Berenice

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".^[1] Berenika priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC is the oldest epigraphical evidence.^[2][3] 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

References

1. Berenike, Liddell and Scottt, "A Greek-English Lexicon", at Perseus
2. Lete Epigraphical Database
3. Macedonian Institutions Under the Kings books.google.com by Miltiadēs V. Chatzopoulos

Sources

• Berenice Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Berenice (princesses)". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.