Bernice Berenice
Bernice Berenice [1]
( Acts 25:13; Acts 25:23; Acts 26:30)
Berenice, eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa i., was born in a.d. 28, and early betrothed to Marcus, son of Alexander who was alabarch at Alexandria. On the death of Marcus, Berenice was given by her father to his brother and her uncle, Herod, king of Chalcis, in the Lebanon. Two sons were the issue of this marriage. Herod of Chalcis died in a.d. 48. Berenice then joined her brother, who was to be known later as Herod Agrippa ii., at Rome. The pair obtained an infamous notoriety, and are pilloried by Juvenal ( Sat . vi. 156ff.). After a considerable interval, Berenice ‘persuaded Polemon, who was king of Cilicia, to be circumcised, and to marry her’ (Jos. Ant . xx. vii. 3). This union was soon terminated by the return of Berenice to Agrippa. The two are next heard of on the occasion of their visit to Caesarea to greet the newly arrived Procurator Festus. Of Berenice’s part in the interview with the Apostle Paul we are told only that she appeared ‘with much display.’ Just before the outbreak of the insurrectionary movement in a.d. 66 she was at Jerusalem ‘to perform a vow which she had made to God’ (Jos. Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) ii. xv. 1), and availed herself of the opportunity to beseech the Procurator Florus to abate the cruelties which were goading the Jews to war. When hostilities commenced, Agrippa and his sister took throughout the side of the Romans. This brought them into contact with Vespasian and Titus. Titus became enamoured of Berenice. On his return to Rome, he had her to live with him in his palace-to the scandal of the Roman populace (Dio Cass. lxvi. 15). The intrigue was not continued after the accession of Titus to the Imperial throne in a.d. 79. ‘Berenicen statim ab urbe dimisit invitus invitam’ (Suet. Titus , vii.). From that time Berenice is lost to view. A fragment of an inscription in her honour at Athens gives no indication of time or occasion.
