Berenice II, consort of Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt, was born to Magas of Cyrene and Apama II, daughter of Antiochus I Soter, in the late 260s b.c. Her husband was also her first cousin, through their common grandmother Berenice I, mother of Magas by a Macedonian named Philip and mother of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (et al.) by Ptolemy I Soter. Berenice I was the great-niece of Antipater, the regent of Macedonia, whose great grand-daughter Apama II was also. When Berenice II's father, Magas, died without a male heir, she was married to Demetrius the Fair: son of Demetrius I of Macedonia, grandson of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, grandson of Ptolemy I Soter, uncle of Apama II and thus great-uncle of Berenice II. Demetrius the Fair was quickly murdered at the instigation of Berenice II, while in bed with her mother (his niece) Apama II. Berenice II then married Euergetes. The early Hellenistic period never disappoints in its genealogical complexity.
Berenice II was thoroughly implicated in the political affairs of the Hellenistic world in the mid-third century b.c., whether as pawn or active agent. C.'s new book provides the first dedicated treatment of her life and reputation, and her position is clear: Berenice was no ‘weepy ingénue’ (p. 3) but ‘a formidable player in the 200-year power struggle that followed the death of Alexander the Great’ (p. 184). Historical sources on Berenice are few and far between, but C., a scholar of Hellenistic poetry, makes use of the works of poets such as Callimachus (the famous ‘Lock of Berenice’) to explore the queen's image and role at court. The discussion makes for lively and provocative reading.
C. organises her biography chronologically and thematically. Initial chapters, ‘Birth in Cyrene’ and ‘Arrival in Alexandria’, set the historical scene for the book's real tours de force: the literary analysis of Callimachus’ and Apollonius’ treatments of Berenice's ‘Murder and Marriage’. C. shows how a controversial and scandalous topic – Berenice's murder of her first husband, Demetrius the Fair – was dealt with by poets through a selection of mythological precedents. These poets were in the pay of the Ptolemies, and C. further argues that they had personal associations with Berenice which influenced what they wrote and how their works were received. These analyses of the poetry of Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius demonstrate the complexity and sophistication of contemporary allusions in Ptolemaic court poetry. A concluding chapter, ‘Berenice in Egypt and Another Murder’, deals only briefly with the end of Berenice's life and her murder by her son Ptolemy IV Philopator, in 221 b.c. A fairly un-nuanced portrayal is given of Philopator and his scandalous court, compared with the detail and empathy with which that of the Euergetae is discussed. Berenice's murder brings the book to a rather sudden end, and there is relatively little discussion of the long or medium term factors which must have led to her demise, other than reflection on her track record of political intrigue.
C. adopts one potentially controversial strategy which in fact strikes me as altogether valid. In her analysis of poetry produced at the court of Ptolemy III Euergetes and Berenice II, ‘if a detail can be understood as a compliment to one or both of them, it will be taken that way, even if there are other valid ways of understanding the same words. In my treatment of the texts below I focus exclusively on how Berenice might have heard these works at the expense of more balanced interpretations’ (p. 10). The question of authorial intent is important, but so too is the question of what interpretations the poets left their works open to. On occasion C.'s Berenician readings are short of compelling, but the majority of them hold water.
C. admits that her poetic analyses provide only ‘a variegated, impressionistic picture of Berenice II and her times’ (p. 12). It is not possible to write a thorough and detailed biography, because the evidence does not permit it, and that is not what this book is. The book's subtitle provides a more adequate description of its remit: ‘The Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt’. Berenice II provides a very effective MacGuffin for such a study. I do not mean this is a derogatory sense. Berenice, her life and poetic representation, serve as a jumping-off point for discussion of a range of topics: the position of poets and scholars at the Alexandrian court, the activities of the Museum and Library, Ptolemaic dynasty building and the complex creative processes of Hellenistic poets, among others. C.'s work highlights a number of comparatively neglected topics. In particular, she gives welcome attention to the court at Cyrene, and the philosophical and literary circles there, as well as the role of Cyrene and Cyrenaeans in early Hellenistic diplomacy and court relations.
The present volume is part of the Women in Antiquity series published by Oxford University Press. The list to date includes Berenice II's predecessor as queen of Egypt, Arsinoe II, the inevitable Cleopatra, Clodia Metelli, Faustinas I and II, Galla Placidia and Turia. The focus on royal and aristocratic women is unavoidable, given the deficiency of sources for individual women of any other social class. Readers may find it of interest to situate Berenice II within this wider programme of writing about elite women in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Sufficient numbers of such individuals have now been rehabilitated and re-empowered to make it worth thinking about the next step. In the work under review, the question of Berenice's freedom of movement, association and expression is of great significance. How closely did she associate with poets? Did she attend the games at which her horses won prizes? What was her degree of personal involvement in the murder of Demetrius the Fair? Much of the reader's response to C.'s arguments will come down to whether they find it plausible that Berenice exercised so much agency. The scholarly project of reclaiming elite women as figures of historical significance has been underway for many years. The ‘great women’ model of history is, however, not so dissimilar to the ‘great men’ model, with the added imperative to protest such women's power and capability to direct their own and others’ destiny. I offer this not as a directed critique at the ‘Women in Antiquity’ project, but to encourage debate about the ways in which our own times influence our understanding of women in the ancient world – and who we want them to be. ‘Great women’ continue, none the less, to be a subject of academic and popular interest, and the present work is a model of critical use of the few sources at our disposal in constructing a lively and thought-provoking narrative.
Every review(er) must have a few minor quibbles. Transcription is a matter for one's own conscience, but ‘Philadelphi’, to me, looks odd. Describing documentary papyri – which admittedly are not of much use for looking at Berenice – as useful for dating formulae or because they ‘contribute factoids that illuminate the larger narrative’ (p. 6) is destined to make papyrologists bristle. Using the term ‘republican’ – even in passing, and with a lower case initial ‘r’ – of fourth-century b.c. Cyrene is problematic. It would have been nice to have a separate translation of the surviving portions of the Callimachus poem about Berenice's lock, alongside the Catullus version. A few errors should have been picked up by the copy-editor or proof reader: ‘stralegos’ for strategos; ‘Yardly’ for Yardley; ‘Proxinoa’ and ‘Proxenoa’, on the same page, for Praxinoa; ‘Victoria Berenice’ for Victoria Berenices; ‘Berenice Syra’ and ‘Berenice of Syria’ used alternately on the same page. None of these matters reflect negatively on the overall quality of the work.
