Berenice

Berenice Celeita (sometimes spelled 'Celeyta') is a Colombian human rights activist. She is the president of the Asociacion Para la Investigacion y Accion Social (NOMADESC), which investigates regional human rights abuses. In 1998, she won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award along with fellow Colombian activists Gloria Florez, Jaime Prieto, and Mario Calixto.

Berenice (Ber-e-NIE-see) is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It is gruesome and excellent, one of Poe's best in my opinion.

Berenice Marlohe is a French actress, known for playing Severine in the James Bond film 'Skyfall'.

Argentine-French actress Berenice Bejo, recently nominated for an Oscar for her role in The Artist.

Berenice Abbott was an American photographer. She lived from 1898-1991. She is best known for her black-and-white photos of New York City architecture.

Opera by Handel where the setting is ancient Spain at the time of the Roman invasions contains the exquisite 'Minuet from Berenice'.

Berenice was the name (or the English form) of Cleopatra VII's older sister.

According to an ancient myth, Berenice was a beautiful wife of an Egyptian king, who went to a war leaving his wife home grief-stricken and worry-sick. Berenice promised to cut off her gorgeous hair as a tribute to the gods if they let her husband come home unharmed, and when the king eventually returned alive, she kept her promise and sacrifised her hair to the gods, placing the cut hair into an empty temple. Shortly after that the king, longing to see his wife's beautiful hair again, visited the temple only to find no sight of Berenice's hair. It appeared that the gods had enjoyed their gift so much that they had placed Berenice's hair in the sky, where it shimmered every night as a constellation. That's why there still is a constellation called Berenice's hair.

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'Berenice' is also the title of a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which features, quite obviously, a character who bears this name.