THE UNTOLD TRUTH OF THE WOMEN WHO RULED ANCIENT EGYPT

Louvre Museum/Wikimedia Commons

BY SARAH CROCKER/JAN. 28, 2021 4:40 PM EST

When considering the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, who do you imagine? Probably a man, right? He's
wearing a crown of some sort, sporting some nice eyeliner, and generally lording it over everyone as a
god on Earth. But, what about the goddesses?

Turns out, there were a fair number of women who ruled over ancient Egypt, from its very beginnings to
the final dynastic pharaoh on the throne at the time of the Roman takeover. That may be in part
because, compared to other societies at the time, ancient Egyptian women were pretty liberated.
According to the University of Chicago Libraries, they could enter into contracts, own property, initiate
divorces, and generally operate like a responsible, independent adult. Far better than, say, ancient
Greek society, which often treated women as baby-rearing machines and little else (via Ancient History
Encyclopedia).

Though women in ancient Egypt had many more rights than their counterparts in other ancient cultures,
the truth is that Egypt was still firmly ensconced in patriarchy, according to the Ancient History
Encyclopedia. People expected the pharaoh to be male, while other high-powered positions like those of
general, engineer, scribe, and more were dominated by men. Women, meanwhile, were generally
expected to take care of the home and children

However, exceptions were sometimes made, especially for upper-class and royal women. In fact, some
high-ranking ladies made it all the way to the very top of Egyptian society. Here's the untold truth of the
women who ruled ancient Egypt.

NEITHHOTEP RULED ANCIENT EGYPT AFTER HER HUSBAND'S DEATH

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Since Neithhotep lived in the Early Dynastic Period, which ran from 3150 to 2613 B.C.E., information
about her is scanty, much like it is for anyone in that far-away time. However, there are tantalizing clues
that she may have ruled on her own after the death of the pharaoh.

Who, exactly, that pharaoh was is still in question. According to When Women Ruled the World,
Neithhotep's presumed husband was either the legendary first pharaoh of a united Egypt, Narmer, or
one of his close successors, Aha. Whoever he was, this early pharaoh died while his heir was still a young
boy, leaving Neithhotep to reign as regent until the new king came of age.
As the Ancient History Encyclopedia reports, there's no direct record that says Neithhotep ruled on her
own, but the circumstantial evidence of her power is pretty compelling. The people who uncovered her
tomb many centuries later were awed by its richness and size, assuming that it must have been meant
for Narmer's kingly successor. Her name has also been included in inscriptions typically meant only for
kings. Though Neithhotep remains a mysterious figure from Egypt's deep past, it's pretty clear, given
how her name has survived over the centuries since her own time, that Neithhotep was a force to be
reckoned with.

MERNEITH WAS THE TRUE POWER BEHIND THE EGYPTIAN THRONE

The Yorck Project/Wikimedia Commons

Like many other queens who achieved considerable power in ancient Egypt, Merneith found herself
wielding influence because she was both the wife and mother of pharaohs. Though her rule was
predicated on her connections to the men in her life, few would have been foolish enough to cross her.

Some of that fear may have come from an early Egyptian practice known as "retainer sacrifice." As
When Women Ruled the World reports, some of the first pharaohs were apparently buried with their
servants, quite a few of whom appear to have been in good health at the time of their simultaneous
deaths, hinting at sacrifice. Merneith would very likely have been the one making the call as to who
would accompany the deceased pharaoh.

As per National Geographic, Merneith was recorded as having stepped into power after her husband,
King Djet, died. The alternative would have been to allow an uncle to act as regent, but apparently
Merneith wasn't fond of letting this male relative manipulate her boy. Perhaps, as When Women Ruled
the World argues, Merneith was also looking out for her own skin. It's possible that, if she hadn't taken
the reins of power fast, she would have been sacrificed right along with the servants.

