Berenice
- A female name.
- A Daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoë, and wife of her own brother, Ptolemy Euergetes; her beautiful hair was placed as a constellation in heaven (Coma or Crinis Berenices), Hyg. Astr. 2, 24; cf. the poem of Catullus: de Coma Berenices, 66, 1 sqq. (Another constellation of the same name, Plin. 2, 70, 71, § 178.)—Hence,
- 2 Bĕrĕnīcēus, a, um, adj., of Berenice: vertex, Cat. 66, 8.—
- B The daughter of the Jewish king Agrippa I., accused of incest, Juv. 6, 156 sqq.; Tac. H. 2, 2; 2, 81; Suet. Tit. 7; called uxor Titi, Aur. Vict. Epit. 10, 4; called Bernīcē, Vulg. Act. 25, 13.—
- II The name of several towns.
- A In Cyrenaica, earlier called Hesperis, now Benghazi, Plin. 5, 5, 5, § 31; Sol. 27, 54; Amm.22, 16, 4.—Hence,
- 2 Bĕrĕnīcis, ĭdis, f., the region around Berenice: ardens, Luc. 9, 524: undosa, Sil. 3, 249; cf. Inscr. Orell. 3880.—
- B A town in Arabia, Mel. 3, 8, 7.—
- C A town on the Red Sea, Plin. 6, 29, 34, § 70; cf. Mel. 3, 8, 7.—
- D A town on the frontier of Egypt, Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 108; 6, 29, 33, § 168.
- 1. echtgenote v.d. Egypt. koning Ptolemaeus III Euergetes, medeheerseres v. haar zoon Ptolemaeus IV Philopator, leefde ca. 273—221; haar haar werd als sterrenbeeld aan de hemel geplaatst; — adj. Berenīcēus, a, um;
- 2. dochter v. koning Herodes Agrippa I v. Judea, geliefde v. Titus.
BERENI´CE
1.（Βερενίκη,Strab. 16. p. 770, 17. p. 815; Plin. Nat. 6.23, 26, 29, 33; Steph. B. s. v.; Arrian. Peripl. M. Rub.;Itin. Antonin. 173f.; Epiphan. Haeres.66.1: Eth. Βερενικεύςand Βερενικιάδης, fem. Βερενίκεια), a city upon the Red Sea, was founded, or certainly converted from a village into a city, by Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, and named in honour of his mother, the daughter of Ptolemy Lagus and Antigone. It stood about lat. 23° 56′ N., and about long. 35° 34′ E., and being in the same parallel with Syene, was accordingly on the equinoctial line. Berenice, as modern surveys (Moresby and Carless, 1830--3) have ascertained, stood nearly at the bottom of the Sinus Immundus, or Foul Bay. A lofty range of mountains runs along this side of the African coast, and separates Berenice from Egypt. The emerald mines are in its neighbourhood. The harbour is indifferent, but was improved by art. Berenice stood upon a narrow rim of shore between the hills and the Red Sea. Its prosperity after the third century B.C. was owing in great measure to three causes: the favour of the Macedonian kings, its safe anchorage, and its being a terminus of the great road from Coptos, which rendered Berenice and Myos Hormos the two principal emporia of the trade between Aethiopia and Egypt on the one hand, and Syria and India on the other. The distance between Coptos and Berenice was 258 Roman miles, or eleven days' journey. The wells and halting places of the caravans are enumerated by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 6.23. s. 26), and in the Itineraries (Antonin. 172f.). Belzoni ( Travels, vol. 2. p. 35) found traces of several of these stations. Under the empire Berenice formed a district in itself, with its peculiar prefect, who was entitled Praefectus Berenicidis,or P. montis Berenicidis. (Orelli, Inscr. Lat. no. 3880, f.) The harbour of Berenice was sheltered from the NE. wind by the island Ophiodes (Ὀφιώδης νήδος, Strab. 16. p. 770; Diod. 3.39), which was rich in topazes. A small temple of sandstone and soft calcareous stone, in the Egyptian style, has been discovered at Berenice. It is 102 feet long, and 43 wide. A portion of its walls is sculptured with well-executed basso relieves, of Greek workmanship, and hieroglyphics also occasionally occur on the walls. Belzoni confirmed D'Anville's original opinion of the true site of Berenice ( Mémoires sur l'Egypte Ancienne), and says that the city measured 1,600 feet from N. to S., and 2,000 from E. to W. He estimates the ancient population at 10,000. ( Researches, vol. 2. p. 73.)
2.PANCHRYSOS,a city near Sabae in the Regio Troglodytica, and on the W. coast of the Red Sea, between the 20th and 21st degrees of N. latitude. It obtained the appellation of all-golden(Πάνχρυσος, Steph. B. p. 164, s. v.;Strab. 16.771) from its vicinity to the gold mines of Jebel Allakior Ollaki, from which the ancient Egyptians drew their principal supplies of that metal, and in the working of which they employed criminals and prisoners of war. (Plin. Nat. 6.34.)
