The volume under review contains a collection of four essays on the figure of Berenice II, wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes: the first one focuses on Berenice's birth and family in Cyrene, the second on her marriage with Ptolemy III, the third essay deals with the representation of Berenice in iconography, and the last essay (the longest) is a very detailed and in-depth discussion of the events and astronomical circumstances surrounding the myth of the constellation Coma Berenices, with an analysis of passages from Callimachus' and Catullus' versions of the story. An introduction provides the bibliographical background of the subject, accounts for the difficulties of historical sources and gives the reasons for the book, together with a summary of the essays. Four appendices reproduce Pausanias' account of the life of Berenice's father Magas, Callimachus' and Catullus' poems on the Coma Berenices, a table of lunar phases for the year of the discovery of the Coma and a timetable of important events in Berenice's time. A comprehensive index helps the reader navigate through the book, while frequent and often lengthy endnotes with rich bibliographical references accompany the text: although the reading may be uncomfortable as a result, the choice of endnotes over footnotes was probably unavoidable, due to their number and length.

The book appears shortly after a monograph published on the same topic, D.L. Clayman, Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt (2014), of which the author provides a brief critique concerning Berenice's first marriage to Demetrius the Fair (pp. 25–6). In fact, the volume reproduces neither a bibliographical study of Berenice nor a reconstruction of her image from literary sources, as Clayman does: rather it examines Berenice's role within the political and religious sphere of Cyrene and Egypt, while reassessing Hellenistic queenship (also against modern assumptions) and issues of female agency, of dynastic marital strategies and legitimation, and of royal deification. Furthermore, the book addresses issues of chronology, suggesting a new interpretation to some events in early Hellenistic history (the First and especially the Third Syrian War, Magas' political actions and life, Ptolemaic imperialistic aims).

The author mobilises comprehensive evidence (of various types and languages) – along with extensive bibliography – in the explanation of his assumptions which, however, often remain of a conjectural nature. The reassessment of chronological issues of Berenice's life, the analysis of the astronomical implications and the new mythological interpretations (drawing from Egyptian traditions) of the Coma Berenices represent one of the most original contributions of the book, together with the interesting chapter on the representation of Berenice in the visual arts. However, the argumentation is at times difficult to follow logically: the reasoning is sometimes loose, which is especially unfortunate in the treatment of a subject constantly vitiated by scarcity or opaqueness of sources; the discussion can be at times unclear for non-specialists; the chapters have often a broken, abrupt and untied structure which adds to the possible confusion. A glossary of specific terms (especially for astronomical, iconographical and numismatic terminology) may have been useful, together with sub-headings and a restructuring of Chapter 4 and of the conclusions, which are extremely useful and thought-provoking. There are redundancies and repetitions in the essays, which are the result of the fact that they were originally created to be published separately as journal articles: this is fine if the essays are read separately but if read consecutively can be bothersome.

Despite these shortcomings, the book adds new interesting perspectives to the subject and may certainly achieve its main aim – according to the author's words – to ‘serve as a contribution to reopen the investigation’ (p. 123). The volume is nicely printed with a pleasing layout and contains virtually no typos; however, this does not justify the price, which is bound to discourage a wider readership.