SOBEKNEFERU DIDN'T BOTHER TO PRESENT AS A MALE PHARAOH

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Ancient Egypt is generally split up into three major periods that cover the era of pharaonic rule by native
Egyptians. According to History, these are the Old Kingdom (2686 – 2181 B.C.E.), the Middle Kingdom
(2055 – 1786 B.C.E.), and the New Kingdom (1567 – 1085 B.C.E). Those kingdoms are generally
separated by intermediate periods that could bring serious upheaval for Egyptians, including the rule of
foreign pharaohs. Those power vacuums, however, allowed at least one woman to take power.
As per Britannica, Sobekneferu was the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty, which capped the Middle
Kingdom. She came to the throne after the deaths of her father and brother. With no male heirs to take
over, Sobekneferu stepped in around 1760 B.C.E., ruling for about four years.

While other female pharaohs, like Hatshepsut, often depicted themselves as male to shore up their
claims to power, Sobekneferu consistently presented herself as a woman. Yet, there were still some
procedural speed bumps. Silent Images explains that, when a king was crowned, he was referred to by
titles that linked him to male gods. Sobekneferu couldn't find equivalent goddesses, meaning that she
had to make up a "female Horus" for her coronation.

AHHOTEP I COMMANDED ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TROOPS

The Yorck Project/Wikimedia Commons

Though she was the mother of a pharaoh, Ahhotep I didn't concern herself only with domestic duties.
She served as a powerful high priestess and is recorded as having put down a dangerous rebellion while
her son was out of the country. Seemingly all in the job description for a powerful royal woman of
Egypt's New Kingdom.

Ahhotep I, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, lived around 1570 – 1530 B.C.E. She was the
mother of Ahmose I, who was an adult with power of his own. Yet, the king couldn't be everywhere at
once. While Ahmose was off on a military campaign, a group of foreign people known as the Hyksos
began to cause trouble. People who sympathized with this group attempted a rebellion while Ahmose
was out of town, but Ahhotep stepped in. Without bothering to consult her faraway son, she
commanded the military and seems to have put down the rebellion with little trouble.

When she wasn't running the kingdom in the absence of Ahmose I, Ahhotep I was also fulfilling an
important religious role for Egypt. She was the God's Wife of Amun, an admittedly ceremonial priestess
title at the time she held it. Eventually, she passed it on to her daughter-in-law, Ahmose-Nefertari, who
turned the job into a very powerful office. The University of Chicago reports that, after Ahhotep's
tenure, God's Wives of Amun soon wielded considerable political power.

TWOSRET HAD A SHORT TIME ON ANCIENT EGYPT'S THRONE

John D. Croft/Wikimedia Commons

Twosret reigned for up to three years, though Google Arts and Culture notes that, since she took on the
reign of her predecessor and added his years to her own count, things can get confusing. In fact,
everything might have been confusing at the moment Twosret took over.
She gained the throne in a chaotic time following the sudden death of the previous pharaoh, Siptah.
Daughters of Isis says that she was likely a co-ruler to Siptah, perhaps explaining the confusion over her
regnal years. Frustratingly enough, there isn't a whole lot of evidence that tells us what it was like to live
under her rule, though her name pops up in some pretty far-flung inscriptions in places like the Sinai and
Palestine.

Though it's not entirely clear if Twosret's reign ended with her natural death or something more sinister
— it was a time of great upheaval, after all, and she wouldn't have been the first pharaoh to meet an
untimely end — her tomb does offer some interesting information. As Tausret reports, her final resting
place is one of the biggest tombs in the Valley of the Kings, a royal funerary complex near Thebes. Since
she was one of only a very few women to make it to the valley, it's easy to think that she was taken
seriously even in death. According to Britannica, Pharaoh's wives, meanwhile, were usually consigned to
the Valley of the Queens.

NEFERTARI LIVED AT THE PINNACLE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Ramesses II, also known as "Ramesses the Great," is perhaps one of the first known ancient rulers to
really, really enjoy looking at himself. As the BBC reports, he is one of the most prolific monument
builders of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Those monuments, naturally, included many statues,
paintings, and carvings of Ramesses, not to mention inscriptions that, frankly, make him seem too good
to be true.