3.EPIDEIRES(ἐπὶ Δειρῆς, Steph. B. s. v.;Strab. xvi. pp. 769, 773; Mela, 3.8; Plin. Nat. 6.34; Ptol. 8.16.12), or Berenice upon the Neck of Land, was a town on the W. shore of the Red Sea, near the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its position on a sandy spit or promontory of land was the cause of its distinctive appellation. Some authorities, however, attribute the name to the neighbourhood of a more considerable town named Deira; but the situation of the latter is unknown. [W.B.D]
BERENI´CE, ACilician city of this name is mentioned by Stephanus (s. v. Βερενίκη); and in the Stadiasmus a bay Berenice is mentioned. As the Stadiasmus does not mention any distance between the Gulf of Berenice and Celenderis, there is reason to think that Berenice was the name of the bayto the eastward of the little portof Kelénderi. (Leake, Asia Minor, &100. p. 202.)
[G.L]BERENI´CEa town in Arabia, the name by which Ezion-Geber was called in the time of Josephus. ( Ant. 8.6.4.) It was situated on the Elanitic, or Eastern Gulf of the Red Sea, not far from Elath, Ailah, or Aelana. It is mentioned in the wanderings of the children of Israel ( Numb. 33.35); and is celebrated as the naval arsenal of Solomon and Jehoshaphat. (1 Kings, 9.26, 22.48.) The Arabic historian Makrizi speaks of an ancient city ‘Asyûn near Ailah. (Burckhardt's Syria, p. 511.)
[G.W]BERENI´CEin Cyrenaica. [HESPERIDES]
(Βερενίκη). A name common to several women of antiquity. It is of Greek origin, and means “victory-bringing” or “bearer of victory,” the initial B being written, according to Macedonian usage, for the letter Φ, or, in other words, Βερενίκη being put for Φερενίκη, just as the Macedonians said Βίλιππος for Φίλιππος. The most remarkable of this name were the following: (1) The granddaughter of Cassander, brother of Antipater. She married Philip, a Macedonian, probably one of the officers of Alexander, and became by him the mother of many children, among whom were Magas, king of Cyrené, and Antigoné, whom she married to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. She followed into Egypt Eurydicé, daughter of Antipater, who returned to that country to rejoin her husband, Ptolemy I. Berenicé inspired this prince with so strong a passion that he put away Eurydicé, although he had children by her, and married the former. He also gave the preference, in the succession to the throne, to her son Ptolemy, notwithstanding the better claims of his offspring by Eurydicé. Berenicé was remarkable for her beauty, and her portrait often appears on the medals of Ptolemy I. along with that of the latter.
(2) Daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoé. She followed her mother into exile, and retired with her to the court of Magas, at Cyrené, who married Arsinoé and adopted Berenicé. This will serve to explain why Polybius and Justin make Berenicé to have been the daughter of Magas, while Callimachus gives Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoé as her parents. After the death of Magas, Arsinoé engaged her daughter in marriage to Demetrius, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes; but, on the young prince's having come from Macedonia to Cyrené, she became attached to him herself. Demetrius, conducting himself insolently, was slain in a conspiracy, at the head of which was Berenicé. The latter thereupon married her brother Ptolemy (Euergetes) III. A short time after the nuptials Ptolemy was obliged to go on an expedition into Syria, and Berenicé made a vow that she would consecrate her beautiful head of hair to Aphrodité if her husband returned safe to Egypt. Upon his return she fulfilled her vow in the temple of Aphrodité Zephyrites. On the following day, however, the hair was not to be found. As both the monarch and his queen were greatly disquieted at the loss, Conon the Samaritan, an eminent astronomer of the day, in order to conciliate the royal favour, declared that the locks of Berenicé had been removed by divine interposition, and translated to the skies in the form of a constellation. Hence the cluster of stars near the tail of the Lion is called Coma Berenices (Berenicé's hair). Callimachus wrote a piece on this subject, now lost, but a translation of which into Latin verse by Catullus has reached our time (Catull. Carm. lxvi). Berenicé was put to death B.C. 216, by the order of Ptolemy Philopator, her son.
(3) A daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, given by him in marriage to Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, in order to cement a peace between the two countries. After the death of her father Antiochus put her aside, and recalled his former wife Laodicé. This last, having taken off Antiochus by poison, sought to destroy Berenicé also as well as her son. This son was surprised and carried off by an emissary of Laodicé's, and shortly after put to death; and Berenicé, in searching for him, was entrapped and slain, B.C. 246.
(4) Called by some authors Cleopatra , was the only legitimate child of Ptolemy Lathyrus, and ascended the throne after the death of her father, B.C. 81. Sulla , who was at that time dictator, compelled her to marry, and share her throne with, her cousin, who took the name of Ptolemy Alexander. She was poisoned by the latter only nineteen days after the marriage.
