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Berenice (b. 28 CE) was a member of the Herodian dinasty, the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I, and the sister of King Herod Agrippa II.

Berenice in ancient sources

Berenice is mentioned both in Jewish sources (Josephus, Acts of Apostles) and in Roman sources (Juvenal, Tacitus, Suetonius)

Berenice the Herodian

Josephus introduces Berenice as a descendant of Herod the Great, the daughter of Herod Agrippa I and Cypros, and the sister of Herod Agrippa II (Bel II 220; Ant XVIII 132.194).

Berenice's first husband was "Marcus [Julius Alexander], the son of Alexander [the Alabarch of Alexandria]" (Ant XIX 276), a relative of Philo of Alexandria.

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). In the Jewish War the event is presented from the Roman point of view: "[Claudius] bestowed the kingdom of Chalcis on [Agrippa's] brother Herod, who was also his son-in-law, by marrying [his daughter] Berenice" (Bel II 217). "Herod of Chalcis ... died in the eighth year of the reign of Claudius [48 CE], leaving three sons"--one from his first wife, and two from Berenice (Bel II 221; Ant XX 104).

Afterward, Berenice lived long as a widow, but when rumors spread of an incestuous relationship with her brother Agrippa II, she married Polomon of Cilicia. The marriage however did not last long as Berenice soon deserted Polomon and returned to her brother's court (Ant XX 145-146). The Roman poet Juvenal also claims, in his sixth satire, that Berenice and Agrippa were lovers.

Berenice and the apostle Paul

The Acts of Apostles describes the arrival of Agrippa and Berenice at Caesarea in the year 60 CE and their encounter with Paul. The event is recorded only in Christian tradition.

"Berenice and Agrippa arrived at Caesarea to welcome [the new Roman governor] Festus (Acts 25:13). Since they were staying there several day, Festus laid Paul's case before the king (25:14)... On the next day Agrippa and Berenice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in" (25:23). After listening to Paul's speech "the king rose, and the governor and Berenice and those who were sitting with them; and as they were leaving they said to one another, This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment" (26:30-31).

Ally of Rome

Berenice and her brother Agrippa were loyal allies of the Romans, before, during and after the Jewish War.

Supporter of the Flavians

Berenice and her brother Agrippa supported the Flavian rise to imperial power. "Queen Berenice too, who was then in the prime of youth and beauty, and who had charmed even the old Vespasian by the splendor of her presents, promoted his cause with equal zeal" (Tacitus)

Titus and Berenice

Her love story with Titus fueled controversy in Rome and never ended in marriage.

Berenice in Scholarship

Berenice in Fiction

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 have been revived by some French authors.

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