What was hatshepsut famous for

Did she and Senenmut share more than power? Probably not, most scholars, including Peter Dorman, have concluded. Dorman does believe, however, that the pharaoh and her favorite minister may well have been victims ofspeculation and gossip. The tomb suffered major damage, including the smashing of his impressive, if unused, stone sarcophagus.

It was long thought that either Hatshepsut or Thutmose III were the culprits, but recent scholarship suggests some combination of religious upheaval, tomb robbers and natural collapse.

But was it, as many early Egyptologists had assumed, an act of revenge and hatred? Wasthere some threat to the legitimacy of his own son, Amenhotep II, who in fact did succeed him? The story of Hatshepsut will probably never be complete.

Even so, new light continues to shine on the queen who would be king. In , Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass identified a previously excavated royal mummy as Hatshepsut. Catharine Roehrig is among those scholars awaiting more evidence to bolster the claim. Tyldesley believes that Hatshepsut may have been keenly conscious of her exceptional place in history. Post a Comment. Osirian Statues of Hatshepsut.

These statues of Hatshepsut at her tomb show her holding the crook and flail associated with Osiris. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. She ruled longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Hundreds of construction projects and statuary were commissioned by Hatshepsut, including obelisks and monuments at the Temple of Karnak. The average woman in Egypt was quite liberated for the time, and had a variety of property and other rights.

Hatshepsut died in BCE in middle age, possibly of diabetes and bone cancer. Like his predecessor, he fought in Nubia. In their personal life, the couple had a daughter named Neferure who would go on to assume royal duties. He was, however, a child and unable to rule Egypt, leaving Hatshepsut to serve as regent. She did this for three years until, for reasons unknown, she became a pharaoh in her own right although technically a co-ruler with Thutmose III.

She took on a full throne name, and statues were created depicting her as a male king, right down to the beard. However, she did allow some feminine traits to come through. In addition, University of Toronto Professor Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner, whose team found a wooden statue at Abydos that may be of Hatshepsut, notes that her waist was depicted as being somewhat slimmer than her male counterparts.

For many years, Hatshepsut ca — B. She was the daughter of one pharaoh Thutmose I and queen wife of another her half brother, Thutmose II. When her husband died in B. Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh , adopting the emblems and titles associated with the title.

She had herself portrayed in pictures as a man, with a male body and false beard. She could not have achieved it without the support of high officials at court—including Senenmut, overseer of royal works—who risked losing their power, if not their lives, if she yielded to Thutmose III. Instead, she took the military out of the equation.

Rather than sending soldiers to war, she sent them on what became her proudest venture: a trading expedition to the fabled land of Punt, along the southern shore of the Red Sea, where no Egyptian had been for years.

The successful campaign significantly enhanced her reputation and popularity. Hatshepsut did not banish Thutmose III, who technically served as her co-ruler, but she clearly overshadowed him. Her year reign—15 as principal monarch—was a time of peace and prosperity for Egypt. She undertook grand building projects, including two pairs of imposing obelisks at Karnak and at her mortuary temple, Djeser-Djeseru.

Before his own death, Thutmose III moved to erase Hatshepsut from the historical record by defacing her monuments and removing her name from the list of kings. Statues of Osiris, god of the afterlife, were carved into portico pillars. A life-size statue showed her in the traditional attire of a pharaoh, making an offering to the gods—a role usually reserved for men.

When it came to the afterlife, religion was personal for Egyptians.