Berenice IV

Berenice IV Epiphaneia ruled Egypt from about 58 BC to 55 BC, with dates uncertain by about a year. The daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes and Cleopatra V, she was elevated to the throne by the Alexandrian populace after they drove her father out of the country. She initially ruled alongside Cleopatra VI before reigning in her own right.

To secure her legitimacy, Berenice married Seleucus VII Kybiosaktes, whom she quickly had murdered, before marrying Archelaus. Her three-year regime ended when Ptolemy XII returned to Alexandria backed by a Roman army. Archelaus fell in battle, and Berenice was executed on her father's orders.

Historians know Berenice IV through papyrus documents, Alexandrian coinage, and accounts by classical writers including Strabo and Cassius Dio. No freestanding monuments built by her survive, and her burial site in Alexandria remains unknown.

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