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Hatshepsut Wikipedia

Image:Hatshepsut.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A statue of Hatshepsut commissioned without the false beard. The Uraeus|ureaus, a symbol of Pharoah|Pharaonic power, has been chiseled off the Khat (apparel)|Khat head cloth.

Maatkare Hatshepsut or Hatchepsut (late 16th century BC – c. 1482 BC) was the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut is generally regarded by modern Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, ruling longer than any female ruler of an indigenous dynasty. She was one of the most prolific builders of Ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt|Upper and Lower Egypt and under her reign Egypt's trade networks began to be rebuilt, after their disruption during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. She is believed to have ruled from 1503 BC to 1482 BC. Josephus writes that she reigned 21 years and 9 months, while Sextus Julius Africanus|Africanus states her reign lasted 22 years; both of whom were quoting Manetho. Hatshepsut is regarded variously as the earliest known queen regnant in history, as the first known female to take the title Pharaoh, and the first great woman in history, although all of these claims have been contested.

She was the eldest daughter of Thutmose I of Egypt|Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose, both of whom were of fully royal blood. Thutmose I and Ahmose are known to have had only one other child, a daughter Akhbetneferu (Neferubity), who died in infancy. Thutmose I had been married to Mutnofret before Ahmose, and produced several half-brothers to Hatshepsut: Wadjmose, Amenose, Thutmose II, and possibly Ramose, through that union. Both Wadjmose and Amenose were prepared to succeed their father, but neither lived beyond adolescence. In childhood, Hatshepsut is believed to have been favored by the Karnak|Temple of Karnak over her two brothers—a view promoted by her own propaganda. She apparently had a loving relationship with both parents, having been granted the prestigious title of "God's Wife of Amun" before the death of her mother; traditionally the pharaoh's wife was the sole holder of the title and only passed it on to her daughter or step-daughter upon her death.

Upon the death of her father in 1492 BC, she married Thutmose II and assumed the title of Great Royal Wife, although God's Wife would contiue to be her favorite title. Some egyptologists believe that in Ancient Egyptian society, females rather than males passed on royal bloodref|Seawright and that although Thutmose II was already the designated heir, since he was of half-royal blood he needed to strengthen his position by marrying Hatshepsut. Thutmose II ruled for thirteen years, during which it has been traditionally believed that Hatshepsut exerted a strong influence over him.

Thutmose II had two daughters with Hatshepsut, Nefrure and Meritre. Hatshepsut groomed the elder one, Nefrure, as Crown prince|crown prince, commissioning official portraits of her wearing the false beard and Side lock of youth|side lock of youth, but she also passed the female title of God's Wife of Amun on to Nefrure when she ascended to the throne. Some scholars speculate that this is evidence that Hatshepsut was grooming Nefrure for the throne, others that she was merely planning another Hatshepsut. Whatever her intentions were, they came to nothing as Nefrure did not live into adulthood. Meritre may have been married, in childhood, to her contemporary Thutmose III of Egypt|Thutmose III, the son and male heir of Thutmose II by a lesser wife and sister named Isis, and may also have been the mother of Amenhotep II. Some Egyptologists dispute that Meritre was Hatshepsut's daughter, and that she was in fact Hatshepsut or was a royal or noble child named in Hatshepsut's honor.

Upon Thutmose II's death, the throne passed to Thutmose III and Hatshepsut—as the boy king's aunt and stepmother—was selected to be regent until he came of age. At first it seemed that Hatshepsut was patterning herself after the powerful female regents of Egypt's then recent history, but as Thutmose III approached maturity it became apparent that she had only one model in mind: Sobekneferu, the last monarch of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth dynasty, who ruled in her own right. However, Hatshepsut took one step further than Sobekneferu and had herself crowned Pharaoh around 1473 BC, taking the throne name Maatkare.

Hatshepsut surrounded herself with strong and loyal advisors, many of whom are still known today: Hapuseneb, the High Priest of Amun; Nehsi, a Nubian general; and her closest advisor, the royal steward Senemut. Because of the close nature of Hatshepsut and Senemut's relationship, some Egyptologists have theorized that Hatshepsut and Senemut were lovers. Among the evidence they offer to support this claim is the fact that Hatshepsut allowed Senemut to place his name and an image of himself behind one of the main doors in Djeser-Djeseru (a rare and unusual sharing of credit), that Senemut had two tombs constructed near Hatshepsut's tomb (this was, however, a standard privilege for close advisors), and the presence of graffiti in an unfinished tomb, used as a rest house by the workers of her mortuary temple, depicting a male and a hermaphrodite in pharaonic regalia engaging in an explicit sexual act. Although the belief that Hatshepsut and Senemut were lovers is well known, it is highly contested among Egyptologistsref|Tyldeseley_Wells; all that is agreed on is that the steward had ready access to the queen's ear.

