This afternoon, as we were wandering around Memphis, Chatterboy told me the story of Hatshepsut, who is often described as the first Queen of Egypt. She wasn’t (there are a few other earlier candidates), but she is the most clearly acknowledged as a ruler in her own right, and there is the is the most evidence that she was acknowledged as the Pharaoh.
My feminist antennae pricked up when Chatterboy told me the story (picked up either from Horrible Histories, or the The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child) of how she had put up a whole lot of temples claiming military victories that her father had actually been responsible for. That sounded like classic chauvinist revisionism to me, so I wanted to know more.
As always, the story is much more complex (and still subject to a bit of difference of opinion among the experts, to judge from a quick wander through various websites this afternoon).
She was her Pharaoh father’s (Tuthmosis I) older child, and as was customary, married her brother Tuthmosis II and ruled with him. He died pretty soon after his father, though, and so she became Pharaoh, until she died, and her stepson Tuthmosis III succeeded her. Some histories suggest that she started out as his regent, but then grabbed the power of Pharaoh. Others seem to suggest it was a natural progression. I can’t imagine it happened without a fair bit of politicking on her part, as however good a ruler she was, it wasn’t normal for a woman to be in charge.
That said, though, women in Ancient Egypt seemed to have a fair bit of respect, getting their own (smaller) pyramids, for example, and having special titles all their own (“God’s wife”), so it might not have been as much of a stretch as it was in mediaeval Europe, for example.
She reigned for (probably, the start is a bit uncertain) twenty one or two years, which were pretty good years, on the whole. She reestablished Egypt’s disrupted trade routes, thus improving its economic situation, arranged an expedition south, to the Land of Punt (possibly as far as present day Somalia), and did an above average amount of monument building, including a mortuary temple for herself which is still standing in Karnak.
She died, probably peacefully of cancer, before Tuthmosis III became Pharaoh. Her mummy was only identified a few years ago, by matching her tooth to a tooth in a canopic jar labelled with her name. Before her mummy was identified, there was much speculation that Tuthmosis did away with her, but the cancer evidence makes that seem unlikely.
Anyway, the story of her taking over her father’s monuments? Somewhat true, but not unusual. It was very usual in Ancient Egypt for pharaohs to reuse monuments from the previous reign, by chiselling over the cartouches with their own names. Hatshepsut certainly did a bit of that. She also, though, built her own monuments, and had a fair bit to celebrate of her own. But towards the end of Tuthmosis III’s rule, or towards the beginning of Amenhotep II’s, her name was systematically removed from most of her monuments, either (some speculate) to remove evidence of a woman being pharaoh, or (according to others) to remove evidence of the weakness of Amenhotep II’s claim to the throne.
I find it fascinating, on reading the various conflicting stories I’ve looked at, how much her life seems to be interpreted according to the feminist ideas (or not) of those doing the interpreting. The bits of information that have been emphasised in various accounts has varied enormously over the last 100 years (and the much much longer period that people of the ancient and modern worlds have been writing about the ancient Egyptians).
I can see myself emphasising the parts of her life that suit my own feminist interpretation the best. But regardless, she is a woman worth remembering, and celebrating for what seems a good period in Ancient Egypt’s long history.
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This is the first in what I’m hoping will become an occasional series, on our travels, spotlighting interesting women from the places we go.
Thank you, Penguin. I am thinking about starting a history time line with my 11 year old, introducing it via Horrible Histories and colouring in bits of feminism.I shall stay tuned.
This is a great idea! I really enjoyed this story (and I usually do not enjoy reading history where there tends to be so much detail), but you pulled out all the interesting facts. Looking forward to hearing more stories.
Thanks. I’ve done another one, and now I’m looking for a bit more local inspiration.
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