Βερνίκη

Βερνίκη — Berníkē

Βερνίκη, Βερνίκης, ἡ (for Βερενικη, and this the Macedonic form (cf. Sturz, De dial. Mac., p. 31) of Φερενικη (i. e. victorious)), Bernice or Berenice, daughter of Herod Agrippa the elder. She married first her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis, and after his death Polemon, king of Cilicia. Deserting him soon afterward, she returned to her brother Agrippa, with whom previously when a widow she was said to have lived incestuously. Finally she became for a tithe the mistress of the emperor Titus (Josephus, Antiquities 19, 5, 1; 20, 7, 1 and 3; Tacitus, hist. 2, 2 and 81; Suetonius, Titus 7): Act 25:13; Act 25:23; Act 26:30. Cf. Hausrath in Schenkel i., p. 396f; (Farrar, St. Paul, ii. 599f).