Berenice I was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman and through her marriage to Ptolemy I Soter, became the second queen, after Eurydice, of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt.
Background
She was the daughter of obscure local noblemen called Magas and Antigone. Her maternal grandfather was a nobleman called Cassander who was the brother of Antipater, the regent for Alexander"s empire, and through her mother was a relation to his family.
Career
Berenice was originally from Eordeaea. 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. During his reign, Ptolemy II built a port on the Red Sea and named it Berenice after his mother.
After she died, Ptolemy II and later Ptolemy IV Philopator decreed divine honors to her (Theocritus, Idylls xv and xvii).