As Hatshepsut reestablished the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt (the Second Intermediate Period), the wealth of the 18th dynasty that has become so famous since the discovery of the burial of Tutankhamun began to be collected. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission, led by Nehsi, to the Land of Punt. The expedition set out in her name with five ships, each measuring seventy feet long, and with several sails; each ship accommodated 210 men, including sailors and thirty rowers. Many goods were bought in Punt, most notably myrrh, which is said to have been Hatshepsut's favorite fragrance. She had the expedition commemorated in relief at Deir el-Bahri, which is famous for its unflattering depiction of the Queen of Punt.

Although many Egyptologists have claimed that her foreign policy was mainly peacefulref|Tyldeseley-137, there is evidence that she led successful military campaigns in Nubia, the Levant and Syria early in her career.

Hatshepsut died, either as she was approaching or just entering Middle age|middle age, in early February 1482 BC or 1483 BCref|Tyldeseley-210; no record of her cause of death has survived, although both natural causes and murder have been proposed. Her mummy is believed to be missing from the DB320|Deir el-Bahri Cache, and has never been officially identified. An unidentified female mummy—found with Hatshepsut's wet nurse Sitre In and with her arms posed in the traditional burial style of pharaohs—has led to the theory that the unidentified mummy might be Hatshepsutref|Tyldeseley-213.

Builder pharaoh

Image:Egypt.HatshepsutsTemple.01.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Djeser-Djeseru is the main building of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. Designed by Senemut, the building is an example of perfect symmetry that predates the Parthenon.

Hatshepsut was a builder pharaoh. As pharaoh she initiated building projects that were grander and more numerous than those of any of her New Kingdom predecessors. She employed two great architects: Ineni, who had worked for both her husband and father, and the royal steward Senemut. During her reign so much statuary was produced that almost every major museum in the world has a collection of Hatshepsut statuary; for instance, the Hatshepsut Room in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is solely dedicated to these pieces. Like most pharaohs she had monuments constructed at the Karnak|Temple of Karnak. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands today; the other has since broken in two and toppled. Karnak's Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and may have originally stood between the two obelisks. She later ordered two more obelisks to be made to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh. However, one of the obelisks broke while being made, causing a third to be made to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still is today, and has proven valuable in learning how obelisks were quarriedref|Tyson.

The masterpiece of her building projects was her mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. It was designed and implemented by Senemut on a site on the Thebes, Egypt|West Bank of the Nile River|Nile close to the entrance to the Valley of the Kings. The focal point was the Djeser-Djeseru or "the Sublime of Sublimes", a colonnaded structure of perfect harmony nearly one thousand years before the Parthenon. Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of terraces that were once graced with gardens. Djeser-Djeseru is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it. Djeser-Djeseru and the other buildings of the Deir el-Bahri complex are considered to be among the great buildings of the ancient world.

Official propaganda

Image:Hatshepsut_(cropped).jpg|thumb|left|175px|Carved sphinx with face of Hatshepsut, depicted with the false beard, another symbol of pharaonic power, in the Cairo Museum.

Hatshepsut was an excellent Propaganda|propagandist, and while all ancient leaders used propaganda to legitimize their rule, she is one of the most known for it. Much of her propaganda had religious overtones supported by the priests at the Temple of Karnak.

In Ancient Egypt, women had a higher status than they did elsewhere in the ancient world, including the court-protected right to own or inherit property. Yet having a female ruler in her own right was rare: only Khent-Kaues, Sobeknefru and possibly Nitocris preceded her as ruling in their own name. Pharaoh was an exclusively male title; at this point in Egyptian history there was no word for a Queen regnant, only one for Queen consort, and as such, the women who ruled before Hatshepsut used the Queen consort's title of "God's Wife of Amun". Hatshepsut is unique in that she was the first woman to take the title of King regnant or King in the absence of a word or title for Queen regnant.

Hatshepsut slowly assumed all of the regalia and symbols of the office of King: the Khat (apparel)|Khat head cloth, topped with an Uraeus|uraeus, the false beard and Shendyt|shendyt kilt. Many existing statues show her in both a feminine and masculine form. However, after this period of transition ended, all depictions of her showed her in a masculine form, with all of the pharaonic regalia and with her breasts omitted. Her reasons for doing this are a topic of great debate in Egyptology. The traditional explanation is that her motivation for wearing men's clothing was sexual. However, most modern scholars believe in a more recent theory: that by assuming the exclusively male symbols of pharaonic power, Hatshepsut was asserting her claim to be King or Queen regnant and not "King's Great Wife" or Queen consort. Even after assuming the male persona, Hatshepsut still described herself as a beautiful woman, often the most beautiful woman, and although she assumed almost all of her father's titles, she declined to take the title "The Strong Bull"ref|Arab.

