Berenice I from "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "

Head of Ptolemy I and Berenice I

Berenice I, daughter of Magas, was first the wife of Philip, an obscure Macedonian nobleman, with whom she gave birth to Antigone and 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. She was the mother of Arsinoe II.

Ptolemy gave her name to the new port he built on the Red Sea, Berenice. King Pyrrhus of Epirus – Antigone's husband – 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.)

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.