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,
…show more content…
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:
Cooney, Kara. "Who Remembers the Greatest Woman to Rule the Ancient World?." Time.Com (November 6, 2014): N.PAG. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 6, 2015).
Creasman, Pearce. "Hatshepsut and the Politics of Punt." African Archaeological Review 31, no. 3 (September 2014): 395-405. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 6, 2015).
"Hatshepsut." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (December 2013): 1. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 6, 2015).
Hillard, Kristina and Wurtzel, Kate. “Power and Gender in Ancient Egypt: The Case of Hatshepsut.” Are Education 62, no. 3 (May 2009): 25-31. Academic Search Premier, JSTOR (accessed March 6, 2015)
Tyldesley, Joyce A. Hatchepsut: the Female Pharaoh. London: Viking, 1996.
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.
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. There are a number of theories involving Hatshepsut’s personal and public life.
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
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
Robins, Gay. "The Names of Hatshepsut as King." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 85 (1999): 103-12. Jstore. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. .
Hatshepsut was born into a wealthy, educated family; however, she displayed qualities that are innate among most great leaders. She was courageous, ambitious, confident, and innovative. This allowed her to become the female Pharaoh during the 18th dynasty, and in a male dominating society, this was seen as an accomplishment among historians analyzing women in power. Hatshepsut’s will to adopt the role as Pharaoh prior to her reign portrays her as a strong, independent female leader. Her building projects and further establishment of trade had a positive impact on Ancient Egypt socially, economically, and intellectually by creating opportunity and further expanding their knowledge. Ultimately, Hatshepsut is considered to be a very successful and influential leader within Ancient history.
“His majesty, herself”: ruler of consequence and inconsequence. She was one of the most controversial rulers of ancient Egyptian history. The discovery in 2007 of her remains and tomb creating more questions than answers. From her glorious reign of Egyptian prosperity and consequence, to her mysterious death and attempts to erode her from history and make her legacy inconsequential, Hatshepsut rose above and now is considered to be “most important find in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamen.
Roehrig, Catharine H., Renée Dreyfus, and Cathleen A. Keller. Hatshepsut, from Queen to Pharaoh. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. 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.
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.
pharaoh was Hatshepsut, the first female to rule Ancient Egypt. During her reign, Egypt’s economy flourished and trade relations expanded.
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.
When an Egyptian Pharaoh is pictured, it is normally a person with a very elegant crown and well-designed clothing, but most importantly a Pharaoh is depicted as a man. In the history of Egypt, though, some Pharaohs were actually women, just like the case of Hatshepsut. There were other women rulers of Egypt, and when asked which one is most recognized, it is probably Cleopatra, but Hatshepsut deserves just as much respect as Cleopatra for the way she obtained the title of Pharaoh. She not only broke the traditional laws of Egypt when becoming Pharaoh, but Hatshepsut let nothing stop her from becoming a future Pharaoh of Egypt. Developing into a Pharaoh was not a simple task, but to become Pharaoh “Hatshepsut made the most extraordinary move ever made by an Egyptian, or any other woman” (Wells 185). The move to follow her dreams were filled with lots of struggles, and the major struggle that was in her way was being a woman when most Pharaohs are men. Another struggle was her stepson Tuthmosis III, and his journey to become the next Pharaoh. The last struggle was to keep her legacy known after her death to show the Pharaoh she really was. Through all the battles to become Pharaoh, Hatshepsut stayed strong to become a person many women could not be in that specific time period. Hatshepsut, no doubt, had struggles through her destination of becoming a Pharaoh, but she fought through each battle in becoming one of the most known and popular Pharaohs of Egypt.
It is difficult to fully understand the role of women in ancient Egyptian society because the understandings of the society and government are still incomplete. There are also two other major problems, those being that there is very little source material on women, and the material that has been found was biased by the ideas and minds of previous Egyptologists. The only source material that has survived from great kingdoms of Egypt is material that has been either found in tombs on the walls and sarcophaguses, or carved on major government and religious document. None of the writings on papyrus and other delicate materials survived. This material, which has survived, is the writings of the Egyptian literate male elite. In their writings the also did not show any emotions or feelings, this was not the style of the Egyptian people, writings were purely a record keeping device. Because of these limitations, “It is essential to avoid the temptation to extrapolate from the particular to the general, a process which can only too easily introduce error.”
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.