Lecture – 10-22-09 – Hat-shepsut

Hat-shepsut – female pharaoh of Egypt – still called King

Ah-mose – means born of the moon

1492 – Thutmose I succeeded by Thutmose II

Thutmoses II marries half sister Hatshepsut (of the royal line – Ahmose and
Thutmose I)

Thutmose III succeeds Thutmoses II at an early age – born of a secondary wife

Hatshepsut becomes regent of Thutmose III when Thutmose II dies– she is his
stepmother and aunt

Precedence:

Mer-neith (?)

2 OK queens – both Khent-ka-wes – ruled as regents for sons:

1st was mother of User-kaf

2nd was wife of User-kaf

Both took nesu-bity name

Nitocrit (nit-iq-crit) – 6th dyn – rules under own name as queen

End of MK, woman is ruler, only heir to throne – Sobek-neferu

Kings are dying young in battle against the hyksos

Kings mother becomes regent – new title: Mut-nesut – means king’s mother

Ah-mose I dies in his 20s – wife Ah-mose Nefertari serves as regent for their son
Amen-hotep I

Amen-hotep – the son – dies young so rule goes to Ah-mose (the daughter)

Ah-mose marries Thutmose I – they have Hatshepsut

Thutmose I dies, Ah-mose becomes regent over Thutmose II (?)

Hatshepsut marries Thutmose II and Neferu-Re is born

Hatshepsut means :foremost of noble ladies”

Once he becomes king he takes another wife – Thutmose III is born of minor
wife
 Hatshepsut is regent over Thutmose III when Thutmose II dies

Thutmose III marries half sister Neferu-Re

Preceding Hatshepsut – half the time a woman was ruling Egypt

Hatshepsut was God’s Wife of Amun (eventually position becomes higher than high
priest of Amun)

Queens eventually start titling themselves as GWA

Hat-shepsut elevates herself to co-regnant of the king = equal positions

15-20 years until Hat-shepsut dies – co-ruling with stepson/half-brother (?)

All of the bureaucrats she elected stayed in their positions

Peaceful transition to Thutmose III

Joint reign seems more peaceful that Thutmose III solo reign

Trade mission to Punt (possibly Erytria – on horn of Ethiopia/Somalia)

Ships sailed down Red Sea – ostrich plumes, woods, myrrh, etc.

Impressed by a fat queen encountered in Punt – even though Hatshepsut was not a
skinny woman – also diabetic – possibly died of cancer

Early NK ideas of trade/exploration

How to deal when King is a female?

What do to about bulls tail, false beard, terms as masculine, job smashing
foreheads, glyph is male – problem addresses under Sobek – Neferu in MK

Hatshepsut shows herself as queen – dress, emblems of GWA, red sash, and
headdress

Takes Praenomen of king – Ma’at-Ka-Re – Truth is the Soul

Gradually adds cartouche with king of UE and LE (when she took over as
King)

Statuary of her in dress, but with striding posture (typically male)

By regnal year 7, images become masculine – dress, regalia, physique

Sometimes she is referred to as “he”

She wears the false beard

 She nor other Egyptians were confused about her gender, but for purposes of
kingship she uses traditional male words

Attempts to use “Lady” of the two lands, etc

Once she becomes king, she rewrites autobiography to demonstrate that Ra

impregnates kings mother to give divine right to throne – scenes of divine
conception, etc.

Possible that he father had intended for her to take precedence over her
bother

All things expected of king – expanded Amun temple of Karnak

Set up obelisks, building works

Offerings of incense to gods

Carried out Sed Festival

Built required mortuary temple for herself

Male bureaucracy seemed OK with this

No signs of rebellion or dissention

Per-nesut – royal house (?)

Thebes – religious center of country, army stationed here, headquarters of royal

princes there

Not uncommon for one person to hold secular and religious position

Most known – Sen-en-mut – son of Ra-mose and Hat-Nefer (never heard of

them)

Was not a vizier but she was a royal steward (manager) of her properties and
chief steward of Amun

Seems to be a commoner, interesting figure

May have begun his career under Thutmose I

Became state manager and possibly tutor for Hatshepsut’s daughter

Become wealthy and powerful very quickly

He commissions 25 statues of himself over his life, more than any other
private person in Egypt
 Some executed in hard stones like red quartzite (usually a royal
statuary- red is solar color)

Innovated new styles of sculpture

Permitted to carve his own image in Hatshepsuts mortuary temple and was
the overseer of this temple

Was given lavish quartzite sarcophagus like a royal sarcophagus

Seems to never have been married – some speculate he may have been
Hatshepsut’s lover or possibly morganatic husband (a person who is legally
married but heirs have no legal right to succession of the throne)

Name and image appear alongside hers on many objects – but possibly only
in capacity of overseer of Amun (djeser-djeseru – the holy of holies)

Built two tombs for himself – 2nd is side by side with Hatshepsuts and is
connected with her tomb

Disappears/dies a few years before she dies – no one is sure if he was

disfavored or if he died first – his name has been chiseled out of some of his
monuments

Was thought to have been architect of funerary temple – style is copied by

subsequent kings

If he really designed it, he made an architectural impact

Great hall was where kings own cult was carried out

Enormous vaulted hall inside – temple of Anubis, temple of Hathor, and

barque temple of Amun

When Hatshepsut dies, Thutmose III rules on by himself for 30 years

Before he dies/right after (?) – a destruction of all the kingly images of Hatshepsut
(not images of her as GWA, queen, or depicted as female)

In it’s place was chiseled Thutmose I or II

Makes it appear that he succeeded the other two kings and that she was
never King – remember, if it’s chiseled out, it never happened…

Attempting to secure his son, Amenhotep II, as heir

Once Amenhotep II is secured as heir to throne, defacing of her statuary and

images stopped
 Was there a problem with succession? – was someone else claiming the
throne against Amenhotep the II – possibly someone from Thutmose I’s family
or a minor son of Ah-mose I

Timing makes it appear that defacing images was relevant to succession

Hatshepsut’s body was not found in her tomb (common due to grave-robbing)

Two mummies were found together in a tomb – possibly the tomb of the nurse of
Hatshepsut

They found a box labeled Hatshepsut with a tooth in it – matched it to one of the
two mummies found

Slides:

Scepter of queen becomes GWA

Co-regnants – both depicted as male, even though Hatshepsut is obviously female

False beards and all

Ah-mose depicted pregnant with got Hat-shepsut (in birthing house) – king typically
has to depict the divine conception, etc.

Hatshepsut erects obelisks – only kings can erect obelisks

Hatshepsut depicted in Nemes headdress and female clothes – only kings wear
Nemes headdress

At mortuary temple – all sphinxes and Osirid statues with her name on them were
destroyed

User-Amun – vizier under Hatshepsut

Mekhenu – another bureaucrat

NK style becomes generic – images of kings don’t really look like the king