Berenice II Euergetis ― Essays in Early Hellenistic Queenship

Berenice II Euergetis (ca. 267/6-221 BCE), one of the better known Ptolemaic queens remains fairly unknown outside specialist circles. She was the daughter of King Magas of Cyrene (Libya) and the wife of King Ptolemy III of Egypt. Berenice was therefore queen at an important juncture in Hellenistic history. This collection of interrelated essays focuses on aspects of chronology, genealogy and marital practices, as well as issues of royal ideology and Ptolemaic queenship. These studies rely especially on literary evidence and art works in order to illuminate Berenice's status and position at the courts of Cyrene and Egypt. Their main significance lies in the reassessment of female agency and queenship as these studies offer new interpretations and reexaminations of the few known events of Berenice's life until the early reign of Ptolemy III, as well as of her influence and authority in Cyrene and Egypt.

Branko van Oppen de Ruiter is visiting research scholar and curator at the Allard Pierson Museum, the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He publishes widely on Ptolemaic queens, Roman Egypt, and objects in the museum collection, as well as on modern architecture in the city of The Hague.