Queen Hatshepsut

 Queen Hatshepsut, a Pharoah almost erased from history by her stepson, was one of the most successful and prosperous leaders Egypt ever had. Most of us have heard of Cleopatra, but let's dive into the story of Hatshepsut. 

Before we go into what nearly destroyed her memory in Egyptian history, here is a brief introduction to her success and how she got into the position of Pharoah. Keep in mind, Pharaohs were "gods" and once you got the throne you couldn't be voted out. She was the 6th Pharoah of the 18th dynasty and ruled from 1479 to 1458 BC. Evidence of her reign as most successful woman Pharoah was found around 1927, when a pit of all her artifacts, most of them destroyed and broken, was found. She was the widowed queen of her half-brother Thutmose II, and when he died she was named regent ruler until her stepson (most likely a harem child) would be of age to rule. 
        

This is the point in the story where she gets a bad name from some scholars, while others say she was not a malicious woman. The story told previously to new evidence says she declared herself Pharoah, was sleeping with her chief minister Senenmut who helped her climb the ladder, and insisted on being portrayed as a man. While it is true she'd need a man to back her to get the throne, this highly fictitious story is not what a lot of scholars believe happened. Now that you heard the story of her ascent to leadership from the rumor mill we can move on to what evidence says. 

The Truth, As Much As We Can Prove 

Upon marrying Thutmose II, she got the position of god's wife of Amun, which gave her power. She could dictate policy, preside over festivals, and engage with (and this is just what Egyptians thought) Amun directly. This meant she had power and she just became more powerful. 

Thutmose III, her stepson, was most likely a harem child. A male heir to the throne was not found from the womb of Hatshepsut, who had one daughter, Neferure. She was not able to give a male heir to Thutmose II. Thutmose III was not old enough to take the throne. As Regent, Hatshepsut was a place-holder for her child until he could rule. Thutmose II died young and was known for being frail and ineffective. He was probably able to be controlled by his wife, historians say, but she was portrayed as a supportive wife in various images and artifacts found. The stepson was said to have destroyed the artifacts of his stepmother at the start of his reign after her death, but it was closer to the end of his reign that they were destroyed, according to the evidence found. 

Around the seventh year of her regency, the image of Hatshepsut went from helping the future Pharoah to her being the full-fledged Pharoah. Egyptologists don't think this was a woman showing her true ambition, but instead was a way to save the throne for her stepson because a competing branch of the family wanted the throne. They say it was a political crisis that propelled her into the role of Pharoah, not her vanity. I said before that kingship here means you can't just step down like a president. You were in for life. It is entirely possible she was teaching him how to rule and couldn't step down - once a Pharoah you resign when you are mummified and dead. She gave him control of the armies and co-ruled with him. I think that if she'd wanted to completely overshadow him she wouldn't have done that. 

Tomb of Hatshepsut

Posing as a man may have had the benefit of authority and may have happened at the advice of a male co-ruler, but she never claimed she was male if you look at the inscriptions of her statues. "His Majesty, Herself." As well as changing her appearance, she also took a new name, Maatkare, meaning "truth is the soul of the sun god". Maat is the expression for "order and justice as established by the gods". She was assuring her people she had a legitimate claim to be Pharoah. She claimed that her father Amun, in the form of Thutmose I, named her successor. She had her daughter marry Thutmose III because being his mother-in-law had quite a few benefits. By claiming she was Amun's daughter she was considered a demi-god, so she made herself look legitimate. She put up the temple at Deir El-Bahri and that is actually where they first found her name. She built things to a grand scale and only Ramses II can top her structures.

Senenmut got something out of this, too - a magnificent tomb in the valley of the kings, near Hatshepsut. He apparently never used it. They are not sure what happened, but it looks like a combination of tomb robbers, natural collapse, and religious upheaval. Hatshepsut made room for her father, and reburied him with her, in her tomb cut into the cliff. Other Pharaohs thought it was so beautiful they wanted to be buried near it and thus started the valley of the kings. Her tomb was empty when archaeologists found it. Her mummy was found in 2007 and is housed in Cairo, Egypt.

Deir El-Bahri

Why Destroy Her Memory?

One doesn't try to destroy evidence of a political ruler, let alone one considered a god, on accident. It was on purpose and we know that for sure. He was almost successful, too. Was it revenge or hatred, like other scholars assumed? Not if it happened so late in his reign. They think that he wanted to make it look like the throne went from his father to him, without Hatshepsut's reign in the record. She may have been "too successful" and it was to be erased so women wouldn't want Pharoahship later on. (If that was the reason, I'm glad he failed.) Hatshepsut may have anticipated this misunderstanding of her actions and being forgotten. She made two obelisks at Karnak, and one reads "Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say—those who shall see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done." 

Something Egyptians believed was that one lived as long as one was remembered. The people did actually forget her for a time. They attributed her temple to others at some points in time. They liked their tradition modeled from Osiris and Isis, that women supported the men and not the other way around. 

Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-queen-who-would-be-king-130328511/

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/hatshepsut

https://www.ancient.eu/hatshepsut/

Images:

Reddit

Ancient Egypt Online

Viator