Berenike I.

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Head of Ptolemy II and Berenike I.

Berenike I ( Greek  Βερενίκη , * around 340 BC; † before 268 BC) was a noble Macedonian who was her second marriage to the Diadochi and later King of Egypt Ptolemy I , from whom she became the mother of Arsinoë II . and Ptolemy II. was.

Life

Like her later husband Ptolemy I, Berenike I came from the Macedonian region of Eordaia . She was the daughter of Antigone and thus a great niece of the Macedonian general Antipater . Her otherwise unknown father was probably called Magas.

First, Berenike married an equally unknown Macedonian named Philippus, who according to Pausanias was of low descent and through whom she was the mother of the future King Magas of Cyrene and Antigone , who later became the first wife of King Pyrrhos I of Epirus , and others Daughters, to which Theoxene probably belonged.

The year of Berenike's first husband's death is unknown, but in any case it happened around 320 BC. In the wake of her related Eurydice , daughter of Antipater, to Egypt. The reason for Eurydike's trip to the Nile country was that she was chosen to be the bride of Ptolemy I , the former general of Alexander the great and now satrap of Egypt. Although Eurydice bore several children to Ptolemy I, he soon (around 317 BC) entered into a liaison with Berenike and possibly even then took her as his other wife. As a result, Berenike had with Ptolemy I, who founded the Ptolemaic dynasty and in 305/304 BC. Took on the title of king, at least three children: Around 316 BC. She gave birth to her daughter Arsinoë II. In 308 BC. Her son Ptolemaios (II.) , While her daughter Philotera was probably her second child of Ptolemaios I and between 315 and 309 BC. Should have been born.

Berenike's legal position in relation to Eurydice is unclear. In any case, Berenike became Ptolemy's favorite wife. For example, the biographer Plutarch describes the situation for about the year 299 BC. BC so that Berenike was the most influential, virtuous and ingenious among the wives of Ptolemy I at that time. The preference of the Egyptian king for Berenike was probably the main reason why he passed over Eurydice's son Ptolemaios Keraunos in favor of Berenike's son Ptolemaios (II) in the succession. Berenike's children from their first marriage were also taken into account: Magas was born around 300 BC. Governor of Cyrene and Antigone around 299/98 BC Wife of King Pyrrhos of Epirus. After Eurydice around 287 BC Had left Egypt, Ptolemy II was 285/84 BC. BC co-regent of his father and thus definitely heir to the throne.

There is evidence that Berenike won the chariot race at the Olympic Games in an unknown year (perhaps 284 BC) . She survived Ptolemy I and probably died between 279 and 274 BC. BC, but at least before 268 BC Chr.

Ptolemy II named the newly founded port of Berenike on the Red Sea after her. The name of the city of Berenike in Epirus, which was founded by King Pyrrhos, also goes back to her. Furthermore, Ptolemy II had temples built for his parents all over Egypt - a Berenikeion in Alexandria is already around 275 BC. - and after Berenike's death ordered her and his father to be accorded divine honors as Theoi Soteres (= "savior gods"). King Ptolemy IV concluded this cult in 215/214 BC. The cult of the deified Alexander .

Berenike I was the grandmother of Ptolemy III. , after whose wife Berenike II the constellation of the same name is named.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Poseidippos , Mailänder Papyrus (Pap. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309), Hippika , AB 88.
  2. ↑ Scholion zu Theokritos , Idyllen 17, 61.
  3. ↑ Scholion zu Theokritos, Idyllen 17, 34. The name of Berenike's father is corrupted in the Scholion. In addition to the form of the name Magas , the variant Lagos was also considered, in which latter case Berenike would have been the half-sister of Ptolemy I ( Christopher Bennett: Berenice I , note 2 ).
  4. ^ Pausanias 1, 7, 1.
  5. ↑ a b Pausanias 1, 6, 8 and 1, 7, 1.
  6. ↑ a b Plutarch , Pyrrhos 4, 4.
  7. ↑ Christopher Bennett: Berenice I , note 9 .
  8. ^ Pausanias 1, 6, 8.
  9. ↑ Strabon 16, 4, 5 and Pap. Berol. 13417A; on this Christopher Bennett: Philotera , note 4
  10. ↑ Theocritus, Idyllen 17, 34f.
  11. ↑ Günther Hölbl , History of the Ptolemy Empire , p. 26; Werner Huss , Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. , P. 249.
  12. ^ Poseidippos, Mailänder Papyrus (Pap. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309), Hippika , AB 78 and 88.
  13. ↑ Christopher Bennett: Berenice I , note 15 .
  14. ↑ Callixeinos of Rhodes , FGrH 627, F 2.
  15. ↑ Hans Volkmann : Berenike 1). In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 864.
personal data
SURNAME Berenike I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mother of King Magas of Cyrene
DATE OF BIRTH around 340 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH before 268 BC Chr.