Berenice I was a Greek Macedonian

Macedonia (Greece)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...

 noblewoman and through her marriage to Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...

, became the first Queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

 of Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

.

Family

Berenice was originally from Eordeaea. She was the daughter of an obscure local nobleman called Magas

Magas of Macedon

Magas was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Magas was a local nobleman from obscure origins and was from Eordeaea. Little is known on his life....

 and Antigone. Her maternal grandfather was a nobleman called Cassander

Cassander (brother of Antipater)

Cassander was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Cassander was the son of Iolaus by an unnamed mother and brother of the powerful Regent and general Antipater. Cassander’s family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty...

 who was the brother of Regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...

 and through her mother was a relation to his family.

First Marriage

In 325 BC, Berenice married an obscure local nobleman and military officer called Philip

Philip (first husband of Berenice I of Egypt)

Philip was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.Philip was the son of Amyntas by an unnamed mother. He served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great. Philip was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars and...

. Philip was previously married and had other children. Through her first marriage, she bore Philip: son King Magas of Cyrene

Magas of Cyrene

Magas of Cyrene was a Greek Macedonian nobleman. Through his mother’s second marriage he was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He became King of Cyrenaica and he managed to wrestle independence for Cyrenaica from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt.-Family Background & Early Life:Magas...

, daughter Antigone

Antigone of Epirus

Antigone was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Epirus....

 who married as one of the wives of King Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...

 and a daughter called Theoxena

Theoxena of Syracuse

For others of this name see Theoxena Theoxena was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman. Through her mother’s second marriage, she was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and through marriage was a Queen of Sicily....

.

Magas dedicated an inscription to himself and his father, when he served as a Priest of Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

. Pyrrhus gave her name to a new city called Berenicis. Philip had died.

Second Marriage to Ptolemy

After the death of her first husband, Berenice travelled to Egypt with her children as a lady-in-waiting for her mother’s first cousin Eurydice

Eurydice of Egypt

Eurydice was daughter of Antipater and wife of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. The period of her marriage is not mentioned by any ancient writer, but it is probable that it took place shortly after the partition of Triparadisus, and the appointment of Antipater to the regency, 321 BC. She was the...

 who was the wife of Ptolemy I. Ptolemy I was one of the generals of King Alexander the Great and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

 of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

. Ptolemy I caught the eye of Eurydice’s cousin, whom he later married in 317 BC. Berenice bore Ptolemy I: two daughters Arsinoe II, Philotera

Philotera

Philotera was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and a Greek Egyptian Princess of the Ptolemaic dynasty.Philotera was a daughter born to Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice I of Egypt. She had one older sister: Arsinoe II and a younger brother the future Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus...

 and a son Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BCE to 246 BCE. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos...

.

In an unknown Olympiad, she was a victor in the chariot races. Ptolemy II was recognized as his father's heir in preference to Eurydice's children to Ptolemy I. A port was built in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 and it was named Berenice

Berenice (port)

Berenice or Berenice Troglodytica , also known as Baranis and now known as Medinet-el Haras, is an ancient seaport of Egypt on the west coast of the Red Sea...

. After she died, Ptolemy II and later Ptolemy IV Philopator

Ptolemy IV Philopator

Ptolemy IV Philopator , son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II of Egypt was the fourth Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt...

 decreed divine honors to her (Theocritus

Theocritus

Theocritus , the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC.-Life:Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems commonly attributed to him have little claim to...

, Idylls xv. and xvii.).