The fact that his favorite queen, Nefertari, also appears on quite a few of these monuments speaks to
her power and influence, especially in the face of her husband's rampant ego. Still, according to PBS,
there isn't much direct information about Nefertari, so historians are stuck trying to glean information
from things like statues and her lavish tomb. Her burial spot, in the Valley of the Queens, was looted
after her death, though robbers weren't able to take the gorgeous paintings and carvings off the walls.

After her death, Ramesses also built two temples at Abu Simbel, with the smallest, naturally enough,
dedicated to her. Though the statues of Nefertari there aren't quite as big as those of her husband, the
fact that someone as apparently self-interested as Ramesses was compelled to respect her in these ways
hints that she was an especially powerful royal woman with a lot of sway with the king.

NITOCRIS MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST WOMAN TO RULE EGYPT ALONE

Warren LeMay/Wikimedia Commons

For a long time, Nitocris was dismissed as nothing more than an ancient tale. According to the Ancient
History Encyclopedia, she was long thought to be the creation of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus,
who lived in the 5th century B.C.E. and didn't appear to always be concerned about piddling matters like
historical accuracy or fact checking.

Nitocris is mentioned by a couple of other Greek sources, though she doesn't appear in any native
Egyptian texts. Some sources state that she must be real, since she appears on a list of kings known as
the "Royal Canon of Turin." Yet, as A Companion to Ancient Egypt notes, that name appears at the end
of a fragment. It could very well be that her mention is a jumbled-up tag of parchment that actually
refers to a male king. Sounds like, if nothing else, mentioning Nitocris at an Egyptology conference is a
surefire way to start a heated argument.

If she did exist, however, she had a fearsome reputation. Herodotus wrote that she took the throne
after the assassination of her own brother. Nitocris built a grand underground chamber and invited the
murderers to a grand feast. She then released the waters of the Nile into the chamber, drowning the
men and securing her revenge.

TIYE WASN'T JUST THE PHARAOH'S MOM

Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP/Wikimedia Commons

There's no mistaking the fact that Queen Tiye was a major part of her husband's prosperous reign. Later,
when her son, the pharaoh Akhenaten, upended much of Egyptian belief and culture to install his
revolutionary monotheistic beliefs in the kingdom, Tiye remained a vital political figure from the old
regime.

Unlike many of the other women who ruled Egypt, Tiye's influence is well-documented thanks to the
Amarna Letters. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art reports, these were clay tablets inscribed with
Akkadian cuneiform, found at Akhenaten's capital. Most of the tablets are from foreign rulers north of
Egypt. As per the Ancient History Encyclopedia, the content of these letters also show that Tiye was a
well-regarded political mover and shaker alongside her male relatives.

Tiye also shows up in plenty of monuments via paintings and statues. Notably, her statues are often as
large as those of her husband, Amenhotep III. Typically, a king's image showed him as larger than others
around him as a way of visually showing his high status. This means that Tiye's same-size depictions
point towards her influence. Her name also shows up in inscriptions enclosed in a special sign called a
cartouche, generally only reserved for kings. More obviously, as the Ancient History Encyclopedia notes,
is the evidence that she corresponded directly with foreign rulers like a kind of ancient secretary of state
during the reign of her son.

HATSHEPSUT LEFT A SERIOUS MARK ON ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HISTORY

ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons

Not only does Hatshepsut's 21-year reign appear to be long even for male pharaohs, but she also
undertook a campaign of expeditions and monument building that secured her legacy, even when it
came up against her rather sour-grapes successor.

Like other women rulers before and after her, Hatshepsut's ascension hinged on her male relatives.
According to History, the 12-year-old Hatshepsut married her half-brother, Thutmose II, setting her up
to become queen one day. When Thutmose II died, his son by another wife became king. Yet, the young
Thutmose III was only a boy. Someone would have to act as regent until he came of age. Hatshepsut was
conveniently available.

That's not so strange, since other women had acted as regents. Yet, Hatshepsut's next move was
shocking. As Smithsonian Magazine reports, she decided that things would work better if she were co-
ruler. Hatshepsut eventually began presenting herself as a legitimate ruler, to the point where some
statues and inscriptions show her as a male king, complete with flat chest and a ceremonial false
beard. Besides her extensive monument building, Hatshepsut also pushed for a now-legendary
expedition south to the land of Punt, likely on the coast of what's now Eritrea. Egyptian delegates
returned with rich, exotic goods. One inscription claims that "never were such things brought to any king
since the world was."

