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Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa)

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1st century CE member of Herodian Dynasty of Judaea
Berenice
woodcut
Titus and Berenice, miniature of a pocket watch cover in 1815
Queen consort ofChalcis
Tenure 44 – 48
Queen consort ofPontus
Tenure c. 50
Ruler of theHerodian dynasty
Reign 48 – after 79
Co-rulerHerod Agrippa II
Born28
Diedafter 79
SpouseMarcus Julius Alexander
Herod of Chalcis
Polemon II of Pontus
IssueBerenicianus
Hyrcanus
DynastyHerodian
FatherHerod Agrippa I
MotherCypros

Berenice of Cilicia, also known asJulia Berenice and sometimes spelledBernice (Greek:Βερενίκη or Βερνίκη,Bereníkē orBerníkē; 28 – after 81), was a Jewishclient queen of theRoman Empire during the second half of the 1st century. Berenice was a member of theHerodian dynasty that ruled the Roman province ofJudaea between 39 BC and 92 AD. She was the daughter of KingHerod Agrippa I andCypros and a sister of KingHerod Agrippa II.

What little is known about her life and background comes mostly from the early historianFlavius Josephus, who detailed a history of theJewish people and wrote an account of theJewish Rebellion of 67.Suetonius,Tacitus,Dio Cassius,Aurelius Victor, andJuvenal also write about her. She is also mentioned in theActs of the Apostles (25:13, 23; 26:30). However, it is for her tumultuous love life that she is primarily known since theRenaissance. Her reputation was based on the bias of the Romans against Eastern princesses likeCleopatra, or laterZenobia. After two marriages in which she was widowed in her 40s, she spent much of the remainder of her life at the court of Herod Agrippa II, amidst rumors the two were carrying on anincestuous relationship, though this was neither proved nor disproved. During theFirst Jewish-Roman War, she began a love affair with the futureemperorTitus Flavius Vespasianus. However, her unpopularity among the Romans compelled Titus to dismiss her on his accession as emperor in 79. When he died two years later, she disappeared from the historical record.

Early life

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Schematic family tree showing Berenice in theHerodian Dynasty and her appearance in the New Testament

Berenice was born in 28[1] toHerod Agrippa andCypros, as granddaughter toAristobulus IV and great-granddaughter toHerod the Great. Her elder brother wasAgrippa II (b. 27), and her younger sisters wereMariamne (b. 34) andDrusilla (b. 38).[2][3] According toJosephus, there was also a younger brother called Drusus, who died before his teens.[2] Her family constituted part of what is known as theHerodian Dynasty, who ruled the Judaea Province between 39 BC and 92 AD.

Berenice depicted with her brotherAgrippa II during the trial ofSt. Paul. From astained glass window inSt Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

Josephus records three short-lived marriages in Berenice's life, the first which took place sometime between 41 and 43, when she was between the ages of 13 and 15, toMarcus Julius Alexander, brother ofTiberius Julius Alexander and son ofAlexander the Alabarch ofAlexandria.[4][5] On his early death in 44, she was married to her father's brother,Herod of Chalcis,[3] with whom she had two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus.[6] After her husband died in 48, she lived with her brother Agrippa for several years and then marriedPolemon II of Pontus, king ofCilicia, whom she subsequently deserted.[7] According to Josephus, Berenice requested this marriage to dispel rumors that she and her brother were carrying on anincestuous relationship, with Polemon being persuaded to this union mostly on account of her wealth.[7] However the marriage did not last, and she soon returned to the court of her brother. Josephus was not the only ancient writer to suggest incestuous relations between Berenice and Agrippa.Juvenal, in hissixth satire, outright claims that they were lovers.[8] Whether this was based on truth remains unknown.[9] Berenice indeed spent much of her life at the court of Agrippa and by all accounts shared almost equal power. Popular rumors may also have been fueled by the fact that Agrippa never married.[9]

Berenice was a co-ruler of her brother Agrippa II.[10] TheActs of the Apostles records that during this time,Paul the Apostle appeared before their court atCaesarea.[11]

