Hatshepsut
Queen (c. 1508 BCE–c. 1458 BCE)
Hatshepsut was the longest reigning female pharaoh in Egypt, ruling for 20 years in the 15th century B.C. She is considered one of Egypt’s most successful pharaohs.
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Hatshepsut
The only child born to the Egyptian king Thutmose I by his principal wife and queen, Ahmose, Hatshepsut was expected to be queen. After the death of her father at age 12, Hatsheput married her half-brother Thutmose II, whose mother was a lesser wife — a common practice meant to ensure the purity of the royal bloodline. During the reign of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut assumed the traditional role of queen and principal wife.
Thutmose II died after a 15 year reign, making Hatshepsut a
widow before the age of 30. Hatshepsut had no sons — only a daughter,
Neferure — and the male heir was an infant, born to a concubine named
Isis.
Since Thutmose III was too young to assume the throne
unaided, Hatshepsut served as his regent. Initially, Hatshepsut bore
this role traditionally until, for reasons that are unclear, she claimed
the role of pharaoh. Technically, Hatshepsut did not ‘usurp’ the crown,
as Thutmose III was never deposed and was considered co-ruler
throughout her life, but it is clear that Hatshepsut was the principal
ruler in power.
She began having herself depicted in the
traditional king’s kilt and crown, along with a fake beard and male
body. This was not an attempt to trick people into thinking she was
male; rather, since there were no words or images to portray a woman
with this status, it was a way of asserting her authority.
Under
Hatshepsut’s reign, Egypt prospered. Unlike other rulers in her dynasty,
she was more interested in ensuring economic prosperity and building
and restoring monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia than in conquering
new lands.
She built the temple Djeser-djeseru (“holiest of holy
places”), which was dedicated to Amon and served as her funerary cult,
and erected a pair of red granite obelisks at the Temple of Amon at
Karnak, one of which still stands today. Hatshepsut also had one notable
trading expedition to the land of Punt in the ninth year of her reign.
The ships returned with gold, ivory and myrrh trees, and the scene was
immortalized on the walls of the temple.
The queen died in early February of 1458 B.C. In recent years,
scientists have speculated the cause of her death to be related to an
ointment or salve used to alleviate a chronic genetic skin condition - a
treatment that contained a toxic ingredient. Testing of artifacts near
her tomb have revealed traces of a carcinogenic substance.
Late in his reign, Thutmose III began a campaign to eradicate
Hatshepsut’s memory: He destroyed or defaced her monuments, erased many
of her inscriptions and constructed a wall around her obelisks. While
some believe this was the result of a long-held grudge, it was more
likely a strictly political effort to emphasize his line of succession
and ensure that no one challenged his son Amenhotep II for the throne.
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