Morgan Judish
HIST 170
Research paper
Hatshepsut:
The Female King
Ancient Egypt has commonly been a fascination of modern man. Every child has a period of time where they believe they will be an archaeologist and discover the next great Egyptian secret. All of them have heard of King Tut or more commonly known gods such as Ra or Anubis. However, there is one ruler of Egypt who is largely overlooked: Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was not only the first female to maintain the status of pharaoh; she was also one of the most, if not the most successful pharaohs who has ever lived. Hatshepsut was born to king Thutmose the I by his great wife, Ahmose, around 1508 BCE, during the new Kingdom of Egypt. She was one of five children through his great wife,
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She managed to over come obstacles regarding her gender and means of taking power to create the greatest economy Egypt had seen yet. In doing so, she paved the way for making Egypt one of the first super powers of the ancient world. Even with an attempt to eradicate her from history, Hatshepsut’s legend survived the hardships of history to be recognized as one of the most successful leaders of ancient Egypt.
Bibliography:
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Tyldesley, Joyce A. Hatchepsut: the Female Pharaoh. London: Viking, 1996.
Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt during the 18th dynasty, was one of a small handful of female pharaohs. Despite her many achievements, her reign is most remembered for the fact that she was a woman. Her unique story has been a source for dispute among scholars, which has led to a number of conflicting views. The small amount of Hatshepsut’s life that has been documented does not allow us to see the more intimate details of her life. Historians have a broad range of opinions on her, but one thing is certain: her reign provided Egypt with a period of peace and prosperity after 100 years of foreign rule.
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After Hatshepsut 's death, Thutmose III destroyed or defaced her monuments, erased many of her inscriptions and constructed a wall around her obelisks. Thutmose III did that to take the credit for all of Queen Hatshepsut’s work in 22 year period that she reigned. It was unlikely, for women to be king and Thutmose III took all her work as his own work. Though past Egyptologists held that it was merely the queen’s ambition that drove her, more recent scholars have suggested that the move might have been due to a political crisis, such as a threat from another branch of the royal family, and that Hatshepsut may have been acting to save the throne for her stepson. Hatshepsut was only the third woman to become pharaoh in 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history, and the first to attain the full power of the position. Cleopatra, who also exercised such power, would rule some 14 centuries later. There have been rumors and stories about Thutmose III wanted to overrule Queen Hatshepsut reign. It was his reign actually, but Thutmose III was a child and could not rule Egypt. Thutmose I and Ahmose rulers of Egypt, and was the mother and father of Hatshepsut. As people talked back then Queen Hatshepsut was the first female to become Egypt’s king. She ruled for over 22 years of reign in peace. She was married to Thutmose II, and had
Roehrig, Catharine H. Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. New York: The metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. 1-296. Print.
“The pharaoh of ancient Egypt is normally described as the typical example of a divine ruler” (J. Ray, Hatshepsut, Vol 44, Issue 5, 1994) The ancient Egyptian world has seen hundreds of pharaohs; some excelled and some didn’t. Many of the pharaohs were men, only few females succeeded in gaining such great power, yet some did... specifically Hatshepsut. Few pharaohs of the 18Th Dynasty have aroused as much controversy as Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was the sixth pharaoh of the New Kingdom and set up co-regency with her nephew and stepson, Thutmose III. (J. Lawless, Hatshepsut, a Personal Study, 2010) Hatshepsut created many junctions in history through politics, building programmes and military. This makes her so recognised in modern day studies, though almost all evidence of her existence has been partially or completely destroyed. Due to this many theories have been created about the standard of her reign.
