The Life of a Female Pharaoh

Hatshepsut

The Life of a Female Pharaoh

    Have you ever wondered what the life of a female pharaoh is like? Hatshepsut is an extraordinary example, because of her strange personality of a non-traditional pharaoh. In her early years, she was known as Princess Hatshepsut, and she was the eldest of two sisters. When Hatshepsut gained great responsibility, she oversaw many building projects like remodelings of worn down temples. After she was gone, many stories , which were written within walls, were found during the discovery of Hatshepsut. The life of a female Pharaoh is not be what it seems.

    Hatshepsut was born in the early years of the 18th Dynasty to Queen Ahmose. While she grew older, she attained a serious split personality. Her father, Thutmosis I tragically died while she was still young, and to become a queen meant she needed to be wedded. She was then married. Thutmosis II was his name. He was also her step-brother. Upbringing a child, they had one daughter and named her Nefurure. After Thutmosis II died, the throne was given to the son of his second wife, who was named Thutmosis III. Gladly, Hatshepsut became Thutmosis III's guardian until he became of age. They then ruled together for three years until she proclaimed herself Pharaoh. Hatshepsut was the third female pharaoh in an estimated 3,000 years of their era.

    Once Hatshepsut completed becoming pharaoh, she proclaimed to the people that she wanted to be portrayed as a man. Afterwards, she began to start monument building projects for the gods of Egypt. Doing so allowed the gods to accept her as a king and established a close relationship. Out of the ten statues built with Neferure's face, one included a beard. Because of this statue, it created a suspicion that Hatshepsut was secretly trying to start a family lineage of female pharaohs. The most famous works of Hatshepsut are Deir el-Bahri, which is named one of Egypt's most beautiful monuments, and the four obelisks in Karnak. Granite blocks for obelisks were transported with barges and a total of 850 oarsmen. The tips of the obelisks were pyramid-shaped, each decorated with gold and silver, and had all the names of the noble carved in. Eventually, three of the four fell or were destroyed, while one still remains today. Hatshepsut was very fond of restoring temples. She fixed those that fell. The ones that were chipped. Many that were not used. Every time something was completed, Hatshepsut proclaimed her achievements without a hint of shyness.

    Around 1458 B.C. Hatshepsut died. She was in her mid 40's when she passed. Hatshepsut's father's sarcophagus was later put into the same temple where her mummy was placed. After Thutmosis III became the Pharaoh and he began to attempt removing Hatshepsut permanently from history. There are many stories about why he did this. Some say that it's because Hatshepsut took the throne away, but why would he have started doing this years after Hatshepsut's death? There is only one answer. It's because Thutmosis III needed something. The thing was clear background. More specifically of male pharaohs to allow his son, who was named Amenhotep II, to claim the throne. Luckily, many theories have backed up this statement a little. They say that Thutmosis III was okay with the secondary position since he was in the middle of training to become a military leader. Because of this, it ended up benefiting him so much that he became one of the greatest rulers of Egypt. During the process of removing Hatshepsut from history, Thutmosis III needed to also remove the history of her advisors that had already passed. All of this happened around 20 years after Hatshepsut died most likely of cancer.

    In the year of 1822, hieroglyphics containing Hatshepsut's name were found in the temple of Deir el-Bahri. Hatshepsut's first tomb created for her mummy was named Wadi Gabbant el-Qurud and never saw a single thief. In 1916 the tomb was discovered and held a yellow quartzite sarcophagus, no mummy in sight. The reason that there wasn't a mummy was because Hatshepsut wanted a pharaoh's tomb and the one that was created was made for queens, so a new tomb was built. This Pharaoh tomb was extraordinary. In the Valley of the Kings. It is well known. It's length and depth of it including with an attachment of three chambers is quite outstanding. Exploring in 1903, Howard Carter cleared the tomb's passageways and named it KV20. Inside were two sarcophagi, which were empty. Interestingly, in the same year, a tomb that was fairly close, was found and dedicated to Hatshepsut's childhood nurse, Sitre. Although there were two female mummies found inside, one was a little odd. It was sarcophagus-less and lain on the ground with her left hand over her chest. This was a sign of royalty. In 2007 the mummy on the floor was identified as Hatshepsut. More can be found about Hatshepsut's name in hieroglyphics located at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

    From the day the famous female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut was born, to building up her empire, to the day she died. From the things she worked for, although many belittled her. Hatshepsut led an interesting life. The removal of Hatshepsut's history was definitely an interesting find. Since the motive behind was so in depth, it really made the story amazing in its own way. Truly, the life of the female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut, was quite interesting.

Written by - Catherine Russell: 30 Mar 2016

Bibliography

Tyldesley, Joyce. "Hatchepsut the Female Pharaoh." Penguin Group. 1996. Print.

"Hatshepsut." History.com. A&E Networks. 2009. Web. 9 March, 2016.

Dell, Pamela. "Hatshepsut Egypt's First Female Pharaoh." Compass Point

Books.2009. Print.