Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa I)

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Berenice of Cilicia
Born	28 AD
Relatives	Daughter of Agrippa I, sister of Agrippa II

Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice, Berenice Agrippa and sometimes spelled Bernice (28 AD – ?), was a Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire during the second half of the 1st century. Berenice was a member of the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled the Roman province of Judaea between 39 BC and 92 AD. She was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I, and sister of King Herod Agrippa II.

What little is known about the life and background of Berenice has been handed down to us through the works of Flavius Josephus, a contemporary historian who detailed a history of the Jewish people and wrote an account of the Jewish Rebellion of 67. It is for her tumultuous love life however that Berenice is primarily known today. After a number of failed marriages throughout the 40s, she spent much of the remainder of her life at court of her brother Agrippa II, amidst rumors the two were carrying on an incestuous relationship. During the First Jewish-Roman War, she began a love affair with the future emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus. Her unpopularity among the Romans however compelled Titus to dismiss Berenice upon his accession as emperor in 79. When he died two years later, so did Berenice disappear from the historical record.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Jewish-Roman wars 2.1 Great Jewish revolt 2.2 Affair with Titus 3 Berenice and St. Veronica 4 Berenice in the Arts 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Primary sources 7.2 Images

[edit] Early life

Berenice was born in 28^[1] to Herod Agrippa and Cypros, as granddaughter to Aristobulus IV and great-granddaughter to Herod the Great. Her elder brother was Agrippa II (b. 27), and her younger sisters were Mariamne (b. 34) and Drusilla (b. 38).^[2][3] According to Josephus, there was also a younger brother called Drusus, who died before his teens.^[2] Her family constituted part of what is known as the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled the Judaea Province between 39 BC and 92.

Josephus records three shortlived marriages in Berenice's life, the first which took place sometime between 41 and 43, to Marcus Julius Alexander, brother of Tiberius Julius Alexander and son of Alexander the Alabarch of Alexandria.^[4][5] On his early death in 44, she was married to her father's brother, Herod of Chalcis,^[3] with whom she had two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus.^[6] When he died in 48, she lived with her brother Agrippa for several years until she married Polemon II, king of Cilicia, who she subsequently deserted again.^[7] According to Josephus, Berenice requested this marriage to dispel rumors that she and her brother were carrying on an incestuous relationship, with Polemon being persuaded to this union mostly on account of her wealth.^[7] However the marriage did not last and she soon returned to the court of her brother. Josephus was not the only ancient writer to suggest incestuous relations between Berenice and Agrippa. Juvenal, in his sixth satire, outright claims that they were lovers.^[8] Whether this was based on truth remains unknown.^[9] Berenice indeed spent much of her life at the court of Agrippa, and by all accounts shared almost equal power. Popular rumors may also have been fueled by the fact that Agrippa himself never married during his lifetime.^[9]

Like her brother, Berenice was a client queen, allowed to rule parts of the Roman Empire in present-day Syria. The Acts of the Apostles records that during this time, in 60, Paul of Tarsus appeared before their court at Caesarea.^[10]

[edit] Jewish-Roman wars

[edit] Great Jewish revolt

In 64 emperor Nero appointed Gessius Florus as procurator of the Judaea Province. During his administration, the Jews were systematically discriminated in favour of the Greek population of the region.^[11] Tensions quickly rose to civil unrest when Florus plundered the treasury of the Temple of Jerusalem under the guise of imperial taxes.^[11] Following riots, the instigators were arrested and crucified by the Romans. Appalled at the treatment of her countrymen, Berenice travelled to Jerusalem in 66 to personally petition Florus to spare the Jews, but not only did he refuse to comply with her requests, Berenice herself was nearly killed during skirmishes in the city.^[12] Likewise a plea for assistance to the legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus, met with no response.^[13]

To prevent Jewish violence from further escalating, Agrippa assembled the populace and delivered a tearful speech to the crowd in the company of his sister,^[14] but the Jews alienated their sympathies when the insurgents burned down their palaces.^[15] They fled the city to Galilee where they later gave themselves up to the Romans. Meanwhile Cestius Gallus moved into the region with the twelfth legion, but was unable to restore order and suffered defeat at the battle of Beth-Horon, forcing the Romans to retreat from Jerusalem.^[16]

