Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa)

and her appearance in the New Testament Berenice was born in 28 to Herod Agrippa and Cypros, as granddaughter to Aristobulus IV and great-granddaughter to Herod the Great. Her elder brother was Agrippa II (b. 27), and her younger sisters were Mariamne (b. 34) and Drusilla (b. 38). According to Josephus, there was also a younger brother called Drusus, who died before his teens. On his early death in 44, she was married to her father's brother, Herod of Chalcis, After her husband died in 48, she lived with her brother Agrippa for several years and then married Polemon II of Pontus, king of Cilicia, whom she subsequently deserted. According to Josephus, Berenice requested this marriage to dispel rumors that she and her brother were carrying on an incestuous relationship, with Polemon being persuaded to this union mostly on account of her wealth. Whether this was based on truth remains unknown. The Acts of the Apostles records that during this time, Paul the Apostle appeared before their court at Caesarea. An inscription of an honorific statue of Berenice set up in Athens, dated to 61 AD, refers to Berenice as basilissa, a title given by Josephus to Jewish queens who ruled in their own right. Berenice is called regina ("queen") in the Latin inscription discovered at Beyrout, in which her name appears to precede that of her brother Agrippa. == During Jewish-Roman wars ==

Early phase of the revolt . In 64 emperor Nero appointed Gessius Florus as procurator of the Judaea Province. During his administration, the Jews were systematically discriminated against in favour of the Greek population of the region. Tensions quickly rose to civil unrest when Florus plundered the treasury of the Temple of Jerusalem under the guise of imperial taxes. Likewise a plea for assistance to the legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus, met with no response. To prevent violence from further escalating, Agrippa assembled the populace and delivered a speech to the crowd in the company of his sister, They fled the city to Galilee where they later gave themselves up to the Romans. Meanwhile, Cestius Gallus moved into the region with the Twelfth legion but was unable to restore order and suffered defeat at the battle of Beth-Horon, forcing the Romans to retreat from Jerusalem. Affair with Titus Vespasian was then appointed by Emperor Nero to put down the rebellion; he landed in Judaea with the Fifth and Tenth legions in 67. He was later joined at Ptolemais by his son Titus, who brought with him the Fifteenth legion. With a strength of 60,000 professional soldiers, the Romans quickly swept across Galilee and by 69 marched on Jerusalem. The Herodians sided with the Flavians during the conflict, and later in 69, the Year of the Four Emperors—when the Roman Empire saw the quick succession of the emperors Galba, Otho and Vitellius—Berenice reportedly used all her wealth and influence to support Vespasian in his campaign to become emperor. 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 the Second Temple and the sack of Jerusalem, with hundreds of thousands killed and 97,000 taken captive by the Romans. Triumphant, Titus returned to Rome to assist his father in the government, while Berenice stayed behind in Judaea. ==In Rome==

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 by Gaius Licinius Mucianus, a political ally of emperor Vespasian who died sometime between 72 and 78. Agrippa II was given the rank of praetor, while Berenice resumed her relationship with Titus, living with him at the palace and reportedly acting in every respect as his wife. The ancient historian Cassius Dio writes that Berenice was at the height of her power during this time, The Roman populace however perceived the Eastern queen as an intrusive outsider, and when the pair was publicly denounced by Cynics in the theatre, Titus caved to the pressure and sent her away. It is possible that he intended to send for her at a more convenient time. It is not known what happened to Berenice after her final dismissal from Rome. Agrippa II died around 92, and with him, the Herodian Dynasty's rule over Judaea came to an end with Berenice producing no known heirs. == Portrayal in the arts ==

