Berenice III

Berenice III, also known as Cleopatra Berenice, was a Ptolemaic queen who reigned from about 81 BC to 80 BC, with dates uncertain by about a year. She was the daughter of Ptolemy IX Lathyros and Cleopatra Selene I. Before her sole rule, she had governed alongside her uncle Ptolemy X Alexander I and later with her father.

Following the death of Ptolemy IX in 81 BC, Berenice III took power as sole monarch and was widely beloved by the citizens of Alexandria. However, diplomatic pressure from Rome forced her into a political marriage with her cousin and stepson, Ptolemy XI Alexander II. The union was disastrous. Ptolemy XI murdered her barely nineteen days after their marriage in 80 BC, inciting an immediate public uprising in Alexandria that resulted in his own lynching.

Due to the extreme brevity of her sole reign, Berenice III left no major monumental works or temple structures. Egyptologists and historians reconstruct her brief rule through contemporary papyri, coin issues bearing her likeness, and detailed classical chronicles. She was buried in Alexandria, but her tomb has not survived.

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