Berenice IV Epiphaneia: Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt

Introduction

Berenice IV Epiphaneia (born and died Alexandria, 77–55 BC) was a Ptolemaic queen and Hellenistic pharaoh who ruled Egypt in the name of the Ptolemaic dynasty from 58 to 55 BC during the political exile of her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes. The daughter of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V Tryphaena, she was sibling to Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy XIV and Arsinoe IV. In 58 BC Alexandrians declared Ptolemy XII deposed and installed Berenice, together with a woman identified in the sources as Cleopatra VI Tryphaena; ancient Porphyry records this joint rule, and some modern historians treat that figure as possibly the same person as Ptolemy XII’s wife, Cleopatra V Tryphaena. After the death of Cleopatra Tryphaena in 57 BC, Berenice became sole ruler in Alexandria.

As sole queen she faced strong expectations to take a male co-regent. The Alexandrian authorities pursued several marriage candidates drawn from the Seleucid and regional élites: one Seleucid prince died during negotiations, another (Philip) was prevented from coming by the Roman governor Aulus Gabinius, and a man called Seleucus, notorious for coarse behaviour and nicknamed Kybiosaktes, was killed on Berenice’s orders after a brief marriage. She then married Archelaus, a Pontic-Roman figure who arrived in winter 56–55 BC and received royal titulature though he is not well attested as her formal co-ruler in surviving documents. In spring 55 BC Ptolemy XII returned to Egypt with Roman military support under Aulus Gabinius; Archelaus fell in battle, Berenice was deposed and executed by her restored father, who subsequently bequeathed the throne to her siblings Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII. Berenice IV’s brief reign is recorded as a period of dynastic contestation in the late Ptolemaic kingdom, notable for its reliance on marriage politics and for the Roman intervention that ended her rule.