NEFERTITI MAY HAVE REIGNED ON HER OWN

Giovanni/Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps one of the most famous images of ancient Egypt is that of the bust of Nefertiti, queen of Egypt.
Now housed in Berlin's Neues Museum, the sculpture first saw the modern era when it was uncovered
in 1913 in the ruins of Amarna, the abandoned capital of pharaoh Akhenaten (via History). Since it's
gone on display, the bust has struck people with its stunning beauty.

Yet, the queen who was the subject of this famous sculpture was more than a pretty face. According to
the Ancient History Encyclopedia, she was the wife of Akhenaten, the notorious heretic pharaoh of
Egypt's New Kingdom. Shortly after he took the throne around 1353 B.C.E., Akhenaten demanded that
the kingdom switch to the monotheistic worship of the sun god, Aten. He uprooted the court and moved
it to a newly constructed city, Amarna, where he was accompanied by Nefertiti.

Nefertiti is shown alongside her pharaoh husband more than any other queen before her, History says.
She's also shown in active roles, from leading worship of the Aten to smiting enemies of the state. Some
scholars suspect that she may have even reigned on her own, perhaps first surfacing as Akhenaten's co-
regent, Neferneferuaten. Whatever really happened, there's no doubt that she was a uniquely powerful
Egyptian queen.

ARSINOE IV PROVED JUST AS DANGEROUS AS MALE PHARAOHS

Daderot/Wikimedia Commons

According to the Dangerous Women Project, Arsinoe IV was one of five children of Ptolemy XII, a rather
unpopular pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was so unpopular that one of his children, Berenice,
attempted to oust him and even ruled on her own for a short time. According to Doomed Queens,
Berenice met her untimely end via execution in 55 B.C.E., after her father's three-year absence.

The Ptolemys were, clearly, a pretty ruthless family. In 48 B.C.E., as per the Dangerous Women Project,
Ptolemy XIII was co-ruler of Egypt with his sister, Cleopatra VII. Young Ptolemy didn't want the
competition, however, and kicked Cleopatra out. The two siblings began to war against one another,
leaving an opportunity open for Arsinoe to set herself up as a pharaoh. She eventually teamed up with
Ptolemy XIII against Cleopatra, but their elder sister had an even bigger ally — Julius Caesar. Eventually,
Ptolemy XIII was killed, while Arsinoe made it through Roman captivity to see her own sister take up
with Mark Antony. Yet, Cleopatra still saw Arsinoe, who was being addressed as "queen" again by some
Egyptians, as a threat. She had Arsinoe assassinated, as the younger ruler and her supporters still posed
a serious threat to Cleopatra.

CLEOPATRA VII WAS THE LAST OF THE PHARAOHS

Ángel M. Felicísimo/Wikimedia Commons

Though she's often been depicted as a femme fatale, the truth was that Cleopatra VII was far more
intelligent and canny than some ancient scheming vixen.

As Smithsonian Magazine reports, Cleopatra was driven from Egypt by her brother-husband, Ptolemy
XIII, in 49 B.C.E. Roman general and eventual emperor Julius Caesar eventually got involved, though the
younger Ptolemy forbade his sister from entering the capital of Alexandria for a peace conference.
Cleopatra reportedly snuck in anyway and so impressed Caesar that he backed her claim to the throne
and fathered a son, Caesarion, with the queen. To ensure her survival and the claim of her son to the
throne after the death of Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra had yet another brother, Ptolemy XIV, killed.

The Roman government got pretty nervous about Cleopatra's insinuation into the political and private
life of the empire. She consistently proved herself to be a shrewd manipulator of political relationships
and her own self-image, often presenting a glamorous, powerful persona in order to draw even more
support in the midst of dramatic upheaval. After the assassination of Caesar, ThoughtCo reports,
Cleopatra used those tactics to establish Caesarion as the next ruler and to set up her own relationship
with Roman politician Marc Antony. Though Roman forces eventually turned against the pair, and
Cleopatra and Antony both are said to have committed suicide, her legacy as the last dynastic pharoah
of Egypt remains strong.