One the most famous pieces of her propaganda is a myth about her birth. In this myth, Amun goes to Ahmose in the form of Thutmose I and wakes her with pleasant odors. At this point Amun places the ankh, a symbol of life, to Ahmose's nose, and Hatshepsut is conceived. Khnum, the god who forms the bodies of human children, is then instructed to create a body and ka, or corporal presence/life force, for Hatshepsut. Khnum and Heket, goddess of life and fertility, lead Ahmose along to a lion bed where she gives birth to Hatshepsut.

To further strengthen her position; the Oracle of Amun proclaimed that it was the will of Amun that Hatshepsut be Pharaoh. She publicized Amun's support by having endorsements by Amun carved on her monuments, for example:

Welcome my sweet daughter, my favorite, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare, Hatshepsut. Thou art the Pharaoh, taking possession of the Two Lands.

Hiero/2cartouche|align=right|era=nk|name=Hatshepsut|praenomen=<hiero>ra-mAat-kA</hiero>|nomen=<hiero>i-mn:n-W9*t:F4-,:t-A51</hiero>

As with most pharaohs, Hatshepsut had a number of Fivefold Titulary|names. Her birth name, or nomen, was Hatshepsut, to which she Suffix|suffixed the epithet Khenmetamun, and Prefix|prefixed the praenomen, or throne name Maat-ka-re. Her names are written as shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs on the right; Maat-ka-re to the top and Hatshepsut to the bottom.

Maat-ka-re means "Ma??t is the ka-spirit of Ra" and Hatshepsut means "Foremost of distinguished women, Joined with Amun". Together they mean "Ma??t is the ka-spirit of Ra, Foremost of distinguished women, Joined with Amun". After she ascended the throne she changed her name from the feminine Hatshepsut to the male Hatshepsuref|Seawright.

The names are technically Transliteration|transliterated as m3‘t-k3-r‘ ḥ3t-špswt&ndash;<u>h</u>nmt-ỉmn.

Hatshepsut and Hatchepsut are the most common spellings of her name, but Hapshepsut and Hat-shep-set are sometimes found.

In Egyptology
Image:Hatshepsut, defaced.jpg|thumb|right|200px|These two statues once resembled each other, however the symbols of pharaonic power: the Uraeus|Uraeus, Double Crown, and False beard have been stripped from the left image. Images portraying Hatshepsut as Pharaoh were destroyed, or vandalized within decades of her death.


After her death, many of her monuments were defaced or destroyed. Replacing the names on older monuments with the name of the current ruler was a common practice of pharaohs, but in some cases this is thought to have been an act of damnatio memoriae&mdash;condemning a person by erasing him or her from recorded existenceref|Wells-253. Egyptologists have differing views on who defaced Hatshepsut's monuments and their possible motivations including resentment for the belief that a female Pharaoh was against Ma??t.

The traditional belief is that Thutmose III was responsible, and view the act as revenge for being denied the throne for so long. However, researchers such as Charles Nims and Peter Dorman have examined these erasures and found that those which can be dated were done after the forty-second year of Thutmose's reign, while Donald B. Redford suggests a more sympathetic and complex motivation: Thutmose's need to demonstrate his legitimacy. Redford notes that:

Here and there, in the dark recesses of a shrine or tomb where no plebeian eye could see, the queen's cartouche and figure were left intact ... which never vulgar eye would again behold, still conveyed for the king the warmth and awe of a divine presence.ref|Redford-87

• History of Ancient Egypt

# note|Seawright Seawright see sources below
# note|Tyldeseley_Wells Tyldeseley pp. 189-193 and Wells pp 194-195, see sources below.
# note|Tyldeseley-137 Tyldeseley pp. 137-144, see sources below
# note|Tyldeseley-210 Tyldeseley pp. 210, see sources below
# note|Tyldeseley-213 Tyldeseley pp. 213-214, see sources below
# note|Tyson http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/dispatches/990316.html The Unfinished Obelisk by Peter Tyson March 16, 1999 NOVA online adventure
# note|Arab http://www.touregypt.net/magazine/mag02012001/magf1.htm The Queens of Egypt Part One, by Sameh Arab
# note|Wells-253 Wells pp. 253-261, see sources below
# note|Redford-87 Redford, p. 87.
# note|Seawright Seawright see sources below

• Donald B. Redford, <cite>History and Chronology of the 18th dynasty of Egypt: Seven studies</cite>, Toronto: University Press, 1967.

• Moyra Caldecott, <cite>Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun</cite>, Mushroom, eBook and paperback, 244 pages, ISBN 1843192632

wikiquote

• http://www.bediz.com/hatshep/index.html Hatshepsut, the Queen who would be King

Last Modified:   2005-12-19