The Legacy of Queen Hatshepsut and Her Significance in the History of Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptian World is a very interesting topic to learn about which stands out the most as compared to other civilizations due to its unique writing, multiple gods, beliefs about life and death and various pharaohs. Pharaohs contributed a lot to the Egyptian civilizations. Their main duty was to maintain ma’at, which means order in the society and follow principles which the Great Gods believed in. They were also known to have the impression of a living God and were very well respected in the society.

Of course, as most people know, pharaohs were mostly male which is quite evident especially when looked at sculptures in museums, or read about in historical books, hieroglyphs, funerary monuments etc. Although this is true, apart from the famous Cleopatra, not many people are aware that other few female pharaohs also existed who are briefly mentioned in history, famous of which is the Great Queen Hatshepsut who according to some sources had a negative image in history. The following paper will analyze Queen Hatshepsut’s reign as Pharaoh in Egypt and argue that she was an extremely smart, strong, ambitious woman due to the contributions she made in Egypt and prove she was no less than a man in every possible way becoming an inspiration for other women to follow.

Queen Hatshepsut was born to King Thutmose I and Queen Aahmes and she was later married to her half-brother, Thutmose II (Shaw 2003, 226). After the death of her husband, she ruled Egypt in the beginning of the18th Dynasty as co-regent to her stepson, Thutmose III, who was too young to rule the New Kingdom at the time (Teeter 2006, 649). Queen Hatshepsut was known to be a very strong and fierce woman and was able to take charge of the kingdom right after her husband’s death. As a child, Hatshepsut was extremely talented and smart and according to Teeter in her museum review, “Gallery 6 in the museum showed relations between Hatshepsut and her father, Thutmose I, which depicts that she claimed the right to the throne through him”, (Teeter 2006, 652). It is clearly implied here that Thutmose I saw potential in her and possibly made her his heiress.

According to the Egyptian tradition, the male were more likely to ascend to the throne and rule over the kingdom, hence, Hatshepsut had a male appearance which Teeter mentions in her museum review when she says, “The gallery is dominated by the famed sculpture of a very feminine representation of Hatshepsut but one expressed in terms of male iconography” (Teeter 2006, 650). At first glance, anyone would think she was a male pharaoh but after carefully looking at her feminine features and body, scholars were able to identify that it was indeed a woman who ruled Egypt during that time (Teeter 2006, 650). Apart from portraying herself as a male, Hatshepsut also claimed that she was the daughter of the God Amun which was depicted in the murals of her temple in Thebes with God Amun along with Hatshepsut’s mother which resulted in her birth as a ruler (Robins 1993, 47). Scholars believe that Hatshepsut dressing up as a male, claiming she was the daughter of Amun and showing herself as a king in the murals was all done to prove people that she deserved the right to the throne which is strategic. She later died in 1482 BCE and Thutmose III came to full regency (Redford 2001, 87).

Hatshepsut proved her capabilities as a ruler by making major contributions to Egypt. She sent out expeditions and campaigns of military to places like Nubia and Syria whose reason is unknown (Redford 2001, 86). This could have possibly been to expand her territorial claim during her rule which is something most rulers did and is extremely beneficial to Egyptian history as it helped expand trade during her rule as well as Egyptian practices. She also sent another famous expedition to Punt which had tons of luxury goods like ebony, or metals like gold which were beneficial in making sculptures (Creaseman 2014, 396). Hence, Hatshepsut ordered a group to bring goods from Punt and presented it in front of the God Amun in the temple (Creaseman 2014, 398). This is also beneficial to Egyptian history as not only were extravagant goods brought to Egypt which could have been used in religious rituals which is a huge part of Egyptian culture to pay respect to their Gods and Kings but it also helped in the import of beautiful Punt trees which were planted in Egypt (Creaseman 2014, 399). This trade between Punt and Egypt proved to be beneficial for Egypt in a political aspect by improving its economy and it also proved Hatshepsut’s abilities of always striving to achieve more instead of just ruling between the walls of Egypt.

During most of her reign, Hatshepsut built temples with beautiful architecture and art which according to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, “had a huge affect on Thebes, provincial towns, localities outside Egyptian territory, such as Buhen in Nubia and the Wadi Mughara in the Sinai”, (Redford 2001, 86). She also made major restoration to Karnak including the construction of the famous Red Chapel which held the concept of ma’at and according to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt had, “two obelisks between the fourth and fifth pylon and another pair of obelisks in eastern Karnak”, (Redford 2001, 87). It was significant to Egyptian history as the great gods believed in establishing order and justice which was also the king’s responsibility to do so in order to run the society smoothly and Hatshepsut withholds that major belief by constructing the chapel and proving she didn’t forget her responsibilities as a ruler. She also further built her famous mortuary temple at Deir el – Bahri which is known for its beautiful architecture and art depicting her reign and achievements and an important part of Egyptian History as it gave Egyptologists more information about the Queen, and what she accomplished most of which was erased from history (Redford 2001, 87).

She also built many temples which were also known as the houses of their Gods whom the Egyptians greatly believed in. It was always good for a pharaoh to build a lot of temples to honour the Gods who would bless them and this would also set a good image of the ruler in the public’s eye. Hatshepsut built temples in Medinet Habu to honour God Amun as well as in Elephantine to honour other small gods and uphold the basic contributions pharaohs were supposed to make in the society (Redford 2001, 87). She also built many tombs some of which had a lot of information about her officials most famous of them being Amun Senenmut who according to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, “was responsible for building the most important monuments of the queen”, (Redford 2001, 87). Unfortunately, after her death and when her step-son, Thutmose III came to full power, a lot of her work, including monuments, temples, statues were all destroyed including the erase of her name from many king lists which made it difficult for Egyptologists to gather information about her and her developments (Redford 2001, 87). Indeed, Hatshepsut wanting to achieve more made a huge turn for Egypt in a political aspect. She knew what places to target such as Punt and made every decision smartly which benefitted Egypt’s culture, practices, and economy. This definitely proves that she was no less than a male ruler and achieved more than a male pharaoh could have.

