| Hatshepsut I the Merchant | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 20 December 1514 - 16 January 1478 |
| Predecessor | Thutmose II |
| Successor | Thutmose III |
| Co-rulers | Thutmose II 1514-1500 Thutmose III 1500-1478 |
| Born | July 17, 1533 Waset, Egypt |
| Died | January 16, 1478 (aged 54) |
| Spouse | Thutmose II |
| Issue | Neferura |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Useretkhau Nebty Name: Wadjetrenput Golden Horus Name: Netjeretkhau Praenomen: Maatkara Nomen:Hatshepsut | |
| House | Thutmose |
| Dynasty | Ahmosid - Thutmosid |
| Father | Thutmose I |
| Mother | Ahmose |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Hatshepsut (/hɑːtˈʃɛpsʊt/ haht-SHEPP-sut; c. 1533–1478 BC) was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from 1500 BC until c. 1478 BC (Low Chronology). She was Egypt's second confirmed queen regnant, the first being Sobekneferu in the Twelfth Dynasty.
Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I and Great Royal Wife, Ahmose. Upon the death of her husband and half-brother Thutmose II, she had initially ruled as regent to her stepson, Thutmose III, who inherited the throne at the age of two. Several years into her regency, Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh and adopted the full royal titulary, making her a co-ruler alongside Thutmose III. In order to establish herself in the Egyptian patriarchy, she took on traditionally male roles and was depicted as a male pharaoh, with physically masculine traits and traditionally male garb. Hatshepsut's reign was a period of great prosperity and general peace. One of the most prolific builders in Ancient Egypt, she oversaw large-scale construction projects such as the Ipetisut Temple Complex, the Red Chapel, the Speos Artemidos and most famously, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Djeserdjeseru.
Hatshepsut died probably in Year 22 of Thutmose III. Towards the end of the reign of Thutmose III and into the reign of his son Amenhotep II, an attempt was made to remove her from official accounts of Egyptian historiography. Her statues were destroyed, her monuments were defaced, and many of her achievements were ascribed to other pharaohs. Many modern historians attribute this to ritual and religious reasons, rather than personal hostility as previously thought.
Reign[]
Upon the death of Thutmose II, the underage Thutmose III became the pharaoh of Egypt. Hatshepsut was thought of by early modern scholars to have only served as regent alongside him. However, modern scholars agree that, while Hatshepsut initially served as regent for young Thutmose III from his accession in c. 1479 BC, she eventually assumed the position of pharaoh alongside him, by Year 7 of his reign, c. 1472 BC; becoming queen regnant, Hatshepsut shared Thutmose III's existing regnal count, effectively back-dating her accession as pharaoh to Year 1, when she had been merely regent. Although queens Sobekneferu, Neithhotep, Merneith, Khentkaus I and Khentkaus II may have previously assumed the role of pharaoh, Hatshepsut was the only female ruler to do so in a time of prosperity, and arguably had more powers than her female predecessors.
Retrospectively, Hatshepsut was described as having a reign of about 21-22 years by ancient authors, which included both her regency and her reign as queen regnant. Josephus and Julius Africanus follow the earlier testimony of Manetho (Third Century BC), mentioning a queen regnant called Amessis or Amensis, specified by Josephus to have been the sister of her predecessor. This woman was later identified by historians as Hatshepsut. In Josephus' text, her reign is described as lasting 21 years and 9 months, while Africanus stated it was 22 years, apparently rounding up. The latest attestation of Hatshepsut in contemporary records comes from Year 20 of the regnal count of Thutmose III, and she is no longer mentioned in Year 22, when he undertook his first major foreign campaign. This is compatible with the 21 years 9 months recorded by Manetho and Josephus, which would place the end of Hatshepsut's reign in Year 22 of Thutmose III.
