[1] She was the daughter of princess Antigone of Macedon, and an obscure local, a Macedonian nobleman called Magas.

[2] Her maternal grandfather was a nobleman called Cassander who was the brother of Antipater, the regent for Alexander's empire,[2] and through her mother was a relation to his family.

In 325 BC, Berenice married an obscure local nobleman and military officer called Philip.

After the death of her first husband, Berenice travelled to Egypt with her children as a lady-in-waiting for her mother's first cousin Eurydice who was the wife of Ptolemy I. Ptolemy I was one of the generals of King Alexander the Great and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt.

During his reign, Ptolemy II built a port on the Red Sea and named it Berenice after his mother.