“He who seated facing thee sees and hears thy laughter sweet.”
Of her, too, we have portraits on the coins, beautiful, regular-featured and conventional. These were gold octadrams and others. In some she appears with the king, in some alone, with diadem, veil and necklace. Others are remarkable for the absence of the veil, there is a cornucopia and it is accompanied by a single star. Berenike II was the first Egyptian queen who bore her title on the coins.
Shortly before the accession of Ptolemy III and his marriage, which occurred 247 B. C., had come the tragic news of the murder of his sister Berenike, the young queen of Syria, of which it is uncertain whether his father was aware. Euergetes, apparently the most personally valiant and warlike of the three first Ptolemies, set out to avenge her death.
Queen Berenike II implored the gods to restore her beloved husband, and vowed to Venus the tresses of her hair, bright, beautiful and abundant, in case of his safe return. Fragments of papyri, found by Professor Petrie, confirm the fact that the king was successful in his war, and came again in triumph. With what rejoicing he was received by his wife we can well imagine, who faithfully carried out her vow and this “woman’s crown” was placed in the sanctuary. The king, while highly appreciating this token of affection, must have felt some regret at the sacrifice. It recalls a story of later date where the Duchess of Marlborough, of the time of William III, cut off her beautiful hair, not to dedicate it to the gods, but to throw it indignantly at her husband’s feet, as revenge for some act of his of which she did not approve. She had not even the satisfaction of rousing him, for he took no notice, but after his death she found locked up in a drawer her heavy curls, which he had always admired.
Berenike’s hair, however, was stolen from the temple, to the grief and indignation of the king. To account for it courtiers and poets devised legends and the mathematician Conon said it had been raised to the heavens to become a constellation, the “Coma Berenice,” a small group of stars still to be seen. Of this miracle Catullus wrote:
“Behold we stream along the liquid air,
A radiant lock of Berenice’s hair,
Which the fond queen with hands uplifted vow’d
A welcome offering to each favoring god.”