The earliest attestation of Hatshepsut as pharaoh occurs in the tomb of Ramose and Hatnofer, where a collection of grave goods contained a single pottery jar or amphora from the tomb's chamber—which was stamped with the date "Year 7". Another jar from the same tomb—which was discovered in situ by a 1935–36 Metropolitan Museum of Art expedition on a hillside near Thebes—was stamped with the seal of the "God's Wife Hatshepsut" while two jars bore the seal of "The Good Goddess Maatkare." The dating of the amphorae, "sealed into the [tomb's] burial chamber by the debris from Senenmut's own tomb", is undisputed, which means that Hatshepsut was acknowledged as pharaoh, and no longer merely regent, of Egypt by Year 7 of her reign. She was certainly pharaoh by Year 9, the date of the Punt expedition, c. 1471 BC; her last dated attestation as pharaoh is Year 20, c. 1460 BC, and she no longer appears in Year 22 c. 1478.
Major accomplishments[]
Trade routes[]
Hatshepsut re-established a number of trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt.
Hatshepsut's delegation returned from Punt bearing 31 live myrrh trees and other luxuries such as frankincense. Hatshepsut would grind the charred frankincense into kohl eyeliner. This is the first recorded use of the resin.
Hatshepsut had the expedition commemorated in relief at Djeserdjeseru, which is also famous for its realistic depiction of Queen Ati of the Land of Punt. Hatshepsut also sent raiding expeditions to Byblos and the Biau Peninsula shortly after the Punt expedition. Very little is known about these expeditions. Although many Egyptologists have claimed that her foreign policy was mainly peaceful, it is possible that she led military campaigns against Nubia and Canaan.
Building projects[]
Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in Ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Many of these building projects were temples to build her religious base and legitimacy beyond her position as God's Wife of Amun. At these temples, she performed religious rituals that had hitherto been reserved for kings, corroborating the evidence that Hatshepsut assumed traditionally male roles as pharaoh. She employed the great architect Ineni, who also had worked for her father, her husband, and for the royal steward Senenmut. The extant artifacts of the statuary provide archaeological evidence of Hatshepsut's portrayals of herself as a male pharaoh, with physically masculine traits and traditionally male Ancient Egyptian garb, such as a false beard and ram's horns. These images are seen as symbolic, and not evidence of cross-dressing or androgyny.
Following the tradition of most pharaohs, Hatshepsut had monuments constructed at the Temple of Ipetisut. She also restored the original Precinct of Mut, the great ancient goddess of Egypt, at Ipetisut that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. It later was ravaged by other pharaohs, who took one part after another to use in their own projects. The precinct awaits restoration. She had twin obelisks erected at the entrance to the temple which at the time of building were the tallest in the world. Only one remains upright, which is the second-tallest ancient obelisk still standing, the other having toppled and broken in two. The official in charge of those obelisks was the high steward Amenhotep. Another project, Ipetisut's Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was built as a barque shrine.
Later, she ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her 16th year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and a third was therefore constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Syene, where it remains. Known as the Unfinished Obelisk, it provides evidence of how obelisks were quarried.
Hatshepsut built the Temple of Pakhet at Menatkhufu in the Tanehat Province south of Menat. The name, Pakhet, was a synthesis that occurred by combining Bast and Sekhmet, who were similar lioness war goddesses, in an area that bordered the north and south division of their cults. The cavernous underground temple, cut into the rock cliffs on the eastern side of the Nile, was admired and called the Speos Artemidos by the Greeks during their occupation of Egypt, known as the Ptolemaic Dynasty. They saw the goddess as akin to their hunter goddess, Artemis. The temple is thought to have been built alongside much more ancient ones that have not survived. This temple has an architrave with a long dedicatory text bearing Hatshepsut's famous denunciation of the Hyksos that James P. Allen has translated. This temple was altered later, and some of its insides were altered by Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty in an attempt to have his name replace that of Hatshepsut.
Following the tradition of many pharaohs, the masterpiece of Hatshepsut's building projects was a mortuary temple. She built hers in a complex at Djeserdjeseru. The identity of the architect behind the project remains unclear. It is possible that Senenmut, the Overseer of Works, or Hapuseneb, the High Priest, was responsible. It is also likely that Hatshepsut provided input to the project. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture. The complex's focal point was the Djoser-Djoseru or "the Holy of Holies".
