Berenice, daughter of King Agrippa I, queen of Chalcis, was married three times and then became the lover of the emperor’s son, Titus. Inscriptions indicate that she was a Roman citizen and bore the Roman name Julia. Our information on her comes initially from Josephus, but it appears that because of personal considerations he withheld vital information about Berenice, which we learn only from various Roman historians.

Berenice was probably born in Rome to Agrippa and Cyprus, before her father became king in 36 C.E. Thus she was Herod the Great’s great-granddaughter. After her father’s ascension to the throne, as the Emperor Caligula’s favorite, she was betrothed to Marcus, son of Alexander, head of the Jewish community in Alexandria and nephew of Philo the philosopher. According to calculations, she was only thirteen at the time (Josephus, Ant. 19.276–277). It is unclear whether or not she actually married Marcus. After his death in 44 C.E., when she was sixteen years of age, her father arranged a marriage for her with his older brother, Herod. The Emperor Claudius, who had confirmed Agrippa’s kingship in Judea, also nominated his brother Herod as king of Chalcis, a tiny principality in the Lebanon Mountains. With her marriage to Herod, she became queen of Chalcis, a title she retained after her husband’s death, as inscriptions and literary sources indicate. Berenice had two sons by Herod—Hyrcanus and Berenicianus—of whom we know nothing. She was widowed for a second time in 48 C.E., when only twenty (Ant. 19.277, 20.104).

After Herod’s death, the Romans bestowed the kingdom of Chalcis on Berenice’s older brother, Agrippa II. Agrippa’s move into residence in his new kingdom brought brother and sister into close quarters. Many sources indicate that they were often found together in official capacities. Inscriptions mention them together (with Berenice noticed first). Josephus informs us that they appeared in public together, for example when Agrippa gave his peace address to the people of Jerusalem just before the outbreak of revolt against Rome (Josephus, BJ 2.333; 402–405). He also describes Philip son of Jacimus writing a letter addressing the two royal siblings (Josephus, Vita 48; 180). The New Testament mentions Berenice’s presence with her brother at the Apostle Paul’s trial (Acts 25:13). Even in rabbinic literature she is mentioned as the queen alongside her brother, the king (BT A seven-day festival to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt (eight days outside Israel) beginning on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan. Also called the "Festival of Mazzot"; the "Festival of Spring"; Pesah.Pesahim 57a). In two sources this constant companionship is interpreted as incest. One source is the Roman satirist Juvenal, who mentions their relationship in passing as a well-known fact (Juvenal, Saturae 6.155–158). The other is Josephus, who claims that rumors of the siblings’ inappropriate relationship led Berenice to seek a third match (Ant. 20.145–146).

As a spouse, Berenice chose Polemo, King of Cilicia. This match led Polemo to undertake circumcision and a Jewish lifestyle. These concessions on his part, however, did not guarantee a successful marriage. Sometime later Berenice left Polemo and returned to her kingdom. Thus she was present in Palestine when the 66–70 C.E. Revolt against Rome broke out.

Josephus describes Berenice’s role as a solitary pacifying force in preliminaries of the Revolt. He explains her presence in Jerusalem as resulting from a vow she had made, which she needed to fulfill. As required by the vow, her hair was shorn and she walked barefoot. Nevertheless, she made her way to the Roman governor’s palace to ask Gessius Florus—the Roman governor—to desist from the violent activities he had undertaken against the Jewish population of Jerusalem (BJ 2.313). This attempt failed. So did her joint venture with her brother, who had meanwhile arrived in Jerusalem, to still the Jewish insurrection, which came in the wake of Florus’s outrages (BJ 2.402–405).

After this failure Berenice disappears from the pages of Josephus. Probably his special relationship with Titus prevented him from describing the relationship that developed between Berenice and his patron. Even his unflattering description of Berenice’s incestuous relationship with her brother appears only in his later work, Jewish Antiquities, composed after Titus died.

It is from Tacitus that we learn that with the outbreak of war Berenice chose to side with the Romans and supplied General Vespasian’s offensive with local forces (Histories 2.81.2). Tacitus is also our first source on Berenice’s love affair with Titus (Histories 2.2.1), the Roman general who eventually burnt Jerusalem and then succeeded his father to the throne of Rome. The two apparently became lovers in 68 C.E. Berenice was considerably older than Titus. However, Tacitus is not the only source that discloses this information. Seutonius and Cassius Dio relate similar details. In 75 C.E., they inform us, Berenice came to Rome and lived with Titus as his consort. However, public pressure made the emperor’s son relinquish his ties with the queen and she was sent away. Vaguely, we hear that when Titus himself became emperor in 79 Berenice returned to Rome but to no avail and she was compelled to leave (Suetonius, Titus 7.1; Cassius Dio, Roman History 66.15.3–4). Nothing more is known of her.