Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BERNICE

(Gk. Berníkē) (also BERENICE)

Julia Bernice (born 28 c.e.), the oldest of Agrippa I’s daughters and thus a great-granddaughter of Herod the Great (Josephus Ant. 18.132; 19.354). Bernice first married Marcus Julius Alexander who died in 41. She was then married to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis (Ant. 19.276-77; 20.104; BJ 2:217-21). After Herod died in 48 she lived with her brother Agrippa II. Visiting Festus in Caesarea ca. 59 they heard Paul give a defense of his faith (Acts 25:13–26:32). To squelch rumors of incest (Juvenal Satires 6.156-60), Bernice convinced Polemo king of Cilicia to undergo Jewish circumcision and marry her in 63, but she soon left him, returning to Agrippa (Ant. 20.145-47).

At the beginning of the Jewish War in 66 c.e., and with some risk to personal safety, Bernice and Agrippa stood for Jewish peace. She pled in vain with procurator Gessius Florus on behalf of the Jews he was slaughtering (BJ 2.310-14, 405-6, 425-29). Like Agrippa, Bernice soon sided with Rome and helped finance Vespasian’s rise to emperor (Tacitus Hist. 2.81). She became the mistress of Titus, Vespasian’s son, and moved to Rome (ca. 75), expecting to be his wife (Dio Cassius Hist. 65.15). But when Titus became emperor in 79 he reluctantly dismissed Bernice from Rome in an attempt to improve his reputation (Suetonius Titus 7). Sometime before Titus’ death in 81 Bernice returned to Rome without damaging his public image (Dio Cassius Hist. 66.18). Bernice is often referred to as “queen” (e.g., BJ 2.312; Vita 119, 180-81; Suetonius Titus 7; Tacitus Hist. 2.2; Quintilian Inst. orat. 4.1).

Bernice (also Berenice; Lat. Veronica) was a common Herodian name.

Bibliography. D. C. Braund, “Berenice in Rome,” Historia 33 (1984): 120-23; J. A. Crook, “Titus and Berenice,” AJP 72 (1951): 162-75; R. Jordan, Berenice (New York, 1974); G. H. Macurdy, “Julia Berenice,” AJP 56 (1935): 246-53; R. D. Sullivan, “The Dynasty of Judaea in the First Century,” ANRW II.8,310-12

Douglas S. Huffman

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BERNICE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)