Berenice II Euergetis: Queen of Cyrenaica and Ptolemaic Egypt

Introduction

Berenice II Euergetis (267 or 266–221 BCE) was queen regnant of Cyrenaica from 258 to 246 BCE and queen of Ptolemaic Egypt from 246 to 222 BCE as the wife of Ptolemy III; she is sometimes regarded as his co-regent. Daughter of Magas of Cyrene and his wife Apama, she is attested as basilissa on Cyrenean coinage and is conventionally dated to have succeeded in 258 BCE. After Magas’s death circa 250 BCE her mother refused the arranged Ptolemaic marriage and invited Demetrius the Fair to take the throne; Demetrius seized control, was later assassinated after a confrontation with Berenice, and Cyrene passed briefly to a republican administration until Berenice’s wedding to Ptolemy III in 246 BCE, which reintegrated Cyrenaica into the Ptolemaic realm.

In Egypt Berenice took an active political role, was granted the title of vizier and was incorporated into the Ptolemaic ruler cult alongside her husband as the Theoi Euergetai; she was also worshipped individually as Thea Euergetis and identified with Aphrodite and Isis, particularly in associations with protection from shipwreck. The court promoted the story of her votive offering of her hair, the episode known as “Berenice’s Lock,” which the court astronomer Conon and the poet Callimachus celebrated and which gave rise to the constellation Coma Berenices. She competed successfully in elite chariot games, commissioning poetry to mark victories. Ptolemy III died late in 222 BCE; Berenice herself died in early 221 BCE, and Polybius reports she was poisoned during a purge by the regent Sosibius after the accession of her son Ptolemy IV Philopator. She continued to be venerated after her death, a city was renamed in her honour, and her image and cult persisted in Ptolemaic religious and numismatic practice.