Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa)

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Titus and Berenice, miniature of a pocket watch cover in 1815

Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice and sometimes spelled Bernice (

Herod Agrippa II
.

What little is known about her life and background comes mostly from the early historian

emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus
. However, her unpopularity among the Romans compelled Titus to dismiss her on his accession as emperor in 79. When he died two years later, she disappeared from the historical record.

Early life

Herodian Dynasty
and her appearance in the New Testament

Berenice was born in 28

Herodian Dynasty
, who ruled the Judaea Province between 39 BC and 92 AD.

stained glass window in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne
.

Josephus records three short-lived marriages in Berenice's life, the first which took place sometime between 41 and 43, when she was between the ages of 13 and 15, to Marcus Julius Alexander, brother of Tiberius Julius Alexander and son of Alexander the Alabarch of Alexandria.[4][5] On his early death in 44, she was married to her father's brother, Herod of Chalcis,[3] with whom she had two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus.[6] After her husband died in 48, she lived with her brother Agrippa for several years and then married Polemon II of Pontus, king of Cilicia, whom she subsequently deserted.[7] According to Josephus, Berenice requested this marriage to dispel rumors that she and her brother were carrying on an incestuous relationship, with Polemon being persuaded to this union mostly on account of her wealth.[7] However the marriage did not last and she soon returned to the court of her brother. Josephus was not the only ancient writer to suggest incestuous relations between Berenice and Agrippa. Juvenal, in his sixth satire, outright claims that they were lovers.[8] Whether this was based on truth remains unknown.[9] Berenice indeed spent much of her life at the court of Agrippa, and by all accounts shared almost equal power. Popular rumors may also have been fueled by the fact that Agrippa himself never married.[9]

Like her brother, Berenice was a client ruler of the parts of the Roman Empire that lie in the present-day Israel. The Acts of the Apostles records that during this time, Paul the Apostle appeared before their court at Caesarea.[10]

During Jewish-Roman wars

Early phase of the revolt

Judaea
.
Main article: First Jewish–Roman War

In 64 emperor

Cestius Gallus, met with no response.[13]

To prevent Jewish violence from further escalating, Agrippa assembled the populace and delivered a tearful speech to the crowd in the company of his sister,[13] but the Jews alienated their sympathies when the insurgents burned down their palaces.[14] They fled the city to Galilee where they later gave themselves up to the Romans. Meanwhile, Cestius Gallus moved into the region with the Twelfth legion, but was unable to restore order and suffered defeat at the battle of Beth-Horon, forcing the Romans to retreat from Jerusalem.[15]

Affair with Titus

Emperor Nero then appointed Vespasian to put down the rebellion; he landed in Judaea with Fifth and Tenth legions in 67.[16] He was later joined at Ptolemais by his son Titus, who brought with him the Fifteenth legion.[17] With a strength of 60,000 professional soldiers, the Romans quickly swept across Galilee and by 69 marched on Jerusalem.[17]

It was during this time that Berenice met and fell in love with Titus, who was eleven years her junior.

sack of Jerusalem, with approximately 1 million dead, and 97,000 taken captive by the Romans.[20]
Triumphant, Titus returned to Rome to assist his father in the government, while Berenice stayed behind in Judaea.

In Rome

It took four years until Titus and Berenice reunited, when she and her brother Agrippa II came to Rome in 75. The reasons for this long absence are unclear, but have been linked to possible opposition to her presence by Gaius Licinius Mucianus, a political ally of emperor Vespasian who died sometime between 72 and 78.[21] Agrippa II was given the rank of praetor, while Berenice resumed her relationship with Titus, living with him at the palace and reportedly acting in every respect as his wife.[22] The ancient historian Cassius Dio writes that Berenice was at the height of her power during this time,[22] and if it can be any indication as to how influential she was, Quintilian records an anecdote in his Institutio Oratoria where, to his astonishment, he found himself pleading a case on Berenice's behalf where she herself presided as the judge.[23] The Roman populace however perceived the Eastern Queen as an intrusive outsider, and when the pair was publicly denounced by Cynics in the theatre, Titus caved to the pressure and sent her away.[22]

Upon the accession of Titus as emperor in 79, she returned to Rome, but was quickly dismissed amidst a number of popular measures of Titus to restore his reputation with the populace.[24] It is possible that he intended to send for her at a more convenient time.[21] However, after reigning barely two years as emperor, he suddenly died on 13 September 81.[25]

It is not known what happened to Berenice after her final dismissal from Rome.[21] Her brother Agrippa II died around 92, and with him the Herodian Dynasty rule over Judaea came to an end.

Berenice in the arts

From the 17th century to contemporary times, there has been a long tradition of works of art (novels, dramas, operas, etc.) devoted to or featuring Berenice and especially her affair with the Roman Emperor Titus.[26] The list includes:

In modern history, her aspirations as a potential empress of Rome have led to her being described as a 'miniature

Cleopatra'.[27]

Ancestry

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Josephus writes that Berenice was sixteen at the time of her father's death, which fixes her birthdate on the year 28. See Josephus, Ant. XIX.9.1
  2. ^ a b Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.5.4
  3. ^ a b Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XIX.9.1
  4. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XIX.5.1
  5. JSTOR 1454863
    .
  6. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.5.2
  7. ^ a b Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.7.3
  8. ^ Juvenal, Satires VI
  9. ^
    JSTOR 289676
    .
  10. ^ King James Bible, Acts 25, 26
  11. ^ a b Josephus, The War of the Jews II.14
  12. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews II.15.1
  13. ^ a b Josephus, The War of the Jews II.16.1
  14. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews II.17.6
  15. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews II.19.9
  16. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews III.1.2
  17. ^ a b Josephus, The War of the Jews III.4.2
  18. ^ Tacitus, Histories II.2
  19. ^ Tacitus, Histories II.81
  20. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews VI.6.1, VI.9.3
  21. ^
    JSTOR 292544
    .
  22. ^ a b c Cassius Dio, Roman History LXV.15
  23. ^ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria IV.1
  24. ^ Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus 7
  25. ^ Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus 10, 11
  26. ^ Gabriele Boccaccini, Portraits of Middle Judaism in Scholarship and Arts (Turin: Zamorani, 1992); S. Akermann, Le mythe de Bérénice (Paris, 1978); Ruth Yordan, Berenice (London, 1974)
  27. ISBN 1-153-70614-8
    . Retrieved 2007-07-30.

References

External links

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