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. The list includes: • Lettres de Bérénice à Titus (1642), a French novel by Madeleine de Scudéry • Bérénice (1648–50), a French novel by Jean Regnauld de Segrais • Tite (1660), a French drama by Jean Magnon • Il Tito (1666), an Italian opera by Antonio Cesti (mus.) and Nicola Beregani (libr.) • Bérénice (1670), a French drama by Jean Racine • Tite et Bérénice (1670), a French drama by Pierre Corneille • Titus and Berenice (1676), an English drama by Thomas Otway • Tito e Berenice (1714), an Italian opera by Antonio Caldara (mus.) and Carlo Sigismondo Capace (libr.) • Berenice (1725), an Italian opera by Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (mus.) and Benedetto Pasqualigo (libr.). Also set to music by Niccolò Vito Piccinni (1766) • La clemenza di Tito (1734), an Italian opera by librettist Pietro Metastasio, set to music by over 40 composers, including • Antonio Caldara (1734) • Johann Adolph Hasse (1735) • Giuseppe Arena (1738) • Francesco Corradini (1747) • Christoph Willibald Gluck (1752) • Andrea Adolfati (1753) • Niccolò Jommelli (1753) • Ignaz Holzbauer (1757) • Vincenzo Legrezio Ciampi (1757) • Gioacchino Cocchi (1760) • Marcello Bernardini (1768) • Andrea Bernasconi (1768) • Pasquale Anfossi (1769) • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (La clemenza di Tito, 1791) • Tito e Berenice (1776), an Italian opera by Raimondo Mei (mus.) and Carlo Giuseppe Lanfranchi-Rossi (libr.) • Tito e Berenice (1782), a ballet by Paolino Franchi (chor.) • Tito; o, La partenza di Berenice (1790), a ballet by Domenico Maria Gaspero Angiolini (mus. and chor.) • Tito e Berenice (1793), an Italian opera by Sebastiano Nasolini (mus.) and Giuseppe Maria Foppa (libr.) • Tito che abbandona Berenice (1828), a painting by Giuseppe Bezzuoli • Titus et Bérénice (1860), a French opera by Leon-Gustave-Cyprien Gastinel (mus.) and Édouard Fournier (libr.) • Daniel Deronda (1876), George Eliot's final novel, in which a set of drawings of Berenice's story is an important symbolic element • Berenice (1890), a German novel by Heinrich Vollrat Schumacher • Cross Triumphant, The (1898), a historical fiction novel by Florence Morse Kingsley • Bérénice (1909), a French opera by Alberic Magnard (mus. and libr.) • Titus und die Jüdin (1911), a German drama by Hans Kyser • Lost Diaries: From the Diary of Emperor Titus (1913), an English novel by Maurice Baring • Bérénice, l’Hérodienne (1919), a French drama by Albert du Bois • Bérénice (1920), incidental music by Marcel Samuel-Rousseau • Berenice (1922), an English drama by John Masefield • Bérénice (1934), a French parody by Noel Ouden • The Jospephus Trilogy (1932 - 1942), historical fiction by Lion Feuchtwanger, in which Berenice plays a prominent role • Berinikah (1945), a Hebrew drama by Eisig Silberschlag and Carl de Haas • Le reine de Césarée (1954), a French drama by Robert Brasillach • Berenice, Princess of Judea (1959), an English novel by Leon Kolb • Mission to Claudies (1963), an English novel by Leon Kolb • Agrippa’s Daughter (1964), an English novel by Howard Melvin Fast • La pourpre de Judée: ou, Les délices du genre humain (1967), a French novel by Maurice Clavel • Bérénice (1968), a French TV-film by Piere-Alain Jolivet • Tito y Berenice (1970), a Spanish drama by Rene Marques • Bérénice (1983), a French TV-film by Raoul Ruiz • Assassins of Rome (2002) and the Enemies of Jupiter (2003) in Caroline Lawrence's historical youth fiction series The Roman Mysteries • Lindsey Davis's historical fiction Falco series (circa 1990s - 2010s) incorporates Berenice as a minor recurring character • The Last Disciple (2004), a historical novel by Hank Hanegraff and Sigmund Brouwer, includes Berenice • Those About to Die (2024), an American television series based on the book of the same name In modern history, her aspirations as a potential empress of Rome have led to her being described as a 'miniature Cleopatra'. ==Ancestry==