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Who is the most powerful woman that comes to mind when you consider ancient Egypt?
Perhaps the first name that comes to mind is Cleopatra. Cleopatra was without a doubt a significant ruler admired by her people and feared by her adversaries. Even though ancient historians had negative things to say about her, we now know she was an intelligent woman.
However, she is not the most powerful. Nefertiti is a possibility, right? Her bust is the most well-known ancient Egyptian female figure. According to a new theory, she may have even been a Pharaoh. Nefertiti was a powerful woman, but the Egyptians despised her and her husband, Akhenaten. This is due to the fact that they converted ancient Egypt's religion from polytheism to monotheism, with Aten as the sole god.
There was one Nile queen who possessed greater power than Cleopatra and Nefertiti.
She ruled as a Pharaoh, not a queen. She commissioned statues depicting her with a beard and male attire. Her reign paved the way for the expansion of the Egyptian Empire. She was known as Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut rivaled the legacy of any male Pharaoh in the construction of monumental structures. She made Egypt prosperous through shrewd diplomacy and the avoidance of wars. She was the most powerful female ruler in the history of Egypt.
Early years and ascent to power In 1507 B.C., Hatshepsut was born in the New Kingdom of Egypt to Pharaoh Thutmose I. She later revealed that her father had chosen her as his successor when she was a child because of their close relationship. This was a bold assertion, but the Pharaoh had grand designs for her. According to ancient Egyptian custom, Hatshepsut wed her half-brother Thutmose II. Thutmose II succeeded his father as Pharaoh following the death of Thutmose I.
The daughter of Hatshepsut and Thutmose II was named Neferure. The Pharaoh's second son with his second wife, Iset, was named Thutmose III. Thutmose II passed away in 1479 BCE at the age of 31. Hatshepsut served as the queen regent for her stepson, who was only two years old at the time. After seven years as queen regent, Hatshepsut decided she enjoyed her position so much that she would become Pharaoh. However, as a woman, this would be challenging. Sobkneferu was the only other female Pharaoh before her. Although Egyptian queens wielded immense power, becoming a Pharaoh was an entirely different story.
To support her claims, Hatshepsut devised a plausible tale for the people to believe. She claimed to be the daughter of the god Amun, who entered her father's body the night before her conception. Senenmut, one of Egypt's finest architects, and her chief minister provided support for her claim. According to Egyptologists, the two were lovers who helped each other attain power.
To inspire confidence in her people, Hatshepsut commissioned statues depicting herself as a man. Her sculptures hid her breasts behind a Pharaoh-like beard and enormous muscles.
People who lacked access to the Pharaoh believed that a man ruled Egypt! Hatshepsut may have seized the throne to prevent a rival family from seizing power from her dynasty, according to recent research. There is no doubt that the decisions she made during her reign benefited Egypt and cemented her legacy, despite the fact that we may question the legality of her power grab.
Relations diplomatic, peace, and prosperity. Hatshepsut had an easier time gaining support from the populace, but how could she convince the army that she was the true ruler? Campaigns were the lifeblood of soldiers and generals, and her father was renowned for enlarging Egypt's borders and destroying its enemies. She dispatched a trade mission to Punt accompanied by soldiers. Historians believe Punt to have been a legendary kingdom in Somalia or Eritrea.
The trading mission from Egypt brought back exotic animals, frankincense, and myrrh trees. For the first time in Egypt's history, foreign trees were imported. The frankincense trade revolutionized the ancient cosmetics market. Hatshepsut commanded the resin to be crushed and burned. The queen and other Egyptian royal women used burnt frankincense as eyeliners.
During her reign, her military also entered Canaan, although this is not well documented. Egypt's economy improved as a result of the commercial expedition to Punt, allowing Hatshepsut to begin large-scale construction projects.
We associate the major Egyptian structures with male Pharaohs such as Djoser, Khufu, and Ramses II, among others. Hatshepsut demonstrated that a woman could achieve the same goals as her male predecessors by ordering the construction of two enormous twin obelisks outside the Temple of Karnak. One of them, the Lateran Obelisk, is located in Rome. It once weighed 450 tons and stood 105 feet tall, but deterioration over time has caused it to shrink.
She repaired the monuments at Karnak Temple that the Hyksos had damaged during their conquest of Egypt. She also commissioned a second enormous obelisk in Aswan, which would have been the largest in antiquity. It would have weighed 1200 tons and measured 137 feet in height, but it was never completed. She ruled for twenty-one years. The Egyptians adored her, but one man held a deep grudge against her.
Mummification, demise, and legacy. In 1927, Egyptologist Herbert Winlock discovered a statue of a Pharaoh that had been horribly mutilated. The royal emblem was severed from the forehead, the eyes were gouged out, and the skulls were crushed. This was not a grave robbery, but rather a premeditated attack.
The statues, to Winlock's surprise, were those of Hatshepsut. Egyptologists later realized that her statues were destroyed by her stepson Thutmose III. According to historians, he was tired of waiting to become Pharaoh and believed he was the rightful ruler.
This despicable destruction by Thutmose may indicate that Hatshepsut's death was the result of foul play. Archaeologists discovered her mummy in tomb number 60 in King's Valley, rather than in her own grave, raising additional questions about her demise. The analysis of the mummy reveals rather intriguing details about her final days. Hatshepsut was obese and suffering from arthritis. She had oral health issues. She had an inflammatory skin disease and applied a benzopyrene-based skin lotion. As a carcinogen, benzopyrene caused her to develop bone cancer. Archaeologists discovered the lotion within her personal effects. Hatshepsut may have self-poisoned in an effort to relieve her itchy skin. She passed away at the age of 50 in 1458 B.C.
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