Berenice I of Egypt

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Head of Ptolemy I and Berenice I

For other uses, see Berenice (disambiguation).

Berenice I, daughter of Lagus, was first the wife of Philip, an obscure Macedonian nobleman, with whom she gave birth to the future Magas of Cyrene. Upon Philip's death, she came to Egypt as a lady-in-waiting to Eurydice, bride of Ptolemy I, Alexander's general and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Berenice caught the eye of the king. Her son with Ptolemy I, Ptolemy II Philadelphos, was recognized as heir in preference to Eurydice's children.

Ptolemy gave her name to the new port he built on the Red Sea, Berenice. King Pyrrhus of Epirus also gave the name Berenicis to a new city. Her son Ptolemy II Philadelphos decreed divine honours to her on her death. (See Theocritus, Idylls xv. and xvii.)

This part of the entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

She exerted influence on all state matters, and fought beside Ptolemy on the battlefield. After Ptolemy's death, her sons were killed in a war with her brother-in-law. She led against him to avenge her children, and personally killed him. She then repeatedly drove her chariot over his body. She is the mother of Arsinoe II.