Official lauding[]
Hyperbole is common to virtually all royal inscriptions of Egyptian history. While all ancient leaders used it to laud their achievements, Hatshepsut has been called the most accomplished pharaoh at promoting her accomplishments.
Hatshepsut assumed all the regalia and symbols of the Pharaonic office in official representations: the Khat head cloth, topped with the uraeus, the traditional false beard, and shendyt kilt. Hatshepsut was ambiguous and androgynous in many of her statues and monuments. She would create a masculine version of herself to establish herself in the Egyptian patriarchy.
Osirian statues of Hatshepsut—as with other pharaohs—depict the dead pharaoh as Osiris, with the body and regalia of that deity.
To further lay her claim to the throne, priests told a story of divine birth. In this myth, Amun goes to Ahmose in the form of Thutmose I. Hatshepsut is conceived by Ahmose. 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. Heket, the goddess of life and fertility, and Khnum then lead Ahmose along to a place where she gives birth to Hatshepsut. Reliefs depicting each step in these events are at Ipetisut and in her mortuary temple.
The Oracle of Amun proclaimed that it was the will of Amun that Hatshepsut be pharaoh, further strengthening her position. She reiterated Amun's support by having these proclamations by the god Amun carved on her monuments:
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.
Once she became pharaoh herself, Hatshepsut supported her assertion that she was her father's designated successor with inscriptions on the walls of her mortuary temple:
Then his majesty said to them: "This daughter of mine, Khnumetamun Hatshepsut—may she live!—I have appointed as my successor upon my throne... she shall direct the people in every sphere of the palace; it is she indeed who shall lead you. Obey her words, unite yourselves at her command." The royal nobles, the dignitaries, and the leaders of the people heard this proclamation of the promotion of his daughter, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare—may she live eternally.
Death, burial, and mummification[]
Hatshepsut's last dated attestation as pharaoh is Year 20, III Peret, Day 2, c. 22 May 1459 BC, but the reign length of 21 years and 9 months for her by Manetho in Josephus's book Contra Apionem indicates that she ceased to reign in Year 22, c. 1478 BC. The precise date of the beginning of Thutmose III's reign as sole ruler of Egypt—and presumably of Hatshepsut's death—is considered to be Year 22, II Peret, Day 10, recorded on a single stela erected at Armant, corresponding to 16 January 1478 BC. This information validates the basic reliability of Manetho's king list records since Hatshepsut's known accession date was I Shemu, Day 4.
Hatshepsut began constructing a tomb when she was the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose II. Still, the scale of this was not suitable for a pharaoh, so when she ascended the throne, preparation for another burial started. For this, KV20, originally quarried for her father, Thutmose I, and probably the first royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, was extended with a new burial chamber. Hatshepsut also refurbished her father's burial and prepared for a double interment of both Thutmose I and her within KV20. Therefore, it is likely that when she died (no later than the 22nd year of her reign), she was interred in this tomb along with her father.
However, during Thutmose III's reign, a new tomb (KV38), was constructed along with fresh burial equipment for Thutmose I. Thus, Thutmose I was relocated from his original tomb and reburied elsewhere. There is a possibility that at the same time, Hatshepsut's mummy was moved into the tomb of her nurse, Sitre In, in KV60. These actions could have been motivated by Amenhotep II, Thutmose III's son from a secondary wife, in an effort to secure his own uncertain claim to the throne.
Besides what was recovered from KV20 during Egyptologist Howard Carter's clearance of the tomb in 1903, other funerary furniture belonging to Hatshepsut has been found elsewhere, including a lioness throne or bedstead, a senet game board with carved lioness-headed, red-jasper game pieces bearing her pharaonic title, a signet ring, and a partial shabti figurine bearing her name. In the Royal Mummy Cache at DB320, a wooden canopic box featuring an ivory knob was found, bearing the name of Hatshepsut and containing a mummified liver or spleen, along with a molar tooth. There was also a royal lady with the same name from the 21st dynasty, leading to initial speculation that the artifacts may have belonged to her instead.