Berenice II of Egypt
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Dynasty | Ptolemaic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Father | Magas of Cyrene | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mother | Apama II |
Berenice II Euergetis (267 or 266 – 221 BCE;
She married Demetrius, thus giving him the throne of Cyrenaica, on the death of her father
Life
Cyrenaica had been incorporated into the Ptolemaic realm in 323 BCE, by
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
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
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
Berenice's Lock
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
The story was widely propagated by the Ptolemaic court.
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]
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References
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Libya Heads". guide2womenleaders.com. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
- ISBN 9780292787476.
- ^ "Berenice II Euergetis". World History Encyclopedia.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, pp. 38–39
- ^ Justin 26.3.2
- ^ a b Hölbl 2001, pp. 44–46
- ^ De Astronomica2.24
- ^ a b Clayman 2014, p. 157
- ISBN 978-1-137-49462-7.
Remarkably, Berenice was hailed basilissa on coins even in her father's lifetime,
- ISBN 978-1-137-49462-7.
- ^ 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.).
- ^ Justin 26.3.3-6; Catullus 66.25-28
- ^ a b c d Berenice II Archived February 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine by Chris Bennett
- ^ 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;
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 0-89236-633-8, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Hölbl 2001, p. 49
- ^ a b c d Hölbl 2001, p. 105
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-27619-9.
- ^ van Oppen de Ruiter 2016, p. 110
- ^ Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 14.
- .
- ^ Callimachus fragment 110 Pfeiffer.
- Catullus 66
- ^ Parsons, P. J. (1977). "Callimachus: Victoria Berenices". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 25: 1–50.
- ^ Posidippus. "AB 87" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-20. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Greek Anthology 13.16". New York G.P. Putnam's sons.
- ^ Polybius 15.25.2; Zenobius 5.94
- ^ Use of tree Oils. "Varnish and Berenice." Retrieved on September 02, 2010
- ISBN 0-500-05128-3
- ^ Lysimachus by Chris Bennett
- ^ Alexander by Chris Bennett
- ^ Magas by Chris Bennett
- ^ Berenice by Chris Bennett
Bibliography
- Clayman, Dee L. (2014). Berenice II and the golden age of Ptolemaic Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195370881.
- Hölbl, Günther (2001). A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. London & New York: Routledge. pp. 143–152 & 181–194. ISBN 0415201454.
- van Oppen de Ruiter, Branko (2016). Berenice II Euergetis: Essays in Early Hellenistic Queenship. Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America, Inc. ISBN 9781137494627.