An inscription of an honorific statue of Berenice set up inAthens, dated to 61 AD, refers to Berenice asbasilissa, a title given byJosephus to Jewish queens who ruled in their own right. Berenice is calledregina ("queen") in theLatin inscription discovered atBeyrout, in which her name appears to precede that of her brother Agrippa.[9]

During Jewish-Roman wars

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Early phase of the revolt

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Map of 1st centuryJudaea.
Main article:First Jewish–Roman War

In 64 emperorNero appointedGessius Florus asprocurator of the Judaea Province. During his administration, the Jews were systematically discriminated against in favour of the Greek population of the region.[12] Tensions quickly rose to civil unrest when Florus plundered the treasury of theTemple ofJerusalem under the guise of imperial taxes.[12] Following riots, the instigators were arrested andcrucified by the Romans. Appalled at the treatment of her countrymen, Berenice travelled to Jerusalem in 66 to personally petition Florus to spare the Jews. Not only did he refuse to comply with her requests, Berenice was nearly killed during skirmishes in the city.[13] Likewise a plea for assistance to the legate ofSyria,Cestius Gallus, met with no response.[14]

To prevent violence from further escalating, Agrippa assembled the populace and delivered a speech to the crowd in the company of his sister,[14] but the insurgents burned down their palaces.[15] They fled the city toGalilee where they later gave themselves up to the Romans. Meanwhile, Cestius Gallus moved into the region with theTwelfth legion but was unable to restore order and suffered defeat at thebattle of Beth-Horon, forcing the Romans to retreat from Jerusalem.[16]

Affair with Titus

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Vespasian was then appointed by Emperor Nero to put down the rebellion; he landed in Judaea with theFifth andTenth legions in 67.[17] He was later joined atPtolemais by his sonTitus, who brought with him theFifteenth legion.[18] With a strength of 60,000 professional soldiers, the Romans quickly swept across Galilee and by 69 marched on Jerusalem.[18]

It was during this time that Berenice met and attempted to seduce Titus, who was eleven years her junior.[19] The Herodians sided with theFlavians during the conflict, and later in 69, theYear of the Four Emperors—when the Roman Empire saw the quick succession of the emperorsGalba,Otho andVitellius—Berenice reportedly used all her wealth and influence to support Vespasian in his campaign to become emperor.[20] When Vespasian was declared emperor on 21 December 69, Titus was left in Judaea to finish putting down the rebellion. The war ended in 70 with the destruction of theSecond Temple and thesack of Jerusalem, with hundreds of thousands killed and 97,000 taken captive by the Romans.[21] Triumphant, Titus returned to Rome to assist his father in the government, while Berenice stayed behind in Judaea.

In Rome

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It took four years until Titus and Berenice reunited, when she and her brother Agrippa II came to Rome in 75. The reasons for this long absence are unclear but have been linked to possible opposition to her presence byGaius Licinius Mucianus, a political ally of emperor Vespasian who died sometime between 72 and 78.[22] Agrippa II was given the rank ofpraetor, while Berenice resumed her relationship with Titus, living with him at the palace and reportedly acting in every respect as his wife.[23] The ancient historianCassius Dio writes that Berenice was at the height of her power during this time,[23] and if it can be any indication as to how influential she was,Quintilian records an anecdote in hisInstitutio Oratoria where, to his astonishment, he found himself pleading a case on Berenice's behalf where she presided as the judge.[24] The Roman populace however perceived the Eastern queen as an intrusive outsider, and when the pair was publicly denounced byCynics in the theatre, Titus caved to the pressure and sent her away.[23]

Upon the accession of Titus as emperor in 79, she returned to Rome but was quickly dismissed amidst a number of popular measures of Titus to restore his reputation with the populace.[25] It is possible that he intended to send for her at a more convenient time.[22] However, after reigning barely two years as emperor, he suddenly died on 13 September 81.[26] It is not known what happened to Berenice after her final dismissal from Rome.[22] Agrippa II died around 92, and with him, the Herodian Dynasty's rule over Judaea came to an end.

