Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Berenice II of Egypt
- If you are looking for something or someone else named Berenice, please go here.
During her husband's absence on an expedition to Syria, she dedicated her hair to Venus for his safe return, and placed it in the temple of the goddess at Zephyrium . The hair having by some unknown means disappeared, Conon of Samos, explained the phenomenon in courtly phrase, by saying that it had been carried to the heavens and placed among the stars.
The name Coma Berenices or Berenice's hair, applied to a constellation, commemorates this incident. Callimachus celebrated the transformation in a poem, of which only a few lines remain, but there is a fine translation of it by Catullus. Soon after her husband's death (221 BC) she was murdered at the instigation of her son Ptolemy IV, with whom she was probably associated in the government.
The predecessor of the modern city Benghazi was refounded by her and received her name: Berenice.
| Preceded by:|
| Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt|
with Ptolemy III
| Succeeded by:|
Part of this entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details