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WHAT LIFE AS AN EGYPTIAN ROYAL WAS REALLY LIKE

Wikimedia Commons

BY SARAH CROCKER/DEC. 9, 2020 4:38 PM EST

Over the thousands of years that separates ancient Egypt from the modern world, there have been quite
a few myths about its people and their achievements. According to History Extra, things that are
considered hallmarks of Egyptian history, like gigantic pyramids, were centuries out of fashion by the
New Kingdom era in 1550 B.C.E. Egyptian people were also rather progressive for their time, with more
or less equal rights for women and men, as well as the beginnings of labor unions and organized
workers' protests, History reports. Then again, it's fair to say that there was some hierarchy to their
society, given how much effort went into propping up the Egyptian royal family.

Perhaps, knowing all of this, it's not surprising to learn that the life of ancient Egyptian royalty wasn't all
that easy or simple. They definitely enjoyed plenty of perks, from fancy foods to fine clothing, but their
lives also included seemingly endless meetings, daily temple rituals, and the occasional assassination
plot. Even the pharaoh, who was widely considered to be at least a semi-divine descendant of the
Egyptian gods, experienced a complicated, often demanding life.

EGYPTIAN ROYALS WERE NEVER ALONE

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Hopefully, members of ancient Egypt's royal family never longed for a simple moment by themselves.
They would have never gotten one. According to The Pharaoh's Court, the king would have had his own
extensive personal staff who managed his affairs but also hounded him with questions and opinions.
There was the steward, who ran the royal estates, the chamberlain of the palace, and many scribes,
craftspeople, military generals, and money managers, to name a few.

Then, there were the servants. No royal retinue could appear as well-coiffed and impressive as they did
without an army of retainers. Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians notes that they would have been with
the king from his first waking moments, cleaning and dressing the royal body with the utmost care.
Other members of the royal family, including primary wives and heirs, would have enjoyed similar perks.
These included an official sandal bearer, multiple wig preparers, a chief clothes washer, bodyguards, fan
bearers, and much more. Even the people who did the king's nails were a big deal, In Bed With the
Ancient Egyptians reports. The Fifth Dynasty overseers of manicurists in question, Khnumhotep and
Niankhkhnum, had enough prestige and capital to build a lovely tomb together.

DRESSING THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ROYAL BODY TOOK TIME AND MONEY

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

While lower class folks might expect to wear simple clothes made out of coarsely spun linen, royals
would have been garbed in far finer stuff. However, their finely made clothes and jewels took
considerable effort just to get them on the royal bodies.

According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, the general form of ancient Egyptian clothing was
relatively simple, with kilts for men and a long shift dress for women. The higher up in class one went,
the finer the fabric was and the more it was weighed down with ornamentation. By the time you get to
the royal household, members of any gender would have been bedecked in finery. These eventually
included sandals, which would have been an almost exclusively upper-class luxury. Tutankhamun's tomb
was packed with over 90 pairs of footwear, including one set made of gold.

One of the most elaborate parts of a royal Egyptian's kit would have been their wig. Worn by both men
and women, hairpieces would have been another feature of upper-class and royal looks, Internet
Archaeology reports. Some would have gotten so large and complicated that the weight of wearing one
could have worn bald spots into people's scalps, assuming they hadn't shaved their hair already. The
process of constructing and maintaining these wigs was so involved that it formed its own cottage
industry, including the servants who would have helped members of the royal household don the heavy,
decorated rugs.

ROYALS GOT THE BEST FOODS IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Maler der Grabkammer des Thot/Wikimedia Commons

For ancient Egyptians of the lower classes, food was generally a simple and sometimes pretty restricted
affair. BBC's History Extra reports that commoners weren't so bad off, however, as they enjoyed
harvests from the banks of the Nile, which were enriched by yearly flooding. Agricultural products
included plenty of wheat, vegetables like onions, leeks, lettuce, and beans, as well as a variety of fruit.
Hunters and fishermen brought in animal protein, while some were even able to keep domesticated
animals like sheep, pigs, and geese.

