Hatshepsut 

 
 
Hatshepsut, daughter of Tuthmose I and Aahmes, both of royal lineage, was the favorite of their three children. When her two brothers died, she was in the unique position to gain the throne upon the death of her father. 

To have a female pharaoh was unprecedented, and probably most definitely unheard of as well.  When Tuthmose I passed away, his son by the commoner Moutnofrit, Tuthmose II, technically ascended the throne. For the few years of his reign, however, Hatshepsut seems to have held the reins. From markings on his mummy, archaeologists believe Tuthmose II had a skin disease, and he died after ruling only three or four years. Hatshepsut, his half sister and wife, had produced no offspring with him (her daughter Nefrure was most likely the daughter of her lover Senmut), although he had sired a son through the commoner Isis. This son, Tuthmose III, was in line for the throne, but due to his age Hatshepsut was allowed to reign as queen dowager. 
  
Hatshepsut was not one to sit back and wait for her nephew to age enough to take her place. As a favorite daughter of a popular pharaoh, and as a charismatic and beautiful lady in her own right, she was able to command enough of a following to actually take control as pharaoh. She ruled for almost 20 years and left behind more monuments and works of art than any Egyptian queen to come. 
  
Hatshepsut, as a female, had many obstacles to overcome. There was always a threat of revolt, especially as her bitter nephew came of age. Using propaganda and keen political skills, she deftly jumped each hurdle she faced. To quell the fears of her people, she became a "king" in all statuary and relief during her reign. She even dressed in the traditional garb of male rulers: the shendyt kilt, the nemes headdress with its uraeus and khat headcloth, and the false beard. 

Although there were no wars during her reign, she proved her sovereignty by ordering expeditions to the land of Punt, in present-day Somalia, in search of the ivory, animals, spices, gold and aromatic trees that Egyptians coveted. These expeditions are well documented in the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls of her temple. With 
these inscriptions are included incised representations of the journey, including humorous images of the Puntites and their queen, at whom the Egyptians no doubt looked while restraining a giggle; the queen has folds of fat hanging over her knees and elbows, her back is crooked and she has an aquiline nose. To the short, thin Egyptian she was probably quite a sight. 

Hatshepsut, in a final bid to be recognized as a legitimate queen, constructed a fabulous temple in the Valley of the Kings, of all places, by a tall plateau at Deir-el-Bahri, across the Nile from Thebes.  
 
 
  

 
Hatshepsut's Temple 

  Inspired by a funerary temple of the Middle Kingdom built by King Mentuhotep (XIth dynasty), the architect of Queen Hatshepsut (XVIIIth dynasty), Senenmout, built one of the most beautiful monuments of ancient Egypt, the style of which was never repeated.    It consists of a succession of terraces whose supporting walls are masked by long colonnades divided in the centre by monumental access ramps. On the second terrace a third portico gives entry to a peristyle courtyard leading to the sanctuary, which is cut out of the cliff. The work of Senenmout is, in the strictness of its composition, architecturally very successful and a fine example of the integration of architecture and natural site.

  
Hatshepsut was a master politician, and an elegant stateswoman with enough charisma to keep control of an entire country for twenty years. Her charisma and experience could carry her only so far, however.  She used two devices to ensure the legitimacy of her position. The first was to emphasize not only her relationship to Tuthmose I, but her favor from that popular ruler. She claimed to have been handpicked by her father, above her two brothers and her half-brother. In her temple are written the words of Khnum, the divine potter who sculpted the forms of the gods:  
  
I will make you to be the first of all living creatures, 
you will rise as king of Upper and of Lower Egypt, 
as your father Amon, who loves you, did ordain.  
  
  
This assertion has validity, as other texts indicate. Her second conceit was more doubtful, however: she claims a direct divine lineage. As in the previous passage, she claims Amon is her father. On the walls of her tomb is inscribed a story detailing the night the Theban god Amon-Re approached Aahmes in the form of Tuthmose I.  
  
Amon took the form of the noble King Tuthmose and found the queen sleeping in her room. When the pleasant odours that proceeded from him announced his presence she woke. He gave her his heart and showed himself in his godlike splendour. When he approached the queen she wept for joy at his strength and beauty and he gave her his love...  
  
  
These propaganda worked well to cement Hatshepsut's position. But as Tuthmose III grew, her sovereignty grew tenuous. He not only resented his lack of authority, but no doubt harbored only ill will towards his step-mother's consort Senmut. Senmut originally intended to be buried in the tomb he designed for Hatshepsut, but was actually buried nearby in his own tomb. Not long after his death, however, his sarcophagus was completely destroyed.  The hard stone that had been carved for his funerary coffin was found in over 1,200 pieces. His mummy was never found. 

Hatshepsut's mummy was likewise stolen and her tomb destroyed. Only one of the canopic jars was found, the one containing her liver. After her death, it is presumed that Tuthmose III ordered the systematic erasure of her name from any monument she had built, including her temple at Deir-el-Bahri. Since most of the images of her were actually males, it was convenient to simply change the name "Hatshepsut" to Tuthmose" I, II or III wherever there was a caption. Senmut's name was also removed. 

