Difference between revisions of "Berenice I"

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Berenice bat Salome was a member of the House of Herod, the daughter of Herod's sister Salome I and Costobarus, the wife of Aristobulus IV, and the mother of Herod Agrippa I, Herod of Chalcis, Herodias, Mariamne III and Aristobulus Minor.

This page is edited by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Overview

Berenice was the niece of Herod the Great, the daughter of his sister Salome I and the governor of Idumea Costobarus.

Berenice married her cousin Aristobulus IV, the son of Herod the Great and Mariamne. She also thus joined the powerful House of Hasmoneus. The couple had five children, Herodias, Herod Agrippa I, Herod of Chalcis, Mariamne III and Aristobulus Minor.

The marriage did not bring peace to the rival families. Berenice remained loyal to her mother Salome I and so did Aristobulus IV with his grand-mother Alexandra the Hasmonean. Eventually in 6 BCE Aristobulus IV and his grandmother were executed by Herod the Great.

Berenice then married Theudion, the maternal uncle of Antipater, son of Herod I. Her second husband also was put to death for participation in a plot against Herod; and Berenice then married Herod Archelaus. With him she went to Rome and remained there until her death, enjoying the favor of the imperial household.

Berenice in ancient sources

Berenice is mentioned in Jewish sources (Josephus).

See Berenice (sources) -- survey of ancient sources

Berenice in literature & the arts

Berenice in scholarship

Related categories

House of Herod / Salome I / Costobarus / Herod the Great
House of Hasmoneus / Herod Agrippa I / Herodias / Herod of Chalcis