Portrayal in the arts

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From the 17th century to contemporary times, there has been a long tradition of works of art (novels, dramas, operas, etc.) devoted to or featuring Berenice and especially her affair with Titus.[27] The list includes:


In modern history, her aspirations as a potential empress of Rome have led to her being described as a 'miniatureCleopatra'.[28]

Ancestry

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Ancestors of Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa)
8.Herod the Great
4.Aristobulus IV
9.Mariamne the Hasmonean
2.Herod Agrippa
10.Costobarus
5.Berenice
11.Salome I
1.Berenice
12.Phasael
6.Phasael II
3.Cypros
14.Herod the Great (= 8)
7.Salampsio
15.Mariamne the Hasmonean (= 9)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Josephus writes that Berenice was sixteen at the time of her father's death, which fixes her birthdate on the year 28. See Josephus,Ant.XIX.9.1
  2. ^abJosephus,Antiquities of the JewsXVIII.5.4
  3. ^abJosephus,Antiquities of the JewsXIX.9.1
  4. ^Josephus,Antiquities of the JewsXIX.5.1
  5. ^Ilan, Tal (1992). "Julia Crispina, Daughter of Berenicianus, a Herodian Princess in the Babatha Archive: A Case Study in Historical Identification".The Jewish Quarterly Review. New Series.82 (3/4). University of Pennsylvania Press:361–381.doi:10.2307/1454863.JSTOR 1454863.
  6. ^Josephus,Antiquities of the JewsXX.5.2
  7. ^abJosephus,Antiquities of the JewsXX.7.3
  8. ^Juvenal,SatiresVI
  9. ^abcMacurdy, Grace H. (1935)."Julia Berenice".The American Journal of Philology.56 (3).The Johns Hopkins University Press:246–253.doi:10.2307/289676.ISSN 0002-9475.
  10. ^Malka Z. Simkovich."Queen Berenice: A Woman of Contrasts".TheTorah.com. Retrieved2025-05-13.
  11. ^King James Bible,Acts25,26
  12. ^abJosephus,The War of the JewsII.14
  13. ^Josephus,The War of the JewsII.15.1
  14. ^abJosephus,The War of the JewsII.16.1
  15. ^Josephus,The War of the JewsII.17.6
  16. ^Josephus,The War of the JewsII.19.9
  17. ^Josephus,The War of the JewsIII.1.2
  18. ^abJosephus,The War of the JewsIII.4.2
  19. ^Tacitus,HistoriesII.2
  20. ^Tacitus,HistoriesII.81
  21. ^Josephus,The War of the JewsVI.6.1,VI.9.3
  22. ^abcCrook, John A. (1951). "Titus and Berenice".The American Journal of Philology.72 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press:162–175.doi:10.2307/292544.JSTOR 292544.
  23. ^abcCassius Dio,Roman HistoryLXV.15
  24. ^Quintilian,Institutio OratoriaIV.1
  25. ^Suetonius,The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus7
  26. ^Suetonius,The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus10,11
  27. ^Gabriele Boccaccini,Portraits of Middle Judaism in Scholarship and Arts (Turin: Zamorani, 1992); S. Akermann,Le mythe de Bérénice (Paris, 1978); Ruth Yordan,Berenice (London, 1974)
  28. ^Mommsen, Theodor (1885).The History of Rome, Book V. The Establishment of the Military Monarchy.ISBN 1-153-70614-8. Retrieved2007-07-30.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

References

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  • Tal Ilan,Queen Berenice: A Jewish Female Icon of the First Century CE, Brill, 2022.
  • Ilan, Tal (1992). "Julia Crispina, Daughter of Berenicianus, a Herodian Princess in the Babatha Archive: A Case Study in Historical Identification".The Jewish Quarterly Review.82 (3/4). University of Pennsylvania Press:361–381.doi:10.2307/1454863.JSTOR 1454863.
  • Macurdy, Grace H. (1935). "Julia Berenice".The American Journal of Philology.56 (3). The Johns Hopkins University Press:246–253.doi:10.2307/289676.JSTOR 289676.
  • Crook, John A. (1951). "Titus and Berenice".The American Journal of Philology.72 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press:162–175.doi:10.2307/292544.JSTOR 292544.

External links

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Primary sources

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Images

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