Hatshepsut wasn’t destined to be a queen as a woman who lived in Egypt’s golden era.
Her gender prevented her from ascending the throne, even though she came from a royal family.
Egypt’s gods had supposedly decreed that the king’s role could never be fulfilled by a woman and although a pharaoh needed a queen to reign with him, she could never rule alone – although later there were notable exceptions.
Hatshepsut refused this request and, in order to circumvent the rule, claimed that she was married the kingof the gods so had the same right as every other pharaoh to sit on her throne.
It worked. She had her crown in 1,473 BC.
Hatshepsut was not born to a position of kingship as a female Egyptian woman during Egypt’s golden era. Although she belonged to royal lineage, Hatshepsut was not allowed by her gender to ascend the throne.
Her power was further strengthened by her decorating temples to the gods in portraits of her wearing the traditional kilt of the pharaoh and all of his office symbols, including the black-pointed royal beard.
She may have even worn men’s clothing while conducting state affairs surrounded by male courtiers.
However, statues previously found show she preferred tight fitting gowns that showed her body. She is also said to have been fond of covering her ministers in bed.
Hatshepsut, although not the first female ruler in ancient Egypt of men-dominated Egypt was Hatshepsut.
Nefertiti was her follower, and Cleopatra seized power 1500 years later. However, neither of them took the title of pharaoh as Hatshepsut.
For the time she lived, her determination and tenacity were unmatched.
This courageous and mysterious female ruler was able to rewrite the history of her nation and is now known as the first great woman historian.
Hatshepsut claimed she was officially heir to her father’s throne, Thutmosis I.
He had many sons and he turned to his daughter for protection of the throne.
The events that followed were not uncommon. Hatshepsut was married to a younger brother, Thutmosis. She became Queen.
The custom was to marry siblings, but at first they ruled as a couple.
The death of her husband/brother was followed by the appearances on his mummy indicating that he had a terrible skin condition.
Hatshepsut, Hatshepsut’s husband’s child by a harem boy, was elected regent. She was no longer content to simply be regent.
She had already taken control of the country within two years and was now running it from Thebes.
She and her stepson seemed to have enjoyed this arrangement for many years.
Thutmosis remained focused on his military career while Thutmosis ruled. She was her ruler. He was so successful that historians refer to him as Napoleon of Egypt.
These campaigns are believed to have been a cover for his resentful step-mother.
Thutmosis was even afraid for his life as she became so powerful in her final years.
Hatshepsut constructed magnificent temples to her own honor in the absence of his father. These temples were decorated with reliefs that told the story of her ascendance to Egypt’s throne and long-held stories about her divine connection.
Hatshepsut served as the master politician and statewoman of Hatshepsut for over 20 years.
According to research, she died of cancer at the age of fifty. She was to be buried near the Valley of the Kings in the best and most well-known temple.
Thutmosis III seems to have gotten his revenge on Thutmosis III, who buried her in a less prominent location.
Hatshepsut lived 40 more years than he and appears to have begun a campaign against her.
He tossed her statues into quarries, right in front the temples that she had built.