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Discuss Hatshepsut’s Reign asPharaoh

Hatshepsut was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt during the 18

dynasty. Her rulelasted 21 years and 9 months which dates about 1479 – 1458 BC. Hatshepsut’s reignhas intrigued historians; this essay will cover the co-regency with Thutmose III, herrise to the throne, the building program, the expedition to Punt, the

controversy

surrounding the mystery of her death and her image.Hatshepsut became co-regent with Thutmose III after the death of her husband Thutmose II. The reason that she became co-regent with Thutmose was because of his age at the time of his father’s death as he was about 9 or 10 years old. At thebeginning of the regency Hatshepsut made sure that she didn’t overstep theboundaries of her authority; some evidence for this is that she was pictured onmonuments standing behind Thutmose III, also her titles didn’t change from when Thutmose II was still alive as she was still being referred to as

Kings Daughter, Godswife of Amun and Kings great wife.

It is believed that Hatshepsut spent the most of the regency gaining the support of the Nobles; as she would not have been able toenjoy an independent rule without their support. It is believed that Hatshepsutassumed to the throne some point between the second and seventh year of theregency.As pharaoh Hatshepsut embarked on a dynamic building program which consisted of repairing structures that had damaged and building new structures. Some of thebuildings that were constructed were the Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahri, Obelisksand Pylon which are both at Karnak, the Barque Sanctuary at Luxor and many more.Hatshepsut also repaired many monuments which were damaged during the Hyksoskings, two of these were the Temple of Hathor at Cusae and the temple of Thothwhich is at Hermopolis. As a result of these constructions many thousands of jobswere created.During year 9 of Hatshepsut ordered the expedition to punt. Hatshepsut claimed thatthe expedition was being sent as a response to a request from Amun whocommanded her to send the expedition, however historians believe that it was eitherSenenmut or Hapusoneb who suggested the expedition. The purpose of theexpedition was to bring back many goods some of these were listed relief’s in herMortuary temple these were incense resins and fragrant woods which would haveboth been used for religious ceremonies, mummification, medical supplies,fumigating houses and making perfume oils another good was ebony which wouldhave been used for shrines and tomb furniture and many items were listed. The entire expedition was recorded in detail at Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple rightnext to her birth details and her coronation reliefs. The expedition was a completesuccess. The success resulted in ancient Egypt having more goods with demandbeing met; this would have increased the wealth of ancient Egypt, this would havegiven Egypt another destination for further expeditions.During her reign she was depicted on monuments wearing the traditional maleregalia. Historians believe Hatshepsut did this because she wanted distinguish thedifference between her role as co-regent as to her role as pharaoh to her subjects.

She would have wanted the same respect as any other male pharaoh would havereceived. There has been much speculation as to the state of her relationship with ThutmoseIII; as to whether they despised each other or not. There is no physical evidence tosuggest that while Hatshepsut was alive that Thutmose III ever tried to take thethrone for himself. As well as this Hatshepsut never withheld Thutmose III name fromthe hieroglyphics as she always gave him the respect that he deserved. Thutmose IIIhad led armies during Hatshepsut’s reign. It is believed that if Hatshepsut felt that Thutmose III was a threat she would have deprived him from this experience.Although Thutmose III personal thoughts about the regency will never be knownthere are two views the first one states that Thutmose III resented his stepmotherand wanted the throne for himself; however Hatshepsut already had the full supportof the nobles meaning that there was nothing that he could so about it, the secondone states that Thutmose III was happy to let his stepmother rule and then enjoy andindependent rule for himself after her death.Sometime after Hatshepsut’s death Thutmose III ordered the destruction of hermonuments; the destruction included erasing her name, titles and, her statues wereshattered and scattered into the ocean. The motivation for his actions has causedmuch debate between historians. Some historians have theorized claiming that hisactions were motivated by pure hatred and despise for Hatshepsut, however thesetheories have no evidence to back them up; the work by C Nims ‘

The date of theDishonoring of Hatshepsut’

contradicts this theory when he points out that there arearcheological features at Karnack which prove that the destruction occurred late inhis reign. The destruction is believed to have occurred at approximately year 42 of his reign; that is over 2 decades after her death, it’s unlikely that Thutmose III wouldwait 20 years to destroy her monuments out of anger; another piece of evidence thatdisproves the theory is that the destruction was selective as a figure with bothHatshepsut and Thutmose wasn’t destroyed and images of her ka were unharmed.Another theory is that the motivation for his actions was because he didn’t want herachievements to overshadow his own; he mightn’t have wanted comparison to bedrawn between himself and Hatshepsut.Hatshepsut’s reign came to an end when she died. The cause of her death lead tomuch speculation since there was no mummy discovered for many years. Historianshad suggested that Thutmose III had murdered her and destroyed her mummy eventhough there was no evidence that Thutmose III even resented her during theregency. All speculation came to an end when her mummy was finally identified. Hermummy was found Cairo Museum where is had been for many years, however ithadn’t been identified. The cause of her death was discovered to be an infectionwhich was caused after she had a molar removed. Although this was the cause of herdeath she wouldn’t have survived much longer as scientists found evidence of bonecancer, liver cancer and diabetes.Hatshepsut’s reign was filled with many accomplishments and

debate

attaining thethrone for herself, her building program and her expedition to punt, the continuingdebate concerning the state of her relationship with her step-son, and the cause of her death.

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Category:	School Work > Essays & Theses
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Upload Date:	08/08/2009
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Tags:	building program thutmose iii hatshepsut coregency with thutmose iii expedition to punt building program thutmose iii hatshepsut coregency with thutmose iii expedition to punt (fewer)