Hatshepsut

New Kingdom (1552–1069 b.c.)

Dynasty XVIII (1478–1458 b.c.)

When is a queen not a queen? When she decides to be king. Upon the death of her half-brother/husband Thutmose II, Hatshepsut was faced with a problem of succession. She had not produced a male heir but her husband’s concubine had a son named Thutmose III. This son was still young and it was not completely without precedent that this strong queen took over the reigns of government, ruling as regent alongside her stepson. What was very unusual however, was that she began to have herself depicted on monuments as a male dressed in pharaonic regalia. On some monuments she was referred to as "King Hatshepsut" but the text still used feminine pronouns. The two earlier attested ruler-queens, Nitocris and Sobkneferu, had not taken their ambitions quite this far.

Hatshepsut ruled over a relatively stable and prosperous country. There were no crises recorded for her twenty years on the throne; in fact her accomplishments included a great trading expedition to the land of Punt, believed to be south of Egypt on the Red Sea. She also erected temples and great obelisks and built a mortuary temple in Thebes that is today considered one of the world’s architectural masterpieces. Her architect and chief advisor, Senenmut, had a tomb built within the sacred grounds of this temple, and historians and Egyptophiles have long speculated on a possible romantic relationship between these two.

Sometime subsequent to her death, Hatshepsut’s image and name were systematically chiseled from her monuments. This was done during the reign of her successor, Thutmose III, and it was once thought that this was the action of a jealous and angry stepson who had been kept from the throne against his wishes. However, consider this:

1. Thutmose III had an important role in the army long before Hatshepsut’s death and presumably could have taken the throne by force.
2. They are depicted ruling together on a number of extant monuments.
3. Her name and images from before her ascension to kingship were not damaged.

It is unlikely that spite was the reason for the action against her memory. It is more likely that the idea of a queen depicted as a male pharaoh violated the ancient Egyptian sense of decorum and perhaps even violated their ideas about ma’at (the concept of balance and order). Regardless, she was one of the ancient world’s most powerful and interesting women.

Related exhibit piece: Block Statue of Overseer of Priests, Sitepehu (catalog p. 132).

Related exhibit piece: Statue of a Scribe (catalog p. 135).