Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She ruled first as regent, then as queen regnant from around 1479 BC until around 1458 BC. She was married to her half-brother, Pharaoh Thutmose II. After he died, she ruled for their young stepson, Thutmose III. Over time, Hatshepsut took on the full powers of a pharaoh and was treated as a male ruler.

Hatshepsut's time as pharaoh was peaceful. She built many important places, including the Karnak Temple Complex, the Red Chapel, the Speos Artemidos, and her famous Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. Her rule brought prosperity to Egypt and is remembered as a time of progress.

After Hatshepsut died, some people tried to erase her from history. They damaged her statues and monuments. Later pharaohs sometimes took credit for her successes. Even so, Hatshepsut remains one of the most well-known rulers of ancient Egypt.

Early life

Hatshepsut was born between 1505 and 1495 BC. She was the eldest daughter of Thutmose I and his great royal wife, Ahmose. After her father died, Hatshepsut married her half-brother, Thutmose II, who was also her father’s heir. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old when they married. They had a daughter named Neferure, who later became known as the "King's Eldest Daughter." It's possible they had another daughter who may have died when she was very young.

Reign

When her husband and half-brother Thutmose II died, Hatshepsut began helping her stepson Thutmose III, who was too young to rule alone. Over time, Hatshepsut became the main ruler herself. She ruled for about 21 to 22 years, sharing the same years as Thutmose III but leading as the main pharaoh. Hatshepsut was one of the few women in ancient Egypt to rule as a pharaoh. Her rule ended around the twenty-second year of Thutmose III's time as ruler.

Major accomplishments

Trade routes

Main article: Land of Punt

Hatshepsut reopened trade routes that had closed during a hard time in Egypt. She sent people to a place called the Land of Punt to find special items. They came back with trees that gave a nice smell and other valuable things.

Building projects

Hatshepsut built many important places in Egypt, such as temples and large stone towers called obelisks. She built these to show her power and to honor the gods. Some of her buildings are still standing today and show how skilled the builders were.

Official lauding

See also: Depiction of Hatshepsut's birth and coronation

Hatshepsut wanted everyone to know about her successes. She looked like other kings in statues and pictures. Stories said the gods chose her to be ruler, and she had these stories carved into her buildings so people would remember her leadership.

Irregular Heb Sed

Hatshepsut did something different by announcing her first heb sed jubilee in the 15th year of her rule. Usually, kings waited until the 30th year. Some experts think she did this to mark 30 years since her father, Thutmose I, passed away. Others believe she was celebrating 30 years of her father's dynasty or even her own life.

Death, burial, and mummification

See also: KV20

Hatshepsut's last known record as pharaoh was on May 22, 1459 BC. Historians think she stopped ruling around January 16, 1458 BC, and that she may have passed away around that time.

Hatshepsut started planning her tomb when she was the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose II. When she became pharaoh, a new tomb, KV20, was made ready for her. This tomb was first made for her father, Thutmose I, and was made bigger to include her. It is believed she was buried there with her father.

During the time of Thutmose III, her father's tomb was changed, and it is possible Hatshepsut's mummy was moved to another tomb, KV60, which had two female mummies. One was her nurse, and the other was unknown.

Proposed mummy

In 2007, the unknown mummy from KV60 was examined. It was missing a tooth that looked like a molar found in a box from another tomb, making some think it might be Hatshepsut. But later studies showed the tooth and the mummy’s missing tooth were from different parts of the jaw, so this idea is not certain.

Legacy

Exclusion from the historical record

After Thutmose III became pharaoh, some people tried to erase Hatshepsut from history. They removed her name and pictures from walls. In some places, they added new stones to cover her images. Many of her statues at her temple were broken and hidden. At Karnak, they tried to block her monuments.

Some believe Amenhotep II, Thutmose III’s son, might have done this because he wanted to be pharaoh more strongly. He also took away many of Hatshepsut’s achievements during his rule.

Modern assessment

Hatshepsut is known as one of the first great women leaders. She ruled as a regent for her stepson, which was unusual at the time. She built many temples, and people became used to seeing a woman as a powerful leader. She used symbols usually linked to male rulers, which helped her be accepted as a king.

Some historians think Thutmose III wanted to remove Hatshepsut from history to make his own rule seem more direct. This showed how difficult it was for women to hold power in ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut’s rule was successful, which may have made some people uncomfortable because it went against traditional gender roles.

When scientists first studied Hatshepsut’s temple in the 1800s, they were confused because her images showed her both as a woman and as a man. This led to many discussions among historians about the order of the pharaohs.