Overview

The life story of the Judean queen Berenice, descendant of Herod the Great, who became a player on the stage of Roman conquest and politics Berenice (born ca. 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor-to-be, guaranteed Berenice's celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great-granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family's unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II's advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish-Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor. Bruce Chilton traces Berenice's quest for power and her influence in Rome and beyond through the lens of the tensions, conflicts, political intrigues, and cultural interactions that shaped the empire during the second half of the first century.

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Reviews

“Chilton’s meticulous and definitive biography exposes the tensions, political intrigues, and cultural interactions that shaped the Roman empire at the turn of the millennia. A breakthrough in the study of this unique figure in Jewish and Roman history.”—Alan Avery-Peck, College of the Holy Cross “Bruce Chilton provides readers with penetrating insight into the enigmatic figure of Berenice, a prominent woman who played influential roles in her native Jewish setting and in the imperial Roman setting.”—Craig A. Evans, author of Jesus and the Remains of His Day ""A sure guide to the remarkable role of Queen Berenice near the centre of some of the most momentous events in Jewish history and the causes of her notoriety both in her lifetime and in the imagination of later generations.""—Martin Goodman, author of Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World

“Chilton’s meticulous and definitive biography exposes the tensions, political intrigues, and cultural interactions that shaped the Roman empire at the turn of the millennia. A breakthrough in the study of this unique figure in Jewish and Roman history.”—Alan Avery-Peck, College of the Holy Cross “Bruce Chilton provides readers with penetrating insight into the enigmatic figure of Berenice, a prominent woman who played influential roles in her native Jewish setting and in the imperial Roman setting.”—Craig A. Evans, author of Jesus and the Remains of His Day “A sure guide to the remarkable role of Queen Berenice near the centre of some of the most momentous events in Jewish history and the causes of her notoriety both in her lifetime and in the imagination of later generations.”—Martin Goodman, author of Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World

“Chilton’s meticulous and definitive biography exposes the tensions, political intrigues, and cultural interactions that shaped the Roman empire at the turn of the millennia. A breakthrough in the study of this unique figure in Jewish and Roman history.”—Alan Avery-Peck, College of the Holy Cross “Bruce Chilton provides readers with penetrating insight into the enigmatic figure of Berenice, a prominent woman who played influential roles in her native Jewish setting and in the imperial Roman setting.”—Craig A. Evans, author of Jesus and the Remains of His Day

Author Information

Bruce Chilton is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion and director of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. His books include The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession and Aramaic Jesus: Tradition, Identity, and Christianity’s Mother Tongue. He lives in Annandale, NY.

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