In addition, Emily Teeter’s museum review of Hatshepsut gives insight as to how Hatshepsut’s reign was evaluated. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts excavated Hatshepsut’s important sculptures, artifacts, which has helped evaluate her reign (Teeter 2006, 649). Firstly, the wall texts containing information about Hatshepsut forbids her sole reign along with Thutmose III which scholars were confused about and started their research about why her name could have been removed especially her images as a king, which were altered (Teeter 2006, 649). Her statues were then observed which had feminine features but a male iconography which confused historians and they came up with possible explanations of her trying to show her power (Teeter 2006, 650).

The museum also contains details about her temple at Deir el–Bahri which contains a lot of information about herself, her accomplishments, her Punt expeditions which helped historians conduct further research and evaluate her reign. I think what differed the most about the evaluation of her reign is that in the earlier days, Egyptologists focused more on excavating items about her such as her temple, tombs but when they started to excavate other luxury items like gold in other places, analyzed architecture especially her temple, they tried to piece everything together and understand how it benefitted Egypt which is mentioned in the above few paragraphs.

Since there wasn’t much evidence left of the work she put in for Egypt, a lot of historians/Egyptologists had tough viewpoints about her. Many sources such as the Cambridge Ancient History viewed Queen Hatshepsut as a very cunning, and strategical woman who made a plan to steal her step-son’s throne (Teeter 2006, 649). According to Teeter in her museum review, another source for Egyptian history commented that “It is not to be imagined, however, that even a woman of the most virile character could have attained such a pinnacle of power without masculine support”, (Teeter 2006, 649).

Clearly, when Egyptologists started to discover her and understand her reign, they thought Hatshepsut grew up making a plan to ascend to throne and according to Robins, in her book, “Hatshepsut had taken the throne because she regarded herself as the last representative of the pure dynastic line descended through the royal ‘heiress’, while Thutmose II and Thutmose III were merely sons of non-royal concubines”, (Robins 1993, 47). Here, there is a tone of disgust Hatshepsut “claimed” to have against her husband and stepson and a possible reason why she wanted to achieve the throne. It is heartbreaking to see sources paint Hatshepsut in such a negative light just because she is a female. From the information gathered, Hatshepsut was clearly a smart child growing up and wanted to achieve more than an average female ever did back in the era. It was believed that only men can make wise decisions but she proved this mentality wrong when she became the queen. Some scholars used to think that she dressed as a male to prepare the people of Egypt in advance for when she starts to reign as they wouldn’t have approved of a female leader but I really do think that she had the skills to rule Egypt without having to give any impression to people of her trying to appear more male-like.

Hatshepsut dressing up as a male since childhood shouldn’t be taken in the sense that she wanted to impress people or that she wanted silence the crowd, instead, it should be thought about in a positive way. A woman who knows she is fierce and deserves the chance to sit on the throne chose to dress like a man to continue the clothing tradition of how a male pharaoh actually would. She wanted to feel comfortable and wanted her people to feel comfortable about her rule so she acted smart, not cunning. In addition, Senenmut; Hatshepsut’s official, was also rumoured to play a role in Hatshepsut achieving high status. Teeter mentions in her museum review that, “In popular accounts, Senenmut is rumoured to be the female pharaoh’s lover, or at least a palace schemer and manipulator, and an evil genius who was behind Hatshepsut’s rise to power” (Teeter 2006, 651). This speculation also bothers me because Hatshepsut didn’t need a male support to get the throne so why is there an explanation being created as to a man being the reason behind her success and nothing being her own? If she had an opportunity to the throne, she didnt need the support of a man to take it.

Woman can achieve success on her own and Hatshepsut had proved herself especially when she started building projects, advanced expeditions, increased trade which helped the economy of Egypt, etc. She was smart and she made wise decisions and Egypt undoubtedly prospered under her reign which proves she didn’t need a male support at all. She chose to rule as co regent alongside Thutmose III giving him the title too. I think after Thutmose III gained regency, he got rid of her monuments to make sure Egypt understood that a woman will no longer rule when a male is present nor would anyone dare to. He might have done this to teach all women a lesson. Gay Robins mentions in her book that women could not achieve power when they have a male in the house which is why they had to have a strong and bold character to achieve what they wish for no where mentioning that they had to be evil (Robins 1993, 191). Women had separate responsibilities such as marriage, raising children and it would be dangerous for a woman to be without any protection from her husband or a man in general (Robins 1993, 191).

From Robins tone of explanation, it seems evident that she had a positive viewpoint about Hatshepsut and is trying to prove that her female status should not take away from what she has accomplished but instead praised as it was extremely difficult for any female to achieve something back then. This change of viewpoint gives hope that now people have started to have positive opinions about her and are starting to see her in a new light. Indeed, Hatshepsut didn’t make to scheme in order to get the throne as she’s proved herself every step of the way that she deserved it being an inspiration for other woman to follow.

In conclusion, Queen Hatshepsut reign was a successful one especially looking at everything she’s accomplished in terms building projects such as temples, tombs to honour the Gods as well establish her kingship. Her expeditions expanded Egyptian trade and she was able to bring in extravagant pieces to Egypt which obviously benefitted the country. Hatshepsut proved herself through her accomplishments and should be praised instead of having a negative light about her. A woman who was able to rule for so long peacefully should be respected and given the credit she deserved. She is an inspiration for other women to always achieve what they dream of and to never doubt oneself.