Berenice II of Egypt

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Berenice II
Arsinoe III
Alexander
Magas of Egypt
Berenice
Names
DynastyPtolemaic
FatherMagas of Cyrene
MotherApama II

Berenice II Euergetis (267 or 266 – 221 BCE;

Ptolemaic Egypt from 246 to 222 BCE as the wife of Ptolemy III
.

She married Demetrius, thus giving him the throne of Cyrenaica, on the death of her father

Ptolemaic kingdom. This marriage led to the re-incorporation of Cyrenaica into the Ptolemaic empire. As queen of Egypt, Berenice participated actively in government, was incorporated into the Ptolemaic state cult alongside her husband and worshipped as a goddess in her own right. She is best known for sacrificing her hair as a votive offering, which led to the constellation Coma Berenices being named after her. Berenice was murdered by the regent Sosibius shortly after the accession of her son Ptolemy IV Philopator
in 221 BCE.

Life

Cyrenaica had been incorporated into the Ptolemaic realm in 323 BCE, by

Ptolemy III, who was Ptolemy II's heir.[6][7]

The astronomer Gaius Julius Hyginus claims that when Berenice's father and his troops were routed in battle, Berenice mounted a horse, rallied the remaining forces, killed many of the enemy, and drove the rest to retreat.[8] The veracity of this story is unclear and the battle in question is not otherwise attested, but "it is not on the face of it impossible."[9]

Queen of Cyrene

Berenice was hailed

basilissa (queen) on coins even in her father's lifetime.[10] There are Cyrenean coins with the portrait of queen, the legend ΒΕΡΕΝΙΚΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ (Berenice Basilissa), and the monogram of Magas. It is evidently more plausible that the queen's identity is Magas's daughter Berenice II rather than Magas's mother Berenice I, because the portrait is youthful and unveiled, meaning unmarried.[11] According to coins of Berenice, the accession of Berenice as queen of Cyrene was in 258 BCE.[12]

King Magas died in circa 250 BCE. At this point, Berenice's mother Apame refused to honour the marriage agreement with the Ptolemies and invited an Antigonid prince, Demetrius the Fair to Cyrene to marry Berenice instead. With Apame's help, Demetrius seized control of the city. Allegedly, Demetrius and Apame became lovers. Berenice is said to have discovered them in bed together and had him assassinated. Apame was spared.[13] Control of Cyrene was then entrusted to a republican government, led by two Cyrenaeans named Ecdelus and Demophanes, until Berenice's actual wedding to Ptolemy III in 246 BCE after his accession to the throne.[7][14] It seems most probable that Berenice conceded a certain degree of autonomy to Cyrene.[15]

Queen of Egypt

Coin of Berenice II
Ptolemaic Egypt wearing a stephane (i.e. royal diadem) on her head[17]

Berenice married Ptolemy III in 246 BCE after his accession to the throne.[14] This brought Cyrenaica back into the Ptolemaic realm, where it would remain until her great-great-grandson Ptolemy Apion left it to the Roman Republic in his will in 96 BCE.

Ruler cult

In 244 or 243 BCE, Berenice and her husband were incorporated into the Ptolemaic state cults and worshipped as the Theoi Euergetai (Benefactor Gods), alongside

Fayyum in Ptolemy III's reign.[19] This cult closely parallels that offered to her mother-in-law, Arsinoe II, who was also equated with Aphrodite and Isis, and associated with protection from shipwrecks. The parallelism is also presented on the gold coinage minted posthumously in honour of the two queens. The coinage of Arsinoe II bears a pair of cornucopiae
on the reverse side, while that of Berenice bears a single cornucopia.

Berenice's Lock

Coma Berenices constellation noted

Berenice's divinity is closely connected with the story of "Berenice's Lock". According to this story, Berenice vowed to sacrifice her long hair as a

Koptos in mourning for her husband Osiris.[22][19]

The story was widely propagated by the Ptolemaic court.

De Astronomica.[8][20] The story was popular in the early modern period when it was illustrated by many neoclassical
painters.

