(See BERNICE).
in Greek mythology, was the daughter of king Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt and of Arsinoe, who was married to her brother Ptolemy. When the latter went to Syria to war, Berenice, who loved him dearly, vowed her hair to Venus in the event of his safe return, and placed it in the temple of Aphrodite Zephyritis. On the following day it was missed, and the Samian astronomer Conon affirmed that it had been placed among the stars. There may be found by the name of "hair from the head' of Berenice" a group of stars near the tail of the Lion in the northern heavens, from 170 to 203 in a straight ascension. Its stars are all of or below the fourth magnitude, and many nebulous mists. Berenice herself was adored as an Egyptian goddess in the city of Memphis under Ptolemy V.