The Tragic History of Berenice, The Daughter of Ptolemy, The Wife of Antiochus I.

N.B. ALTHOUGH PTOLEMY II DIED IN 246 B.C.E. , HE WAS NOT KILLED BY LAODICE. PTOLEMY’S DEATH, HOWEVER, MAY HAVE BEEN THE CAUSE OF ANTIOCHUS II RENEWING RELATIONS WITH HIS DIVORCED WIFE, LAODICE.

Co-Co, The Coconut-Throwing Chimpanzee Schoolmaster, used to lament the folly of Antiochus II who seemed unaware of how his first wife, Laodice, would react to being divorced. (Of course, the English playwright, William Congreve lived many years after Antiochus, but the scorned Laodice is the archetypal ‘woman scorned’.)

Berenice’s tragic story has inspired artists through the centuries:

Seleucus, The Founder of The Seleucid Dynasty (as was noted last week,) gave his son Antiochus I, Stratonice, to be his wife. This took place in 294 B.C.E. Seleucid was still a mighty warrior and – having ensured the succession of his vast realm (Daniel 11:5b) – embarked on a campaign to conquer Macedonia and Greece but in 281 B.C.E. Seleucus, at the age of seventy seven, (the last of the living successors of Alexander,) was assassinated by Ptolemy Keraunos, the disaffected son of Ptolemy I. Despite the fact that Seleucid should have been given the land of Judaea after The Battle of Ipsus, 301 B.C.E. Ptolemy I was suffered by Seleucus, for the sake of their friendship, to retain his illegitimate rule over Coele-Syria (which contained The Land of Daniel’s People).

The next highlight in the history of the People of Daniel. (according to the prophecy given to Daniel in Chapter II: 6) was the peace treaty between Ptolemy II Philadephus who reigned from 284 B.C.E. – 246 B.C.E. and Antiochus II who reigned from 261 B.C.E. – 246 B.C.E. ,the heir of Antiochus I and Stratonice. This took place in 253 B.C.E. – almost fifty years after The Battle of Ipsus (301B.C.E.) which affirmed Seleucus’s power above Ptolemy.

As part of the settlement after The Second Syrian War (260 B.C.E. – 253 B.C.E.) between Antiochus II and Ptolemy II, Antiochus II divorced his wife, Laodice and married Ptolemy II’s daughter, Berenice, with the understanding that any children born from their union would inherit The Seleucid Empire.

As noted above, at the death of Ptolemy II, Antiochus left Berenice and their infant son, Antiochus, in Antioch in Syria to live again with Laodice in Ephesus in Asia Minor. Antiochus II soon suddenly died and Laodice was widely accused of having him poisoned.

Laodice proclaimed her eldest son, Seleucus as king, Seleucus II, claiming that on his deathbed Antiochus II had reversed his earlier decision and named Seleucus as his successor.

Ptolemy III marched from Egypt to support his sister, Berenice and her infant son only to find Berenice and the young Antiochus murdered by partisans of Laodice. Enraged, Ptolemy III continued the war dubbed The Third Syrian War ( 246 B.C.E – 241 B.C.E.). This war was also known as The Laodicean War.

In the Hellenistic world, a treaty was often broken when one or both of the parties who signed it died as in the tragic history of Berenice and her infant son. It is not so with THE GOD OF ISRAEL.

THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF ABRAHAM made An Everlasting Covenant with Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac, and his Seed after him (Genesis 17:19). THE ALMIGHTY GOD promised that HE would give unto Abraham and to His Seed after Him, all The Land of Canaan, for An Everlasting Possession. THE ALMIGHTY GOD would be Their GOD.

Next Week: Daniel 11:7 Ptolemy III’s response to his sister, Berenice, and nephew, the five year old, Antiochus, ‘s murder and the breaking of the covenant between Antiochus II and his father, Ptolemy II.