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Berenice

Berenice

Also known as Herodian princess

28 CE–85 CE · Zugot · Jerusalem

Berenice (born c. 28 CE) was a Herodian princess, daughter of King Herod Agrippa I and sister of Agrippa II, alongside whom she held royal status. On the eve of the Great Revolt she tried to restrain the conflict in Jerusalem; she later became closely associated with the Roman general — and future emperor — Titus, and lived for a time in Rome.

See Berenice’s journey on the map →

Did you know?

  • The Roman who destroyed the Temple nearly married a Jewish princess

    Titus — the Roman general who besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Beis HaMikdash in 70 CE — carried on a years-long relationship with Berenice, a great-granddaughter of Herod and a princess of the Jewish Herodian house. The Roman historian Suetonius records that Titus even promised to marry her; only when he became emperor in 79 CE did opposition in Rome force him to send her away — "against his will and against hers."

    How we know

    Berenice (b. 28 CE), daughter of Agrippa I and sister of Agrippa II, of the Herodian dynasty; Titus (39–81 CE), Roman commander at the siege of Jerusalem, emperor 79–81 CE. Suetonius, Life of Titus 7: Titus loved Berenice, was said to have promised her marriage, then dismissed her from Rome on his accession. Purely first-century historical dates, so it holds under the mesorah.

    Meet Titus →

Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the orchard map →

Stop 1 of 228–70Led

JerusalemירושליםJudea

What they did here

A Herodian princess of Judea who, with her brother Agrippa II, sought to calm the unrest in Jerusalem before the Great Revolt.

Jerusalem in this era

Jerusalem in the Zugot era was a city perpetually caught between empires, its Jewish identity sharpened by the very pressures that threatened it. After Alexander's conquest, Hellenistic culture flooded the Mediterranean world, and Jerusalem's elite adopted Greek dress and ideas, while the majority of Jews held fiercely to Torah and tradition—a tension that would ignite the Maccabean revolt in 167 BCE and establish the independent Hasmonean kingdom. By the time Rome's Pompey marched in (63 BCE), Jerusalem was fractured between Hellenizers and pietists, and later, Herod the Great—a client king of Rome—rebuilt the Temple into a wonder of the ancient world even as he terrorized the populace. It was in this fervent, dangerous atmosphere that two towering sages, Hillel and Shammai, debated the law in the Temple courtyards and in the emerging beit midrash, each founding a school of interpretation that would define Jewish learning for centuries. The city's marketplaces throbbed with merchants and pilgrims; its Temple remained the spiritual heart of the diaspora, drawing Jews from across the empire for the great festivals.

About Jerusalem

Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.

In Jerusalem at the same time

Yonatan ben Uziel, Shammai HaZaken, Akavya ben Mahalalel, Rabban Shimon ben Hillel, Rabban Gamliel HaZaken, Dosa ben Harkinas

Across the traditions, in Jerusalem at the same time

See other sages who lived in Jerusalem→

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Berenice’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Berenice’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

No works attributed in the corpus yet.