Berenice was queen to Ptolemy Euergetes, who came to the throne in 246 BC, and was still a young bride when, a year later, he went off to war in Syria. Sorrowing at his departure, she had promised to the goddess Aphrodite at her temple in Canopus, that, if the king returned safely, she would make an offering of her braid. Berenice was soon able to make good her promise — but then calamity: her hair went missing from the temple. The palace called upon the resources of science and art, and, happily, Conon, the court astronomer, quickly discovered the lock as a faint constellation of stars near the tail of Leo, between Arcturus and the Great Bear. Callimachus, the court poet, composed a lament in which the ravished lock of hair, though appreciative of its heavenly honor, says it would have preferred to remain on Berenice’s head to enjoy
the scent of myrrh of a married woman’s hair
having enjoyed simpler perfumed used by her while still a maid
Oltre Mare 