There was still a significant class divide when it came to the dinner table. According to History, more
humble folk generally stuck to a rather monotonous spread of bread, fish, beans, and onion, usually with
home-brewed beer. Royals, however, were given a far richer and more varied diet. Going off of details
like tomb paintings and carvings, archaeologists know that they dined on delicacies like honey-roasted
gazelle, rare fruits like pomegranates, and sweet cakes. Meat and dairy appears to have been a regular
staple of their diet, unlike commoners. Instead of cloudy beer, members of the king's household were
more likely to drink fine wines, delivered by servant girls lugging around entire jugs of the stuff.

DIPLOMACY AND ADMINISTRATION DOMINATED THE EGYPTIAN ROYAL SCHEDULE

Louvre Museum/Wikimedia Commons

The rich food and fine clothing were undoubtedly luxuries that ancient Egyptian royals enjoyed, but
their position came with a price. Some days, pharaohs were doomed to back-to-back meetings. This was
long before the advent of coffee, remember, and so the king and his attendants had to suffer through
administrative duties uncaffeinated.

It wasn't as if the king had to take on all of this alone, however. According to Daily Life of the Ancient
Egyptians, the country boasted a highly organized government. Local affairs were taken care of by
regional officials. Still, PBS says, the king was supposed to handle much of the higher level national and
international affairs, like speaking with military generals and communicating with ambassadors.

It wasn't as if the pharaoh could really cancel a meeting or two. According to the Ancient Greek historian
Diodorus Siculus, the law demanded that the king had to tackle these tasks, no matter how boring. "All
their acts were regulated by prescriptions set forth in the laws," he wrote. "And the hours of both the
day and night were laid out according to a plan, and at the specified hours it was absolutely required of
the king that he should do what the laws stipulated and not what he thought best." These intense duties
included receiving administrative documents and letters pretty much as soon as he rolled out of bed, so
he could get right to work before even getting dressed.

EGYPTIAN ROYAL MARRIAGES GOT COMPLICATED

AnnekeBart/Wikimedia Commons

The love life of a pharaoh in ancient Egypt could get wickedly complex. According to the Ancient History
Encyclopedia, infidelity was generally frowned upon amongst commoners, accompanied by tales of
cheaters meeting their doom after it was discovered that they had been stepping out on their spouse.
Yet, as happens throughout history, it was different for rich people. Kings and other royal men were able
to marry as many women as they could support. Indeed, pharaohs were widely known to keep harems
of women in addition to their wives. This subset of the royal household could include foreign princesses
with hefty dowries, though, as Daughters of Isis reports, Egyptian rulers were very reluctant to let their
own daughters marry into foreign courts.

Royal matches could also get alarmingly close. As per National Geographic, sibling or even parent-child
marriages weren't unheard of for ancient Egyptian rulers. That level of inbreeding eventually led to dire
consequences. Tutankhamun, the pharaoh whose parents were closely related and who may have been
married to his own half-sister, appears to have suffered from a variety of ailments that could be linked
to his overlapping genetic heritage. History reports that examinations of his mummy revealed he had a
serious foot deformity, buck teeth, and a painful bone disorder known as Kohler disease. Tut would
almost certainly have needed a cane or other assistance just to walk around the royal palace.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ROYALS SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN THE TEMPLE

Asta/Wikimedia Commons

Though given the constant meetings and building projects, it may seem as if the pharaohs were basically
trumped-up upper management types, their roles in Egyptian society had a more mystical side.
According to PBS, they were generally regarded as divine or at least semi-divine beings, though it's not
known whether individuals bought into the god king rhetoric. As a godly being, the pharaoh had to pay
regular tribute to the big gods, especially the chief deity, Amun-Re. This included prayer and animal
sacrifice, which were considered necessary less the whole kingdom descend into chaos.

