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Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice and sometimes spelled Bernice (28 AD – after 81), 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 that ruled the Roman province of Judaea between 39 BC and 92 AD. She was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I and a sister of King Herod Agrippa II. What little is known about her life and background comes mostly from the early historian Flavius Josephus, who detailed a history of the Jewish people and wrote an account of the Jewish Rebellion of 67. Suetonius, Tacitus, Dio Cassius, Aurelius Victor and Juvenal, also tell about her. She is also mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (26:30). However, it is for her tumultuous love life that she is primarily known from the Renaissance. Her reputation was based on the bias of the Romans to the Eastern princesses, like Cleopatra or later Zenobia. After a number of failed marriages throughout the 40s, she spent much of the remainder of her life at the court of her brother Herod 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. However, her unpopularity among the Romans compelled Titus to dismiss her on his accession as emperor in 79. When he died two years later, she disappeared from the historical record. == Early life == Berenice was born in 28〔Josephus writes that Berenice was sixteen at the time of her father's death, which fixes her birthdate on the year 28. See Josephus, ''Ant.'' XIX.9.1〕 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).〔Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' XVIII.5.4〕〔Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' XIX.9.1〕 According to Josephus, there was also a younger brother called Drusus, who died before his teens.〔 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 short-lived 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.〔Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' XIX.5.1〕 On his early death in 44, she was married to her father's brother, Herod of Chalcis,〔 with whom she had two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus.〔Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' XX.5.2〕 After her husband died in 48, she lived with her brother Agrippa for several years and then married Polemon II of Pontus, king of Cilicia, whom she subsequently deserted.〔Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' XX.7.3〕 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.〔 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.〔Juvenal, ''Satires'' VI〕 Whether this was based on truth remains unknown. 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.〔 Like her brother, Berenice was a client ruler of the parts of the Roman Empire that lie in the present-day Syria. The Acts of the Apostles records that during this time, Paul of Tarsus appeared before their court at Caesarea.〔King James Bible, ''Acts'' 25, 26〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Berenice (daughter of Herod Agrippa)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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