Berenice I
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 a descendant of Herod the Great, the daughter of Herod Agrippa 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), the brother of Tiberius Alexander and the nephew 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).
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 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 and her brother Herod Agrippa II were loyal allies of the Romans, before, during and after the 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 Tiberius Alexander, then governor of Egypt.
The "love story" between with Berenice and Titus (who was eleven years younger) started in Judea during the Jewish War (Tacitus, Historiae II 2).
According to Cassius Dio, after 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 Titus had to send her away.
When Titus became emperor in 79 CE, Berenice returned to Rome, but 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).
- See Berenice (sources) -- survey of ancient sources
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.
- 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.