De Beronice capadocie regina · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: De Beronice capadocie regina
Subject: Important Queens; Famous Women; Berenice; Vengeance; Important Women
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Modern day Turkey; Anatolia; Cappadocia
Description: This engraving depicts Berenice, the queen of Cappadocia, stabbing a servant in his abdominal area to avenge her sons’ deaths. Berenice’s name, written as “Beronices” is engraved above her head to identify her. After her sons had died at the hand of her brother, Mithridates, Berenice sought vengeance against him. The slave that Berenice is stabbing in this engraving is Caenus, a man who was involved in the murder of her sons. Although she is depicted stabbing him with a sword in this engraving, Boccaccio explains in his story that she actually chased Caenus down in a chariot, and after hitting him in the head with a rock, she drove over his body with the chariot until he died. The dead figures in the engraving who are lying on the ground are assumed to be Berenice’s children.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:16687
Language: lat
Source Name: De Claris Mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1473 Ulm; 1473 Ulm
Image: mta_16687_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Important Queens; Famous Women; Berenice; Vengeance; Important Women