Berenike of Chios
Berenike von Chios († 71 BC ) was a Greek noblewoman from the East Aegean island of Chios and the third wife of King Mithridates VI. from Pontos .
About Berenike's marriage to Mithridates VI. nothing is known. When the Pontic king was decisively defeated by the Roman general Lucullus in the Third Mithridatic War and fled to Tigranes II in Armenia, he sent the eunuch Bakchides with orders to Pharnakeia , Berenike and his other wife Monime from Miletus and his two unmarried sisters Roxane and kill Stateira so they would not fall into Lucullus' hands. Bakchides left to Berenike the way she wanted to end her life. Then Berenike drank a cup of poison with her mother, which killed her mother immediately, but not herself. When she was now dying, Bakchides, for whom this was not going fast enough, had Berenike strangled.
literature
- Felix Staehelin : Berenike 19). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplement volume I, Stuttgart 1903, col. 248.
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berenike of Chios |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of Mithridates VI. from Pontos |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 71 BC Chr. |