallus to complain of Florus. Later, when Agrippa in a speech tried to dissuade the people from going to war with the Romans, Berenice stood near him to protect him by her popularity ("B. J." l.c.). Agrippa's attempts to maintain peace were unsuccessful. In the ensuing conflict at Jerusalem between the war party and that advocating peace the latter succumbed; and the palaces of Agrippa and Berenice were demolished by the infuriated populace ("B. J." ii. 17, § 6).
Berenice and Agrippa now openly went over to the Romans. After Vespasian had been made emperor by the Egyptian and Syrian legions, Berenice, who was a strong supporter of the Flavian party, summoned her brother Agrippa to Palestine to take the oath of allegiance (Tacitus, "Historiæ," ii. 81). Vespasian seems to have held her in high esteem; for only her intercession saved Justus of Tiberias from being beheaded.
About this time Berenice entered into relations with Titus that lasted for many years, although she was much older than he—according to Wilcken, no less than thirteen years. Her beauty, however, was still irresistible, and, perhaps in the eyes of Titus, her vast wealth was even more attractive (compare Tacitus, "Historiæ," ii. 2). These relations continued at Rome, whither Berenice had gone with Agrippa in 75. Titus and Berenice lived on the Palatine Hill; and it was generally supposed that he would soon marry her (Suetonius, "Titus," vii.). So jealous of her was Titus that he caused the Roman general Cæcina, whom he suspected of a secret intrigue with Berenice, to be assassinated (Aurelius Victor, "Epitome," x. 7). Fully expecting Titus to marry her, Berenice tried to hasten the event (Dio Cassius, lxvi. 15, § 4); but when she publicly appeared as the wife of Titus he was compelled, much against his will, to separate from her, the hatred of the Jews by the Romans being too intense to tolerate such a union (Suetonius, l.c.; Dio Cassius, l.c.). Still Berenice did not give up the hope of sharing with Titus the throne of the Roman empire. At the news of Vespasian's death (June 23, 79) she hastened to Rome; but Titus sent her back (Dio Cassius, lxvi. 18).
Nothing is known of the later life of Berenice. It may be remarked that Berenice on her journeys between Palestine and Rome seems to have formed connections at Athens, as may be gathered from the inscription published in "C. I. A." iii. 1, No. 556.
Bibliography: Wilcken, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyklopäder Classischen Alterthumswissenschaft, iii. col. 287; Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, iii. passim; Schürer, Gesch. i. 470, 493, 503, 606.
   | Epigraphical Database - Epigraphical Database: SEG 44:535 |
| | '''Berenike''', Liddell and Scottt, "A Greek-English Lexicon", at Perseus - Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon |
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