The daily visits to temples also meant that the pharaoh had to deal with one of the most powerful
groups in ancient Egypt — the priesthood. Throughout the kingdom's history, the Ancient History
Encyclopedia says, priests and priestesses were so influential that their position sometimes rivaled that
of the royals themselves. Without their religious devotion, it was thought that the kingdom would fall
apart and the spirits of previous royals doomed to obscurity in the afterlife. Some royals even got in on
the game, like the post of God's Wife of Amun based in Thebes. Originally, this was an honorary position
with little real meaning. Over the centuries, it evolved into an ultra-powerful post that allowed some
women, many of whom were kings' daughters, to effectively rule half of Egypt from the Theban Temple
of Karnak.

EGYPTIAN ROYAL FAMILY MEMBERS WERE MORE LIKELY TO GET MURDERED

Miguel Hermoso Cuesta/Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Egyptian royals might have been chowing down on fancy feasts like honey-roasted gazelle while
bedecked in the finest linens and jewels, but they may have been distracted from such finery by very
real danger. They weren't even fearing the pure boredom of endless meetings or repetitive temple
rituals. No, members of the royal family had to consider the very real possibility that someone might
want to murder them.

Such are the risks of dealing in power. Some kings and queens were just fine, but quite a few met
untimely deaths at the end of an assassin's knife. For Ramesses III, the murder was coming from inside
the house. According to National Geographic, he was the victim of the Harem Conspiracy, wherein
members of his royal harem planned to assassinate Ramesses and his heir, then install another son on
the throne. It appears that they were semi-successful, as Ramesses' mummy has a horrific throat wound
that would have certainly killed him. The conspirators didn't make it to the heir, however, and surviving
papyrus fragments show that many of them were executed after a trial.

Another pharaoh, Seqenenre Tao, met an even more violent end via massive head trauma, according to
the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. It's very possible that Seqenenre died on the
battlefield, given that his remains were hastily embalmed, perhaps because his forces were far from
home.

THE PHARAOH'S HEALTH WASN'T THE BEST

rob koopman/Wikimedia Commons

Being an Egyptian royal meant that one enjoyed a life of leisure. They were carried about on sedan
chairs, dressed by servants, and given the finest foods available. However, the flip side of this lazing
about held some very serious health consequences.

Inbreeding, which pharaohs sometimes used to keep the throne in the family, could backfire terribly.
Generations of occasional sister-brother marriages seem to have reached their unfortunate peak in
Tutankhamun. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the boy-king was so affected by genetic disorders
and a malformed foot that he couldn't have walked unaided.

Even if they had a more diverse genetic background, royals suffered from their cosseted lifestyle.
Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh who ruled Egypt in the 15th century B.C.E., apparently dealt with
serious health issues because of her sedentary existence and rich diet. According to LiveScience, her
presumed mummy shows signs of obesity and diabetes. 
Hatshepsut's woes didn't stop there. History reports that she also suffered from arthritis and a genetic
skin issue that could have caused awful itching. Her mummy was found with an expensive skin cream
that would have soothed her skin but was also packed full of a cancer-causing tar. A CT scan of her
mummy later indicated that she had died of bone cancer, perhaps caused by continued use of that high
class, carcinogenic cream.

ROYAL EGYPTIANS WERE REALLY INTO CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Luciobocchi/Wikimedia Commons

Like many big names of the modern era, ancient Egyptian royals loved to helm building projects
throughout the land. Having your name and graven image on the side of an eye-catching temple does
much to hold up your propaganda machine. According to Britannica, Ramses II earned his title of
"Ramses the Great" largely through his massive building program that threw up construction projects
throughout the kingdom, with his image and accompanying hype-man style text on practically every
surface. He even built a namesake residence city, Per Ramessu, that acted as a capital and center for his
famous military exploits. 

