Berenice I of Egypt

Berenice, daughter of Lagus, wife of an obscure Macedonian soldier and subsequently of Ptolemy Soter, with whose bride Eurydice she came to Egypt as a lady-in-waiting.

Her son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was recognized as heir over the heads of Eurydice's children.

So great was her ability and her influence that Pyrrhus of Epirus gave the name Berenicis to a new city. Her son Philadelphus decreed divine honours to her on her death. (See Theocritus, Idylls xv. and xvii.)

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.