Bible Trivia - 4/7/2008

Question: Who had three marriages (one of which was to her own brother) and later became the mistress of Emperors Vespasian and Titus?

Answer: Bernice

Comments: Bernice is referenced in the Book of Acts (Acts 25:13,23; 26:30). In the Biblical record, she is the consort of her own brother Agrippa. Bernice was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1,6,11,21) who ruled from 38-45 CE. Her story is documented by Flavius Josephus (37-c.100) (Antiquities XIX, v, 1; XX, vii, 1-3) and by the Roman poet Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (a.k.a. Juvenal) (6, 156). After the early death of her first husband (according to Josephus, his name was Marcus), she married her uncle, King Herod of Chalcis. After his death she consorted with her own brother Agrippa II, with whom she listened to the Paul.

After her departure from the Biblical record, she was briefly married to King Ptolemy or Polemo of Sicily, who for her sake embraced Judaism, by the rite of circumcision. She soon left him to return to Agrippa. Later on she figures shamefully in the lives of Vespasian and Titus, father and son.