External links

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Overview==
-Berenice was a descendant of Herod the Great, the daughter of [[:Category:Herod Agrippa (subject)|Herod Agrippa]] and Cypros, and the sister of [[:Category:Herod Agrippa II (subject)|Herod Agrippa II]] (Bel II 220; Ant XVIII 132.194).
+Berenice was the niece of [[Herod the Great]], the daughter of his sister [[Salome I]] and the governor of Idumea [[Costobarus]].
-Berenice's first husband was "Marcus [Julius Alexander], the son of Alexander [the Alabarch of Alexandria]" (Ant XIX 276), the brother of [[:Category:Tiberius Alexander (subject)|Tiberius Alexander]] and the nephew of [[:Category:Philo (subject)|Philo of Alexandria]].
+Berenice married her cousin [[Aristobulus IV]], the son of [[Herod the Great]] and [[Mariamne]]. She also thus joined the powerful [[House of Hasmoneus]]. The couple had five children, [[Herodias]], [[Herod Agrippa I]], [[Herod of Chalcis]], [[Mariamne III]] and [[Aristobulus Minor]].
-After Marcus' death in 44 CE, "Agrippa I gave her as a wife to his brother Herod, after asking Claudius to give him the reign of Chalcis" (Ant XIX 277). Berenice was "sixteeen years old" when she married her uncle (Ant XIX 354).
+The marriage did not bring peace to the rival families. Berenice remained loyal to her mother [[Salome I]] and so did [[Aristobulus IV]] with his grand-mother [[Alexandra the Hasmonean]]. Eventually in 6 BCE [[Aristobulus IV]] and his grandmother were executed by [[Herod the Great]].
-Berenice had two children from Herod, who died a few years later in 48 CE. Afterward, Berenice lived long as a widow at the court of her brother [[:Category:Herod Agrippa II (subject)|Herod Agrippa II]]. The Acts of the Apostles describe their arrival at Caesarea to visit the new Roman governor. Agrippa II (who was not married) and Berenice acted as a royal couple; soon rumors spread of an incestuous relationship between the two (see Juvenal). Berenice then married Polomon of Cilicia in 64 CE. The marriage however did not last long as Berenice soon deserted Polomon and returned to her brother's court (Ant XX 145-146).
+Berenice then married [[Theudion]], the maternal uncle of Antipater, son of [[Herod I]]. Her second husband also was put to death for participation in a plot against [[Herod]]; and Berenice then married [[Herod Archelaus]]. With him she went to Rome and remained there until her death, enjoying the favor of the imperial household.
-Berenice and her brother [[:Category:Herod Agrippa II (subject)|Herod Agrippa II]] were loyal allies of the Romans, before, during and after the [[:Category:Jewish War (subject)|Jewish War]]. In 69 CE, the Year of the Four Emperors, Berenice and her brother Agrippa supported the Flavian rise to imperial power (Tacitus, ''Historiae'' II.81). In particular Berenice was instrumental in securing the support to Vespasian of her former brother-in-law [[:Category:Tiberius Alexander (subject)|Tiberius Alexander]], then governor of Egypt.
-The "love story" between  with Berenice and [[:Category:Titus (subject)|Titus]] (who was eleven years younger) started in Judea during the [[:Category:Jewish War (subject)|Jewish War]] (Tacitus, ''Historiae'' II 2).
-According to Cassius Dio, after [[:Category:Titus (subject)|Titus]] went back to Rome, the affair resumed in 75 CE when Agrippa and Berenice came to Rome. The affair fueled controversy in Rome and [[:Category:Titus (subject)|Titus]] had to send her away.
-When [[:Category:Titus (subject)|Titus]] became emperor in 79 CE, Berenice returned to Rome, but [[:Category:Titus (subject)|Titus]] was too busy with restoring his reputation. Berenice was reluctantly yet quickly dismissed: "[Titus] sent Berenice from Rome at once, against her will and against his own" (7.2).
 == Berenice in ancient sources ==
-Berenice is mentioned both in Jewish sources (Josephus, Acts of Apostles) and in Roman sources (Juvenal, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Quintilian, Suetonius).
+Berenice is mentioned in Jewish sources (Josephus).
 * See [[Berenice (sources)]] -- survey of ancient sources
@@ Line 33: / Line 25: @@
 == Berenice in literature & the arts ==
-It was love, not politics, that attracted the artist's interest in the character of Berenice. In the 17th century, the novel, Lettres de Bérénice à Titus (1642), by [[Madeleine de Scudéry]] inaugurated a long series of works of fiction, devoted to the unhappy love story between Titus and Berenice, and produced a masterpiece such as [[Bérénice (1670 Racine), play]]. In the 18th and 19th centuries the subject remained highly popular and fostered the extraordinary success of [[Pietro Metastasio]]'s drama, La clemenza di Tito (set to music by more than 40 composers), where however the presence of Berenice was only alluded. In the 20th century, the story was given an anti-Semitic turn by [[Robert Brasillach]] who praised the Roman hostility against Berenice as an example of racial awareness. In recent years, the interest in Berenice has been revived by some French authors.--[[Gabriele Boccaccini]], University of Michigan.
+== Berenice in scholarship ==
-* See [[Berenice (arts)]] -- survey of fictional works
-*Ruth Yordan, ''Berenice'' (London: 1974)
-*S. Akermann, ''Le mythe de Bérénice'' (Paris: 1978)
-====References====
-*John A. Crook, "Titus and Berenice," ''American Journal of Philology'' 72.2 (1951) 162–175.
 ==Related categories==
-*[[Titus]]
+*[[House of Herod]] / [[Salome I]] / [[Costobarus]] / [[Herod the Great]]
-*[[Herod Agrippa]] / [[Herod Agrippa II]]
+*[[House of Hasmoneus]] / [[Herod Agrippa I]] / [[Herodias]] / [[Herod of Chalcis]]
-*[[Tiberius Alexander]]
 ==External links==
-*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenice_(daughter_of_Herod_Agrippa_I) Wikipedia]
+*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenice_(daughter_of_Salome) Wikipedia]
+*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3049-berenice JewEnc (1906)]
 [[Category:Index (database)]]
 [[Category:People (database)]]