(5) Daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. The people of Alexandria having revolted against this prince in B.C. 58, drove him out, and placed upon the throne his two daughters, Tryphena and Berenicé. The former died soon after, and Berenicé was given in marriage to Seleucus, surnamed Cybiosactes. His personal deformity, however, and vicious character soon rendered him so odious to the queen that she caused him to be strangled. Berenicé then married Archelaüs; but Ptolemy Auletes having been restored by Gabinius, the Roman commander, she was put to death by her own father, B.C. 55.
(6) A native of Chios, and one of the wives of Mithridates of Pontus. On the overthrow of this monarch's power by Lucullus, Berenicé, in obedience to an order from her husband, took poison along with his other wives, but this not proving effectual, she was strangled by the eunuch Bacchus, B.C. 71.
(7) Daughter of Agrippa I., king of Iudaea, and born A.D. 28. She was at first affianced to Marcus, son of Alexander, but this young man having died, Agrippa gave her in marriage to his brother Herod, king of Chalcis, by whom she became the mother of two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus. Having lost her husband when she was at the age of twenty, she went to live with her brother Agrippa, a circumstance which gave rise to reports injurious to her character. To put an end to these rumours, she made proposals to Polemo, king of Cilicia, and offered to become his wife if he would embrace Judaism. Polemo consented, but she soon left him, and returned, in all probability, to her brother, for she was with the latter when St. Paul was arrested at Jerusalem, A.D. 63. The commerce between the guilty pair became now so public that the rumour even reached Rome, and we find Juvenal alluding to the affair in one of his satires (vi. 155). She followed Agrippa when he went to join Vespasian, whom Nero had charged to reduce the Jews to obedience. A new scene now opened for her; she won the affections of Titus, and, at a subsequent period, when Vespasian was established on the throne, and Titus returned home after terminating the Jewish War, she accompanied him to Rome along with her brother Agrippa. At Rome she lived openly with Titus, and took up her abode in the imperial palace, as we learn from Dio Cassius, who states also that she was then in the flower of her age. Titus, it is said, intended even to acknowledge her as his wife; but he was compelled by the murmurs of his subjects to abandon this idea, and he sent her away from the city soon after his accession to the throne. Such, at least, is the account given by Suetonius (Tit. 7), who appears more entitled to belief than Dio Cassins, according to whom Titus sent Berenicé away before his accession to the throne, and refused to receive her again, when she had returned to Rome a short time after the commencement of his reign. There is a great difficulty attending the history of this Berenicé as regards her intimacy with Titus. She must, at least, have been forty-two years of age when she first became acquainted with the Roman prince, and fifty-one years old at the period of the celebrated scene which forms the subject of Racine's tragedy. Many are inclined to believe, therefore, that the Berenicé to whom Titus was attached was the daughter of Mariamné and Archelaüs, and, consequently, the niece of the Berenicé of whom we have been speaking, she would be twenty-five years old when Titus came into Iudaea. The story of Berenicé forms the subject of a play by Racine, Bérénice.
(1) A city of Egypt on the coast of the Sinus Arabicus, from which a road was made across the intervening desert to Coptos on the Nile, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 258 miles in length. From this harbour the vessels of Egypt took their departure for Arabia Felix and India. It was through the medium of Berenicé also, and the caravan route to Coptos, that the principal trade of the Romans with India was conducted. By this line of communication it is said that a sum not less than what would now be $2,000,000 was remitted by the Roman traders to their correspondents in the East, in payment of merchandise which ultimately sold for a hundred times as much. The ruins of the ancient Berenicé are found at the modern port of Habest.
(2) A city of Cyrenaïca, called also Hesperis. In its vicinity the ancients placed the gardens of the Hesperides. It is now Bengazi, a poor and filthy town. Few traces of the ancient city remain above ground, although much might be brought to light by excavation.
An ancient port on the W coast of the Red Sea 959 km SE of Cairo, noted by Strabo (16.1.5; 17.1.45) and by Pliny (6.23.103). Founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphos (275 B.C.) and named for his mother, it was a transit station for goods from Arabia and India. These goods were corfveyed by camel caravan N to Leucus Limen (present Quseir), then W towards Coptos (Justinianopolis, present Qift). Along the road, guards were posted and water provided since it was a military road where taxes were collected. The port itself was provided with a fortification to protect the city against piracy. In the center of the city a small temple was dedicated to the god Khem by the emperor Tiberius. Offerings were also presented to the goddess of the emerald mines. At a nearby mine site, Sakait, a temple hewn from living rock was dedicated to Serapis and Isis.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. Kammerer, La Mer Rouge. . . (= Mem. Soc. R. Géographie d'Égypte, Vol. XV,7; J. G. Wilkinson, Topography of Thebes (1835) 418; M. G. Daressy, “Bérénice et El Abraq,” ASAE 22, 169-81; Porter & Moss, Top. Bibl., VII. Nubia, the Deserts. . . (1951) 326; D. Meredith, “Berenice Trogloditica,” JEA 43 (1957) 56- 70MPI
S. SHENOUDA- Paus. 1.9.3
- Paus. 1.6.8