Berenice

This article is about the feminine name. For Egyptian archaeological site "Berenike", see Berenice Troglodytica. For other uses, see Berenice (disambiguation).

Berenice (Ancient Greek: Βερενίκη, Bereníkē) is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name Φερενίκη Pherenikē, which means "bearer of victory" from Ancient Greek φέρω (pherō) 'to bear' and νίκη (nikē) 'victory'. Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The Latin variant Veronica is the direct historical Western Catholic transliteration. The name also has the form Bernice.

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 Syra (c. 275 BC – 246 BC), daughter of Ptolemy II of Egypt and wife of Seleucid monarch Antiochus II Theos
• 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 (3rd to 2nd century BC), Greek princess and chief priestess of the Carian Satrapy, great-granddaughter of Ptolemy Epigonos and daughter of the third and final Ptolemaic Client King of Telmessos.

Judean princesses

• Berenice (daughter of Salome) (1st century BC), daughter of Salome I, a sister of Herod the Great and mother of Herod Agrippa
• Berenice (28–?), a daughter of Herod Agrippa, wife of Herod of Chalcis until 48, then spent much of her life at the court of her brother, Herod 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 Christian martyrs

Others

• Berenice of Chios (d. 72/71 BC), third wife of Mithridates VI of Pontus
• The daughter in the Exorcism of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter, one of the miracles of Jesus recounted in the Christian Gospels

Modern era

• Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), American photographer
• Bérénice Bejo (born 1976), French-Argentine actress
• Berenice Celeyta, Colombian human rights activist
• Berenice Mallory (1901–1997), American home economist
• Bérénice Marlohe (born 1979), French actress
• Maé-Bérénice Méité, French figure skater
• Bernice Slote (1913–1983), poet and Willa Cather scholar
• Berenice Wicki (born 2002), Swiss snowboarder
• Bernice Williams, American blues singer
• Berenice Sydney (1944–1983), English artist

Sources

• Berenice Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Berenice" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 769.