Emperor Nero then appointed Vespasian to put down the rebellion, who landed in Judaea with fifth and tenth legions in 67.^[17] He was later joined by his son Titus at Ptolemais, who brought with him the fifteenth legion.^[18] With a strength of 60,000 professional soldiers, the Romans quickly swept across Galilee and by 69 marched on Jerusalem.^[18]

[edit] Affair with Titus

It was during this time that Berenice met and fell in love with Titus, who was eleven years her junior.^[19] The Herodians sided with the Flavians during the conflict, and later in 69, the Year of the Four Emperors—when the Roman Empire saw the quick succession of the emperors Galba, Otho and Vitellius—Berenice reportedly used all her wealth and influence to support Vespasian on his campaign to become emperor.^[20] When Vespasian was declared emperor on December 21 of 69, Titus was left in Judaea to finish putting down the rebellion. The war ended in 70 with the destruction of the Second Temple and the sack of Jerusalem, with approximately 1 million dead, and 97,000 taken captive by the Romans.^[21] Triumphant, Titus returned to Rome to assist his father in the government, while Berenice stayed behind in Judaea.

It took four years until they reunited, when she and Agrippa came to Rome in 75. The reasons for this long absence are unclear, but have been linked to possible opposition to her presence by Gaius Licinius Mucianus, a political ally of emperor Vespasian who died sometime between 72 and 78.^[22] Agrippa was given the rank of praetor, while Berenice resumed her relationship with Titus, living with him at the palace and reportedly acting in every respect as his wife.^[23] The ancient historian Cassius Dio writes that Berenice was at the height of her power during this time,^[23] and if it can be any indication as to how influential she was, Quintilian records an anecdote in his Institutio Oratoria where, to his astonishment, he found himself pleading a case on Berenice's behalf where she herself presided as the judge.^[24] The Roman populace however perceived the Eastern Queen as an intrusive outsider, and when the pair was publicly denounced by Cynics in the theatre, Titus caved in to the pressure and sent her away.^[23]

Upon the accession of Titus as emperor in 79, she returned to Rome, but was quickly dismissed amidst a number of popular measures of Titus to restore his reputation with the populace.^[25] It is possible that he intended to send for her at a more convenient time.^[22] However after reigning barely two years as emperor, he suddenly died on September 13, 81.^[26]

It is not known what happened to Berenice after her final dismissal from Rome.^[22] Her brother Agrippa died around 92, and with him the Herodian Dynasty came to an end.

In modern history, her aspirations as a potential empress of Rome have led to her being described as a 'miniature Cleopatra'.^[27]

[edit] Berenice and St. Veronica

There are many remarkable parallels between Berenice and her name sake St. Veronica ('Veronica' is merely a Latin version of the Greek name 'Beronike.' Berenice's fortress was located in Caesarea Philippi or Paneas(modern Banias). John Wilson has demonstrated that St. Veronica's cult was also located there less than a hundred yards away from the fortress (one could say that the sanctuary of St. Berenice was located in Queen Berenice's front yard).^[28] It is impossible to date when the sanctuary was established, but the presence of a large syncretic statue of Berenice wiping Christ's face points to an early period.

The Latin Passion retains an original gospel narrative where St. Berenice was understood to have wiped Jesus' face while he carried the Cross to Cavalry (the Sixth Station of the Cross). As Derrida notes this passage was ultimately removed from the Catholic gospels. Berenice is often identified as Mary Magdalene, the woman who anoints Jesus (Luke 8:43–48).

It is worth noting that when early Christian writers identify her as Queen Berenice. John Malalas identifies her as a 'ruler of the Jews' and in the inner circle of the Herodian rulers of Judea and surrounding territories. Macarius Magnes similarly identifies the saint as 'a mistress of a certain place [and] honored ruler.' The Acts of Pilate tradition identifies her as traveling with Titus throughout Judea during the Jewish War exactly as we see in Josephus' histories.