Before Hatshepsut, there were other woman who attempted to rule over Egypt. Every time a woman came to power, there was some sort of problem that was left for them to solve. Unlike Hatshepsut, the other woman did not have any confidence to name themselves pharaoh and they did not grow up in the royal family like Hatshepsut did. In paragraph 13, it states, “A few women had tried to rule Egypt before, but never would search valid claim to the throne,” and, “These women had not ruled long or well and neither had had the audacity to proclaim herself pharaoh.” These quotes explain that Hatshepsut was recognized for taking power at a good time and not stepping
Was she the archetypal wicked stepmother, an unnatural and scheming woman ?of the most virile character who would deliberately abuse a position of trust to steal the throne from a defenceless child? (Gardiner, 1961:184)? Or was she ?an experienced and well-meaning woman who ruled amicably alongside her stepson, steering her country through twenty peaceful, prosperous years who deserves to be commemorated among the great monarchs of Egypt? (Budge, 1902:I)? According to biographer and historian Joyce Tyldesley, Queen or as she would prefer to be remembered, King Hatchepsut became the female embodiment of a male role, whose reign was a carefully balanced period of internal peace, foreign exploration and monument building (Tyldesley, 1996:1). This study will show that it was Hatshepsut the Pharaoh?s devotion to the god Amen and her protection of the maat of 18th Dynasty Egypt that allowed her to forge her successful New Kingdom regime.
Cleopatra, born in 69 B.C., was an Egyptian Queen and the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. She was from Greek descent and a member of the Ptolemies, who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years. In just her early twenties, Cleopatra became Queen of Egypt following the death of her father and the defeat of her siblings. Popularly, she is remembered because of her physical beauty, love affairs, and the tragedy of her life. But more importantly she should be celebrated as a commanding female leader who used her intellect to exercise considerable power and influence in a male-dominated world.
Ancient Egypt is home to one of the greatest female pharaoh. Queen Hatshepsut. She was the first female pharaoh and did great things.
Queen Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful females in Ancient Egyptian history. Not only was she the longest reigning female pharaoh in all of Egypt, but she made lasting impacts on the nation during and far after her reign. Although she was a woman, and this type of power had never been given to a woman before, she is considered one of Egypt's most successful pharaohs.
The fundamental features of the Warrior Pharaoh image during New Kingdom Egypt included; leading his soldiers into battle and returning in victory, attacking the enemy in his horse-drawn chariot which was adopted from the Hyksos, wearing war regalia , larger than life expectations and finally offering the spoils of war to the god Amun, the inspiration of his victory. Due to the absence of the their pharaohs on military campaigns, the Queens began to play a more prominent role within the New Kingdom Egypt’s society, however this was a short term consequence of the civil war as it was only necessary when the Pharaoh left to go to war or on a campaign. The rise in roles and prominences amongst the Queen’s slowly decreased towards the end of the war until Hatshepsut comes into power. After this the Queen’s involvement seems to disappear and we begin to no longer hear about
...se days a male child was more valued than a girl. Her guard had to always be up, while she had all the power in Egypt there were other people who had the same power as she.
During the time of Ancient Egypt, having strong Pharaohs was essential to the maintenance and growth of the civilization, as the Pharaohs were believed to be living Gods. Although leadership of Ancient Egypt was often male dominated, there were admirable female Pharaohs who successfully gained power and left behind a positive legacy; one woman to achieve this was Hatshepsut, meaning ‘foremost of female nobles’. Her innovation and determination allowed her to maintain her position of Pharaoh for about twenty years (1479-1458 BCE). Hatshepsut was considered to be a very successful leader because of her confidence and ambition, magnificent building projects, and establishment of a strong trading network.
Pomeroy, Sarah B. -. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women’s History & Ancient History.
... Egyptian women were looked at differently than men; their role was that of the nurturer and the caregiver, the bearer of a family’s future. They were just as important to the society as the men. Ancient Egypt was a very complex world, and just as complex was the role that women played in its society. They were not free, but they also were not enslaved. They were vital, but only in terms of their husbands and their children. Egypt offered women a far more free life than the rest of the ancient world. In the end, women played a secondary role to men putting their desires for achievement aside so their husband could be king.