Jean-François Champollion, the founder of Egyptology, found the cartouche with the name of a pharaoh that nobody had heard about – Hatshepsut. This king of Egypt was depicted near another pharaoh who was known as Thutmose III. Champollion read that the Egyptians used words of feminine gender while describing Hatshepsut, but he did not understand why. Only a hundred years after that Howard Carter accidentally found out that Hatshepsut was a she-king.
Hatshepsut (Hatshepsowe) ruled approximately during 20 years in the fifteenth century B.C. (Hatshepsut Biography). Her reign was the longest among female pharaohs and one of the most glorious in Ancient Egypt. It was marked by outstanding building projects and extremely profitable trading expeditions. The she-pharaoh successfully sent a fleet of ships to Punt and built a mortuary complex in the Valley of the Kings and the temple that impresses even modern people with its outstanding beauty and ideal proportions (N.S. Gill).
Hatshepsut was the only child born by Thutmose I and the queen Ahmose, so she was always expected to be a queen. When her father died, she had to marry her half-brother Thutmose II though she was just 12 that time (Hatshepsut Biography). Marriage between a brother and a sister was a common thing for ancient Egyptians and it was widely practiced in order to guarantee the purity of the pharaoh’s bloodline. When Thutmose II was reigning, Hatshepsut played a traditional role of the principal wife and queen (Hatshepsut Biography). She had only one child – a daughter Neferure (N.S. Gill). After Thutmose Second’s death, the next pharaoh should have been her stepson Thutmose III, who was born to a concubine known as Isis. But as he was an infant, Hatshepsut became his regent till the boy grew up (Hatshepsut Biography).
When the heir was a child, Hatshepsut bore the role of a regent traditionally, but when she felt that the time for a true pharaoh would come soon, she decided to prevent it and claim that she is a pharaoh herself. The transition from queen to pharaoh was so easy and successful because she recruited influential supporters, most of whom had been officials of her father (Hatshepsut Biography).
Since that time, she was depicted as a male pharaoh with traditional king’s crown and kilt and even fake beard. One statue shows Hatshepsut with breasts and without a beard, but her body looks like masculine (N.S. Gill). She was depicted as a man, because there were no images to portray a she-pharaoh (Hatshepsut Biography). According to the religion, a woman could not reign in Ancient Egypt.Hatshepsut did not prevent Thutmose III from being a king. He was considered her co-ruler though it was clear that Hatshepsut had more power in her arms (Hatshepsut Biography). Nobody argued this decision, may be because it was evident that Hatshepsut was a great ruler.
During the Hatshepsut’s reign, the country prospered. The she-pharaoh was interested in developing the economy of Egypt and building monuments while her predecessors were more concerned about conquering new lands (Hatshepsut Biography).
One of the major achievements of Hatshepsut was increasing the number of trade routes. She sent five huge ships to start trading with Punt and they came back filled with thirty myrrh trees and other expensive gifts. After her expedition, Punt became the principal trade partner that supplied Egypt with wild animals, ivory, gold, wood, and resin. It is not known for sure where the land of Punt located, but most scientists believe that it could be near the modern-day Somalia or Sudan (Queen Hatshepsut). Thanks to these trade networks, the time of her reign was wealthy, peaceful and prosperous.
Also, during Hatshepsut’s reign different forms of art flourished. The she-pharaoh wished to leave a good memory of herself, so she ordered to create numerous grand statues and buildings. At Karnak, she asked to build the massive temple complex. Also, she restored old temples and ordered to erect two obelisks there, that were the tallest in the world that time (Queen Hatshepsut). One of them still stands nowadays.
Hatshepsut built herself a sumptuous mortuary temple in the Valley of the Kings. Most pharaohs who reigned after her were buried nearby. Hatshepsut's temple was beautified with rows of columns that reflected the perfect harmony. Initially, there were lush gardens near it.
The great she-pharaoh might have died because of wrong medicine that she used to take. She used a specific ointment in order to alleviate a chronic skin condition, but this treatment included a very toxic ingredient. So, she might have died because of the effect of that poison (Hatshepsut Biography). But there is another belief that she died because of bone cancer (N.S. Gill).
Though the reign of Hatshepsut was peaceful and Egypt flourished that time, after her death Thutmose III started eradicating memory about her (Hatshepsut Biography). He defaced and destroyed her monuments, tried to erase all her inscriptions and built the wall around her obelisks.
Works cited
“Hatshepsut Biography”.biography.com. Web. Accessed 23 February 2016 at http://www.biography.com/people/hatshepsut-9331094
Gill, N.S. “Hatshepsut - Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt”.about.com. 2014. Web. Accessed 23 February 2016 at http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/people/p/Hatshepsut.htm
“Queen Hatshepsut: Facts, Accomplishments & Death”.study.com. Web. Accessed 23 February 2016 at http://study.com/academy/lesson/queen-hatshepsut-facts-accomplishments-death.html
