Berenice

This article is about the feminine name. For other uses, see Berenice (disambiguation).

Berenice (Ancient Greek: Βερενίκη, Berenikē) is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name Φερενίκη (Pherenikē), which meant "bearer of victory" from Ancient Greek φέρω (pherō), meaning "to bear", and νίκη (nikē), meaning "victory". Berenika priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The name also has the form Bernice. An additional Latin form of the same name is Veronica.

Many historical figures bear the name Berenice:

Ancient world

Ptolemaic and Seleucid queens and royal daughters in Cyrenaica and Egypt

• Berenice I of Egypt (c. 340 BC – between 279 and 268 BC), mother of Magas of Cyrene and wife of Ptolemy I of Egypt
• Berenice II of Egypt (267 or 266 BC – 221 BC), daughter of Magas of Cyrene, wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt and traditional namesake of the constellation Coma Berenices
• Berenice III of Egypt (120–80 BC), daughter of Ptolemy IX of Egypt; she first married Ptolemy X of Egypt, and later Ptolemy XI of Egypt
• Berenice IV of Egypt (77–55 BC), daughter of Ptolemy XII of Egypt and elder sister of Cleopatra VII
• Berenice (Seleucid queen) (died 246 BC), daughter of Ptolemy II of Egypt and wife of Seleucid monarch Antiochus II Theos
• Berenice (daughter of Ptolemy II of Telmessos) (3rd to 2nd century BC), great-granddaughter of Ptolemy I Epigone

Judean princesses

• Berenice (daughter of Salome) (1st century BC), daughter of Salome I, a sister of Herod the Great. and mother of Herod Agrippa I
• Berenice (28–?), a daughter of Herod Agrippa I, wife of Herod of Chalcis till 48, then spent much of her life at the court of her brother Agrippa II
• Berenice (after 50–?), daughter of another daughter of Herod Agrippa I

Saints

• Berenice, also known as Saint Veronica, 1st-century saint from Jerusalem
• Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce, 4th-century martyrs

Others

• Berenice of Chios (d. 72/71 BC), third wife of Mithridates VI of Pontus

Modern era

• Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), American photographer
• Bérénice Bejo (born 1976), French-Argentine actress
• Berenice Celeyta, Colombian human rights activist
• Bérénice Marlohe (born 1979), French actress
• Maé-Bérénice Méité, French figure skater
• Berenice Sydney (1944–1983), English artist
• Berenice (play) (1670), a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine
• Berenice (opera) (1709), an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel

Sources

• Berenice Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
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