15. Hatshepsut
'Return to History 8 Egypt ID's
Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I. She had five brothers, but none of them survived, leaving her as the only pure blood left as an heir. However, her father had a son with a minor second wife, Thutmose II. He did not have pure royal blood, so Hatshepsut and Thutmose II married so that he could become Pharoah. Together, they had one daughter. He also had a son with his other minor wife, Thutmose III.
After Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had been married for 20 years, Thutmose II died. His reign had been nothing special- no wars, building projects; in fact, it was quite uneventful. She was left as Queen, because Thutmose III was too young to rule.
Hatshepsut's 7 year reign was very different compared to Thutmose II's. She began a building campaign in which temples and obelisks were built in her name. Her obelisks were monolithic (made of one piece of stone, cut in a granite quarry, and transported on a barge to the temple where they were put up. One of them had an inscription saying that the obelisk had been made in honor of her father, who is a god, saying that she is the daughter of a god and legitimizing her authority to be ruler of Egpyt. It also made a statement that Ma'at was restored to Egpyt.
However, after 7 years had passed, Thutmose III became old enough to take the throne. Hatshepsut would not even have the powers of a queen- Thutmose III's wife would take that title. In order to stay in power, she took the title of King. She letigitimized her right to the throne by saying that the god Ammun-Ra spoke to her and commanded her to be the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. Once she had gotten in power, she began dressing as the King would- false beard and all. Because the people were happy with the way that she had been ruling, they did not object.
Another one of Hashepsut's greatest accomplishments was sending a trading expedition to Punt (Sudan). Enormous boats travelled there along the coast; it was a very risky journey. The traders brought back spices, myrrh, incense, ivory, leopard skins, and more. This feat set her apart as the first pharaoh to open up Egypt to foreign lands and legitmized her authority even more.
After 22 years on the throne, Hatshepsut died. Contrary to many opinions, Thutmuse III did not kill her out of anger and desire to take the throne. He was actually perfectly content with going on military expeditions throughout her reign and did not care too much about being king. Sadly, Hatshepsut's name ended up being defaced from many of her monuments. This was both because Egypt had become more conservative over the last few years and regretted allowing a woman be pharaoh, and because Thutmose III needed to take credit for her achievements in order to justify himself.