Eusebius of Caesarea:

“

But since I have come to mention this city, I do not think it right to omit a story that is worthy to be recorded also from those that come after us. For they say that the woman who had a haemorrhage, and who, as we learn from the sacred Gospels, found at the hands of our Saviour relief from her affliction, came to this place, and that her house was pointed out in the city, and that marvelous memorials of the good deed, which the Savior wrought upon her, still remained. For that there stood on a lofty stone at the gates of her house a bronze figure of a woman, bending on her knee and stretching forth her hands like a suppliant, while opposite to this there was another of the same material, an upright figure of a man, clothed in comely fashion in a double cloak and stretching out his hand to the woman; at his feet on the monument itself a strange species of herb was growing, which climbed up to the double cloak of bronze, and acted as an antidote to all kinds of diseases. This statue, they said, bore the likeness of the Lord Jesus. And it was in existence even to our day, so that we saw it with out own eyes when we stayed in the city.[29]

”

Marcarius Magnes:

“

Concerning Berenice, or the woman with the issue of blood. . . . Berenice, who once was mistress of a famous place, and honoured ruler of the great city of Edessa, having been delivered from an unclean issue of blood and speedily healed from a painful affection, whom many physicians tormented at many times, but increased the affection to the worst of maladies with no betterment at all, He made to be celebrated and famous in story till the present day in Mesopotamia, or rather in all the world---so great was her experience ---for she was made whole by a touch of the saving hem of His garment. For the woman, having had the record of the deed itself nobly represented in bronze, gave it to her son, as something done recently, not long before. . . [30]

”

John Malalas:

“

In his grief King Herod, the son of Philip, came from Judea, and a certain wealthy woman, living in the city of Paneas, called Bernice, approached him, wishing to set up a statue to Jesus, for she had been healed by him. As she did not dare to do this without imperial permission, she addressed a petition to King Herod, asking to set up a golden statue to the Saviour Christ in that city. The petition ran as follows: To the august toparch Herod, lawgiver of the Jews and Hellenes, king of Trachonitis, a petition and request from Bernice, a dignitary of the city of Paneas. Justice and benevolence and all other virtues crown your highness's sacred head. Thus, since I know this, I have come with every good hope that I shall obtain my requests. My words as they progress will reveal to you what foundation there is for this present preamble. From my childhood I have been smitten with the affliction of an internal haemorrhage; I spent all my livelihood and wealth on doctors but found no cure. When I heard of the cures that Christ performs with His miracles, He who raises the dead, restores the blind to sight, drives demons out of mortals, and heals with a word all those wasting away from disease, I too ran to Him as to God. I noticed the crowd surrounding him and I was afraid to tell Him of my incurable disease in case he should recoil from the pollution of my affliction and be angry with me and the violence of the disease should strike me even more. I reasoned to myself that, if I were able to touch the fringe of His garment, I would certainly be healed. I touched Him, and the flow of blood was stopped and immediately I was healed. He, however, as though He knew in advance my heart's purpose, cried out, Who touched Me? For power has gone out of Me. I went white with terror and lamented, thinking that the disease would return to me with greater force, and I fell before Him covering the ground with tears. I told Him of my boldness. Out of His goodness He took pity on me and confirmed my cure, saying, Be of good courage, My daughter, your faith has saved you. Go your way in peace. So, your august highness, grant your suppliant this worthy petition. When King Herod heard the contents of this petition, he was amazed by the miracle and, fearing the mystery of the cure, said, This cure, woman, which was worked on you, is worthy of a greater statue. Go then and set up whatever kind of statue you wish to Him, honouring by the offering Him who healed you. Immediately, Bernice, who had formerly suffered from a haemorrhage, set up in the middle of her city of Paneas a statue of beaten bronze, mixing it with gold and silver, to the Lord God. This statue remains in the city of Paneas to the present day, having been moved not many years ago from the place where it stood in the middle of the city to a holy place, a house of prayer. This document was found in the city of Paneas in the house of a man called Bassus, a Jew who had become a Christian.[31]

”

John Malalas [variant text]

“

Berenice the sick woman of yore set up in the midst of her own city of Paenada (Paneas) a monument in bronze adorned with gold and silver. It is still standing in the city of Paenada. Not long ago it was taken from the place where it stood in the middle of the city and placed in a house of prayer. One Batho, a converted Jew, found it mentioned in a book which contained an account of all those who reigned over Judea.[32]

”

Sozomen:

“

Among so many remarkable events which occurred during the reign of Julian, I must not omit to mention one which affords a sign of the power of Christ, and proof of the Divine wrath against the emperor. Having heard that at Caesarea Philippi, otherwise called Paneas, a city of Phonicia, there was a celebrated statue of Christ which had been erected by a woman whom the Lord had cured of a flow of blood, Julian commanded it to be taken down and a statue of himself erected in its place; but a violent fire from heaven fell upon it and broke off the parts contiguous to the breast; the head and neck were thrown prostrate, and it was transfixed to the ground with the face downwards at the point where the fracture of the bust was; and it has stood in that fashion from that day until now, full of the rust of the lightning. The statue of Christ was dragged around the city and mutilated by the pagans; but the Christians recovered the fragments, and deposited the statue in the church in which it is still preserved. Eusebius relates, that at the base of this statue grew an herb which was unknown to the physicians and empirics, but was efficacious in the cure of all disorders. It does not appear a matter of astonishment to me, that, after God had vouchsafed to dwell with men, he should condescend to bestow benefits upon them.

”

Philostorgius:

“

There is also the statue of the Saviour in the city of Paneas, a work of magnificent execution put up by the woman with the haemorrhage whom Christ healed, and erected on a notable site in the city... Now an herb grew up by the feet of our Saviour's image and the reason for this was sought, for in the passage of time both the person portrayed and the reason for the monument had been forgotten; it stood in the open with nothing to cover it, and much of the body was buried in the dirt that kept falling upon it from highter ground especially in times of rain, the dirt covering the writing that explained each of the matters. An inquiry was therefore instituted, the buried part was dug out, and the writing was found that told the whole story... The Christians removed it and put it in the sacristy of the church. The pagans pulled it down, fastened ropes to the feet, and dragged it through the public square until it was broken up bit by bit and so destroyed. Only the head was left; that was seized by someonw while the pagans were raising their clamor and speaking blasphemies and utterly disgraceful words against our Lord Jesus Christ, words such as no one had ever heard.

”

Gregory of Tours:

“

The city of Paneas is located, as I said, at the source of the Jordan river. In the city there is a statue made from completely pure electrum, on which the likeness of our Redeemer is said to be displayed. As I have heard from many people who have seen it, there is a marvelous brightness in its face. Lest this seem absurd to anyone, it is proper to quote what Eusebius of Caesarea wrote about this statue. He says: [citation above follows][33]

”

The Doctrine of Addai:

“

Protonice,[34] the wife of the Emperor Claudius, whom Tiberius made second in his kingdom, when he went to make war with the Spaniards, who had rebelled against him, this woman, when Simon, one of the disciples, was in the city of Rome, and she saw the signs and wonders, and marvellous works which he did in the name of Christ … she believed in Christ our Lord, and worshipped Him, and praised with those who were joined unto Simon, and held Him in great honour … she and her two sons with her, and her one virgin daughter [w]hen she was entering Jerusalem, the city went forth to meet her, and they received her with great honour, as that which is due to the queen, the mistress of the great country of the Romans. But James … entered into her presence where she was dwelling, in the royal great palace of king Herod. When she saw him, she received him with great joy, as also she had Simon Peter … and she said to him: "Show me Golgotha, on which Christ was crucified, and the wood of His cross on which He was suspended by the Jews, and the grave in which He was placed." … [After she rediscovers the relics and her daughter dies and is resurrected so] she took the cross of Christ, and gave it to James, that it might be kept with great honour. She also commanded that a great and splendid building should be erected over Golgotha, on which He was crucified, and over the grave in which He was placed, so that these places might be honoured; and that there should be there a place of assembly for prayer, and a gathering for service … And the fame of this deed which was done went forth to distant countries … [a]nd when the queen went up from Jerusalem to the city of Rome, every city which she entered pressed to see the sight of her daughter. And when she had entered Rome, she recounted before the Emperor Claudius those things which had happened; and when the Emperor heard, he commanded that all the Jews should go forth from the country of Italy.[35]

”

The connection between Berenice Julias Agrippa and St. Berenice the woman edited out of the gospels has been used by Stephan Huller to argue that St. Mark the original gospel writer was Berenice's brother/husband Marcus Julius Agrippa.^[36]

[edit] Berenice in the Arts

From the seventeenth century to contemporary times, there has been a long tradition of works of art (novels, dramas, operas, etc.) devoted to Berenice and her affair with the Roman Emperor Titus.^[37] The list includes:

• Lettres de Bérénice à Titus (1642), a French novel by Madeleine de Scudéry
• Bérénice (1648-50), a French novel by Jean Regnauld de Segrais
• Tite (1660), a French drama by Jean Magnon
• Il Tito (1666), an Italian opera by Antonio Cesti (mus.) and Nicola Beregani (libr.)
• Bérénice (1670), a French drama by Jean Racine
• Tite et Bérénice (1670), a French drama by Pierre Corneille
• Titus and Berenice (1676), an English drama by Thomas Otway
• Tito e Berenice (1714), an Italian opera by Antonio Caldara (mus.) and Carlo Sigismondo Capace (libr.)
• Berenice (1725), an Italian opera by Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (mus.) and Benedetto Pasqualigo (libr.). Also set to music by Niccolò Vito Piccinni (1766)
• Tito e Berenice (1776), an Italian opera by Raimondo Mei (mus.) and Carlo Giuseppe Lanfranchi-Rossi (libr.)
• Tito e Berenice (1782), a ballet by Paolino Franchi (chor.)
• Tito; o, La partenza di Berenice (1790), a ballet by Domenico Maria Gaspero Angiolini (mus. and chor.)
• Tito e Berenice (1793), an Italian opera by Sebastiano Nasolini (mus.) and Giuseppe Maria Foppa (libr.)
• Tito che abbandona Berenice (1828), a painting by Giuseppe Bezzuoli
• Titus et Bérénice (1860), a French opera by Leon-Gustave-Cyprien Gastinel (mus.) and Edouard Fournier (libr.)
• Berenice (1890), a German novel by Heinrich Vollrat Schumacher
• Bérénice (1909), a French opera by Lucien-Denis-Gabriel-Alberic Magnard (mus. and libr.)
• Titus und die Jüdin (1911), a German drama by Hans Kyser
• Lost Diaries: From the Diary of Emperor Titus (1913), an English novel by Maurice Baring
• Bérénice, l’Hérodienne (1919), a French drama by Albert du Bois
• Bérénice (1920), incidental music by Marcel Samuel-Rousseau
• Berenice (1922), an English drama by John Masefield
• Bérénice (1934), a French parody by Noel Ouden
• Berinikah (1945), a Hebrew drama by Eisig Silberschlag and Carl de Haas
• Le reine de Césarée (1954), a French drama by Robert Brasillach
• Berenice, Princess of Judea (1959), an English novel by Leon Kolb
• Mission to Claudies (1963), an English novel by Leon Kolb
• Agrippa’s Daughter (1964), an English novel by Howard Melvin Fast
• La pourpre de Judée: ou, Les délices du genre humain (1967), a French novel by Maurice Clavel
• Bérénice (1968), a French TV-film by Piere-Alain Jolivet
• Tito y Berenice (1970), a Spanish drama by Rene Marques
• Bérénice (1983), a French TV-film by Raoul Ruiz

The love story between Berenice and Titus is also the premise of La clemenza di Tito (1734), an Italian opera by Antonio Caldara (mus.) and Pietro Metastasio (libr.), later set to music by more than 40 other composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse (1735), Giuseppe Arena (1738), Francesco Corradini (1747), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1752), Andrea Adolfati (1753), Niccolò Jommelli (1753), Ignaz Holzbauer (1757), Vincenzo Legrezio Ciampi (1757), Gioacchino Cocchi (1760), Marcello Bernardini (1768), Andrea Bernasconi (1768), Pasquale Anfossi (1769), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791).

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Ilan, Tal (1992). "Julia Crispina, Daughter of Berenicianus, a Herodian Princess in the Babatha Archive: A Case Study in Historical Identification.". The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Ser. 82 (3/4): 361–381. doi:10.2307/1454863. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-6682%28199201%2F04%292%3A82%3A3%2F4%3C361%3AJCDOBA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
• Macurdy, Grace H. (1935). "Julia Berenice". The American Journal of Philology 56 (3): 246–253. doi:10.2307/289676. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9475%281935%2956%3A3%3C246%3AJB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
• Crook, John A. (1951). "Titus and Berenice". The American Journal of Philology 72 (2): 162–175. doi:10.2307/292544. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9475%281951%2972%3A2%3C162%3ATAB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A. Retrieved on 2007-07-30. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Primary sources

• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, English translation
• Josephus, The War of the Jews, Book II, English translation
• Tacitus, Histories, Book 2, English translation
• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 65, Chapter 15, English translation

[edit] Images

• Coinage of Berenice at Wildwinds.com