By Barbara O’Neill.Published on Egyptological, December 7th 2011, Magazine Edition 3.
(image: Hatshepsut, Metropolitan Museum of Art. By Verne Appleby)
“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth” - (Maya Angelou)
In the Beginning
Most people first learn about Hatshepsut on discovering her elegant mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri. Some visitors to the site may be puzzled by the fact that the royal woman whose temple this was, is often referred to as ‘king’, for surely the Egyptian ruler had to be male? Other views on Hatshepsut go further; acknowledging that while she may have ruled Egypt as monarch, she did so as a female usurper of the role; a devious power-hungry woman. Although theories abound, we do not know why Hatshepsut, wife and daughter of Egyptian kings, stepped outside her conventional female role, crowned herself king and went on to rule alongside her stepson, Thutmosis III until her death two decades later.
As daughter of Thutmosis I and sister-wife to his son and her half-brother, Thutmosis II, there is little exceptional in Hatshepsut’s early life as an Eighteenth Dynasty royal wife and daughter. Upon her husband’s death, having no male child of her own, Hatshepsut acted as regent to her young stepson Thutmosis III. This is where the facts of the matter become rather murky, for instead of stepping aside upon her young charge’s maturity and allowing him to assume his role as sole ruler, Hatshepsut had herself crowned king, leaving the younger king in the background of history for approximately twenty years.
More than three thousand years after her death, scholars continue to explore Hatshepsut’s kingship, the details of which are sometimes viewed as a persistent, unsolvable problem. Why did she usurp this role when there appears to be no valid reason for her actions? Upon his step-mother’s death, Thutmosis finally became sole ruler of Egypt, proving to be one of the most successful kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty. While the enigma surrounding Hatshepsut remains, perhaps the most illuminating information on her reign can be found within her monuments and inscriptions. For it is here where her efforts to legitimise her own actions can be found.
In this article, I will explore Hatshepsut’s legitimisation of her rule as evidenced within the components of two structures; her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri and her inscription at Speos Artemidos. The first contains a considerable amount of information within its architecture, inscriptions and imagery. The second bears an exquisitely refined legitimisation strategy, in what could be Hatshepsut’s own words. Both sites serve to illuminate how a powerful Egyptian king was able to utilise her gender, political acumen and vision, bequeathing Egypt the legacy of an accomplished rule, whilst revealing something of how she wished her kingship to be perceived.
Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple at Deir el Bahri
Djeser-Djeseru or ‘Holiest of the Holy’, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple built into the Theban hills at Deir el Bahri, encapsulates a carefully constructed presentation of her reign. Scholars have hypothesised as to whether Hatshepsut’s husband Thutmosis II, her official, Senenmut, or Hapuseneb, her High Priest of Amun, may have contributed to its design. Hatshepsut herself may have moulded the project, influencing the layout of this temple. Whatever the case, her reign saw an explosion of artistic creativity, with a reinterpretation of the traditional and mastery of the innovative incorporated within this structure. The first attested example of a processional avenue of sphinxes on the temple approach was one such original element, serving to highlight the temple’s importance and functioning as a ritually protective feature. Djeser-Djeseru’s design emulates that of earlier structures, in particular the Eleventh Dynasty mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, located nearby.
The Middle Kingdom was viewed as a time of great achievement in Egypt’s history; its earliest kings had successfully reunited Egypt after the collapse of the Old Kingdom. Hatshepsut’s regard for the Eleventh Dynasty ‘founder king’ Mentuhotep II, and her decision to build her mortuary temple...
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(Video) Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, [Deir El Bahri]; Luxor, Egypt., uploaded byatharona (11/11/2010):
thanks for posting this, yea i was looking for something more detailed on her mortuary temple and this was greatly shown...i have a hatsepsut cartouche necklace i bought as a present and never used it, i know how u have a cousin who is interested in egyptology too so i`ll send it over so u ca give it to her - njoy
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