Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" by Various
3. BERENICE, the daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene, and the wife of
131 words | Chapter 14
Ptolemy III. Euergetes. During her husband's absence on an expedition to
Syria, she dedicated her hair to Venus for his safe return, and placed
it in the temple of the goddess at Zephyrium. The hair having by some
unknown means disappeared, Conon of Samos, the mathematician and
astronomer, explained the phenomenon in courtly phrase, by saying that
it had been carried to the heavens and placed among the stars. The name
_Coma Berenices_, applied to a constellation, commemorates this
incident. Callimachus celebrated the transformation in a poem, of which
only a few lines remain, but there is a fine translation of it by
Catullus. Soon after her husband's death (221 B.C.) she was murdered at
the instigation of her son Ptolemy IV., with whom she was probably
associated in the government.
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