Whether Tuthmose killed Hatshepsut, Senmut and Nofrure is questionable but likely. Since he paid little respect to her in death, it is quite possible he paid even less in life.  
  
While this account is the most accepted of theories, the Hatshepsut Problem was a source of endless debate near the turn of the twentieth century. The archeaologists Edouard Naville and Kurt Sethe went head-to-head on the order of rule between the three Tuthmoses and Hatshepsut. Since it is generally assumed that if one ruler's name is replaced with another, the second ruler is in power at the time, a confusing problem exists. Theoretical timelines indicate that the succession followed this sequence:  
  

The architect was Senmut, Hatshepsut's lover and a member of her court with more than 20 titles.  Senmut designed the temple with rows of colonnades that reflect the vertical patterns displayed by the cliff backdrop. In this way the temple is a successful example of architectural harmony between man and nature. 

The temple is dedicated to Amon and Hathor, Hatshepsut's claimed parents, although there are chapels dedicated to other gods, like Anubis, the god of embalming. The sanctuary lies within the mountainside. Two ramps connect the three levels, and on either side of the lower incline were T-shaped papyrus pools.  On the ground level were sphinxes and fragrant trees from Punt. The sphinxes had the heads of Hatshepsut, and she is also represented as a lion in some of the temple's reliefs. Although she has no specific enemies, she is represented clawing at adversaries and capturing "birds of evil" with a clapnet. Furthermore, the temple's walls document Hatshepsut's divine conception, her vote of confidence given by her father, her efforts to repair damage inflicted by the Hyksos invaders, the expeditions to Punt and the erection of the colossal obelisks at the temple of Karnak. 

Since the construction of the complex took about twenty years, the walls were like blank pages of a book, filled in as her reign progressed. By the time the temple was finished, Hatshepsut probably had little time to enjoy it as a pharaoh. 

Although Senmut originally planned to be buried at the temple, Hatshepsut's tomb was destined to lie elsewhere.  In the manner of her father, Tuthmose I, who realized a temple is too obvious a place to bury priceless artifacts, the tomb of Hatshepsut was constructed in secret. Ineni, the architect of the tomb and temple of Tuthmose I, prided himself that he was the only one who knew the tomb location of his master. The 100 "slaves" that built the tomb, according to Otto Neubert, were killed after the project to protect the secret. Whether this brutal technique was used in Hatshepsut's case is not known, but it is rather moot. 

The biggest enemy Hatshepsut had were not grave-robbers, but her own nephew, who would have no problem finding her tomb, no matter how many slaves died.   For Senmut's work, he was rewarded handsomely and was able to buy a temple for himself not far from Hatshepsut's, in which were buried his minstrel and family, and even his favorite pet apes and horses. His mother Hatnofer was buried nearby as well. Around his mother's neck was a scarab necklace, according to the prescription of the Book of the Dead. On the back of the pendant is written:  
  
Hatnofer says: heart of my mother, 
heart of my mother! Heart of my 
present form! Don't stand up against 
me in the council. Don't make 
opposition against me before the 
keeper of the scales [of judgment]. 
You are my life force in my body, 
my creator who makes my limbs 
sound. When you go to the good 
place to which we travel, don't 
make my name smell bad to the 
court of the living, so that it will 
go well for us and for the jury and 
so the judge will be happy. Don't 
tell lies against me beside the god. 
See: your [own] reputation is 
involved.  
  
  
Although vandalized by Hatshepsut's foes and buried in sand for centuries, the Senmut's masterpiece loses no splendor. It is an incredible expression of the absolute power of a pharaoh, whether woman or man.    
  
 
Hatshepsut's full name, according to an account by Edouard Naville, is composed of four parts. The first, her "standard" name, is "she who is rich, powerful through her 'ka's, her doubles." The second, read as nebti refers to the pharaoh's dominion over both East and West. The third is her "Horus" name, reading "The divine one in her risings". Finally, her name continues with two cartouches, the first reading Kamara, the "true double of Ra". The second cartouche has no holy meaning but instead reads her name given at birth, "Hatshepsut".  
  
Thus her full name, as inscribed on her "great seal", was the Horus, mighty by his Kas, the lord of East and West abounding in years, the good goddess, the pious lady, the golden falcon, divine in her rings, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Kamara, the daughter of Ra, Khnumit Amon, Hatshepsut."  
  
It is interesting to note the disparity in her sex identity from the beginning of her name to the end.  Whether the mistakes of scribes and artists, or difficulties in Egyptian written language, or simply the inability of Egyptians to reconcile the words "female" and "pharaoh" as referring to the same person, the representation of Hatshepsut as both female and male in hieroglyphs and statuary appears in work done throughout her reign. 
  
Naville believed there was more reasoning used to determine the sex of representations of Hatshepsut.  He believes she was perfectly content being sculpted as a woman while she was queen, but as soon as she took the throne, she took a man's image in her statuary. Because so few would understand the written word, she was not as adamant taking the male gender in written accounts of her reign. 
 
  

 
 Pharoah Hatshepsut
 
   

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