The adoration of never-ending construction got so serious that an architect named Imhotep was
eventually worshipped as a god. No, this was not the villainous Imhotep of The Mummy movie franchise
but an ancient genius who laid the intellectual and engineering foundation for the Great Pyramids of
Giza. Though he did not mastermind those particular pyramids, the Ancient History Encyclopedia reports
that he did design the Step Pyramid of pharaoh Djoser, which set the stage for later developments. He
was also Djoser's vizier, a priest, a poet, doctor, scientist, and mathematician. Around the year 525
B.C.E., long after his death in 2600 B.C.E., Egyptians deified him, adding yet another accolade to this
ancient Egyptian overachiever's long list of accomplishments.

ROYAL WOMEN HAD REAL POWER IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Neithsabes/Wikimedia Commons

Unlike in other societies of the time, women in ancient Egypt held considerable power, the Ancient
History Encyclopedia reports. From the peasants all the way up to the royals, women were regularly
treated as equals to men, though it's also clear that some traditional pathways to power were
frequently blocked for women.

For royal women, however, it was a bit easier to wield political power approaching that of their male
fellows. According to National Geographic, sometimes this went all the way to the top, as a few notable
women became power queens and even pharaohs in their own right. These include famous names like
Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Hatshepsut, says History Extra, along with less well known though just as
influential women like Sobeknefru and Khentkawes I.
Even if a royal woman didn't actually get to sit on the throne or right behind it, they could still be deep in
the political game. As per the Ancient History Encyclopedia, the priestess known as the God's Wife of
Amun was so powerful that even the pharaoh had to think carefully before interacting with her. This
woman, working from the Temple of Karnak at Thebes, an important religious center, was no one to
mess with. The position started off as a nearly meaningless ceremonial title that, over the centuries,
evolved into a role so powerful that, by 750 B.C.E., Amenirdis I used it to effectively rule half the
kingdom.

EGYPTIAN ROYALS SOMETIMES WENT ROGUE

Egyptian Museum/Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes, the power and religious responsibility that came with being pharaoh caused some rulers to
go pretty wild. One took his status as a deity so seriously that he became a heretic whose infamy has
lasted for thousands of years.

When Amenhotep IV took the throne around 1390 B.C.E., National Geographic reports, things looked
normal at first. Then, about five years into the reign, the king flipped everything upside down. He was
now to be addressed as Akhenaten, he told everyone, and they were going to abandon the old gods and
worship just one, the sun deity Aten. A new capital was built, then called Akhetaten and now known as
Amarna. Art styles changed dramatically, with the carved images uncovered in Amarna showing the
royal family with fluid, elongated bodies. His queen, Nefertiti, was named co-regent. 

An estimated 30,000 people moved to Amarna, but, 17 years later, Akhenaten was dead, and it was all
over. The city was abandoned, the heretic pharaoh was dissed, his imaged chipped off monuments, and
the old gods welcomed back into royal life. They weren't completely successful, however. After more
than 3,000 years, according to Oxford Handbooks Online, excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries C.E.
uncovered Amarna and the tale of its heretic king.

ROYAL TOMBS OF ANCIENT EGYPT WERE TOO FANCY FOR THEIR OWN GOOD

Tim Adams/Wikimedia Commons

Some of the royals probably thought they'd enjoy a nice time in the afterlife while their remains rested
in a tomb. Unfortunately, all of the nice things packed into flashy burial places also attracted grave
robbers. This wasn't a sporadic thing, either. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, tomb
robbing was an extensive, ongoing issue in ancient Egypt. Even the Great Pyramids, those famous
structures on the Giza plateau just outside of modern-day Cairo, were raided not long after the
pharaohs inside were deposited there. Curses carved into the stone of the pyramids, specifically
directed at tomb robbers, weren't enough. Even the mummies of the supposedly divine kings have gone
missing over the intervening millennia. 

Eventually, it became clear to ancient folks that these huge tombs brought way too much attention.
National Geographic writes that their solution was to hide all of the upper class mummies and their
riches in a remote desert valley. Known today as the Valley of the Kings, the hidden entrances to the
royal tombs there clearly weren't concealed very well at all. Records from Egyptian history show that
robbers were sometimes caught in the valley and given harsh punishments. By the 20th century, the
vast majority of burial places had already been picked over. The boy king Tutankhamun's tomb,
discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, was one of a very few exceptions.

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