Tite et Bérénice
Encyclopedia
Tite et Bérénice is a tragedy by the 17th-century French playwright Pierre Corneille
.
It was first performed in 1670, the same year as the more famous tragedy on the same theme written by Corneille's rival Jean Racine
, Bérénice
.
It revolves around the situation of the Roman general Titus
, who brought Berenice of Cilicia
, the sister of Herod Agrippa
, back to Rome with him from the sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It was understood that she would become his wife, but when he became emperor the following year, he felt forced to renounce her and send her back home. The tragic situation is played out in the competing demands of love and duty.
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
.
It was first performed in 1670, the same year as the more famous tragedy on the same theme written by Corneille's rival Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
, Bérénice
Bérénice
Berenice is a five-act tragedy by the French 17th-century playwright Jean Racine. Berenice was not played often between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Today it is one of Racine's more popular plays, after Phèdre, Andromaque and Britannicus.It was first performed in 1670...
.
It revolves around the situation of the Roman general Titus
Titus
Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....
, who brought Berenice of Cilicia
Berenice of Cilicia
Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice and sometimes spelled Bernice , was a Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire during the second half of the 1st century. Berenice was a member of the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled the Roman province of Judaea between 39 BC and 92 AD...
, the sister of Herod Agrippa
Agrippa II
Agrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, and Drusilla...
, back to Rome with him from the sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It was understood that she would become his wife, but when he became emperor the following year, he felt forced to renounce her and send her back home. The tragic situation is played out in the competing demands of love and duty.