Panhellenic Games

Berenice entered a chariot team in the Nemean Games of 243 or 241 BCE and was victorious. The success is celebrated in another poem by Callimachus' Victory of Berenice. This poem connects Berenice with Io, a lover of Zeus in Greek mythology, who was also connected with Isis by contemporary Greeks.[26][19] When she won in the four-horse chariot race at the Olympics in the early third century BCE, she commissioned an epigram by the poet Posidippus in which she explicitly claimed to have "stolen" the fame (κῦδος) of Cynisca.[27] Her epigram was included in the so-called Greek Anthology, which also indicates its continuing relevance long after the victory itself.[28]

Death

Ptolemy III died in late 222 BCE and was succeeded by his son by Berenice, Ptolemy IV Philopator. Berenice died soon after, in early 221 BCE. Polybius states that she was poisoned, as part of a general purge of the royal family by the new king's regent Sosibius.[29][14] She continued to be venerated in the state ruler cult. By 211 BCE, she had her own priestess, the athlophorus ('prize-bearer'), who marched in processions in Alexandria behind the priest of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies, and the canephorus of the deified Arsinoe II.[9]

Legacy

The city of Euesperides (now the Libyan city of Benghazi) was renamed Berenice in her honour, a name it retained until the Middle Ages.

The asteroid 653 Berenike, discovered in 1907, also is named after Queen Berenice.[30]

Issue

With Ptolemy III she had the following children:[31]

Name Image Birth Death Notes
Arsinoe III
246/5 BCE 204 BCE Married her brother Ptolemy IV in 220 BCE.
Ptolemy IV Philopator May/June 244 BCE July/August 204 BCE King of Egypt from 222 - 204 BCE.
A son July/August 243 BCE Perhaps 221 BCE Name unknown, possibly 'Lysimachus'. He was probably killed in or before the political purge of 221 BCE.[32]
Alexander September/October 242 BCE Perhaps 221 BCE He was probably killed in or before the political purge of 221 BCE.[33]
Magas November/December 241 BCE 221 BCE Scalded to death in his bath by Theogos or Theodotus, at the orders of Ptolemy IV.[34]
Berenice January/February 239 BCE February/March 238 BCE Posthumously deified on 7 March 238 BCE by the
Canopus Decree, as Berenice Anasse Parthenon (Berenice, mistress of virgins).[35]

References

  1. ^ Reginald Stuart Poole; British Museum Dept. of Coins and Medals (1883). Catalogue of Greek Coins: The Ptolemies, Kings of Egypt. The Trustees. p. 59. i. Queen Regnant of Cyrenaïca, ʙ.ᴄ. 258–247.
  2. ^ "Libya Heads". guide2womenleaders.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  3. .
  4. ^ "Berenice II Euergetis". World History Encyclopedia.
  5. ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 38–39
  6. ^ Justin 26.3.2
  7. ^ a b Hölbl 2001, pp. 44–46
  8. ^
    De Astronomica
    2.24
  9. ^ a b Clayman 2014, p. 157
  10. . Remarkably, Berenice was hailed basilissa on coins even in her father's lifetime,
  11. .
  12. ^ Reginald Stuart Poole; British Museum Dept. of Coins and Medals (1883). Catalogue of Greek Coins: The Ptolemies, Kings of Egypt. The Trustees. p. xxxii. This review brings us to the accession of Berenice as queen of Cyrene, B.C. 258. Her coinage will be considered later (p. xlv.).
  13. ^ Justin 26.3.3-6; Catullus 66.25-28
  14. ^ a b c d Berenice II Archived February 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine by Chris Bennett
  15. ^ Reginald Stuart Poole; British Museum Dept. of Coins and Medals (1883). Catalogue of Greek Coins: The Ptolemies, Kings of Egypt. The Trustees. p. xlviii. But it seems most probable that Berenice conceded a certain degree of autonomy to Cyrene, which included the right of coining;
  16. ^ Daszewski, W.A. (1986). "La personnification de la Tyché d'Alexandrie. Réinterprétation de certains monuments". In Kahil, L.; Auge, C.; Linant de Bellefonds, P. (eds.). Iconographie classique et identités régionales'. Paris: De Boccard. pp. 299–309.
  17. , pp. 22–23.
  18. ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 49
  19. ^ a b c d Hölbl 2001, p. 105
  20. ^ .
  21. ^ van Oppen de Ruiter 2016, p. 110
  22. ^ Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 14.
  23. .
  24. ^ Callimachus fragment 110 Pfeiffer.
  25. Catullus 66
  26. ^ Parsons, P. J. (1977). "Callimachus: Victoria Berenices". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 25: 1–50.
  27. ^ Posidippus. "AB 87" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-20. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Greek Anthology 13.16". New York G.P. Putnam's sons.
  29. ^ Polybius 15.25.2; Zenobius 5.94
  30. ^ Use of tree Oils. "Varnish and Berenice." Retrieved on September 02, 2010
  31. ^ Lysimachus by Chris Bennett
  32. ^ Alexander by Chris Bennett
  33. ^ Magas by Chris Bennett
  34. ^ Berenice by Chris Bennett

Bibliography

External links