Female King of Egypt - Essay Example

Queen Hatshepsut Queen Hatshepsut (1505-1485 B.C.) [Joh84] was the fifth ruler of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty. She is famously known as the “female king of Egypt”. Although she was not the first female ruler in the history as Cleopatra and Nefertiti are said to have preceded her (Lewis n.d.), yet her reign is known for progress and development. She is famous for being the “first warrior Queen” in Africa’s history. Queen Hatshepsut was the first woman who attained the title of “Pharaoh” and ruled as woman in early years of her reign but later changed her attire to that of a man. Hatshepsut was the eldest child of eighteenth dynasty pharaoh ruler, Thutmose I (1504-1492 B.C.E.) and Ahmose his wife. She married her step brother Thutmose II (1482-1497 B.C.E.) (Smith 2008). She had only one daughter, Neferture. After the death of Thutmose II, the throne was inherited by Thutmose III, his son from a non-royal background wife, Isis. Thutmose III was still very young when he was handed over the throne and Hatshepsut became regent for her stepson and nephew. During this time she reigned as an independent ruler and later when Thutmose III became of the age to hold his office as ruler Hatshepsut did not step down but co-ruled with her step son. Hatshepsut wanted the power all to herself, and co-ruling was exactly the opposite of her desires. She already had experienced the power and control over whole of the kingdom, where people worshiped her and obeyed her unquestioningly. But Egypt’s dynasty system allowed only a man to be the ruler and Hatshepsut main hurdle was this condition. In Egypt it was believed that the king or the ruler was the connection between the people and Gods. Kings main duty was to please the Gods which in turn would grant flourish and bounties of blessings to the Egypt. This whole process of pleasing Gods and getting prosperity for Egypt was a balance called “ma’at”. This ma’at could only be achieved by a king and it was believed that in the absence of a king Egypt will be destroyed [Eri05]. Being a female was the biggest hurdle in achieving the complete power. She, in order to gain complete control over the throne, dressed herself in Pharaoh’s cloths, which were obviously manly, a beard specific to a king, a ceremonial wig and declared herself as the pharaoh of Egypt. In order to be accepted by the people as genuine king, she planned the whole thing for years and made up a story of her divine birth and approval of Gods for her kingship. She claimed that she is in fact daughter of one of the God’s,” Amun”. She even ordered men to show the whole story in artistic illustrations, which is typical belonging to that era. To make her story completely credible, She made the artists include the text’s which are supposed to be from the God Amun himself, “this daughter of mine…I have appointed successor upon my throne…it is she who will lead you. Obey her words and unite yourselves at her command” (Eric H. Cline 2005). The 22 years reign of queen Hatshepsut is considered to be peaceful and prosperous for Egypt. Shedidnot indulge kingdom in wars, rather she focussed on increasing and strenghtening trade for her country. Foreigners were not encouraged in her domain and a strong actions against chaos and war were taken. She fixed her attention on more profitable aspects of trade and development. Her main focus was on restoring ancient temples and buildings as well as erecting new ones. In fact she ordered an extensive building programs that included the building of most famous temples which still exist and capture true wonder and awe of the tourists. Her reign is recorded in the history as a period of growth, development, progress and prosperity. She ruled Egypt by maintaining peace and order while at the same time put her effort in extending her trade boundaries with the neighbouring countries. Her period is marked in the history as most friutful for Egypt in all its preecing as well following years. After becoming the female king, Hatshepsut started to appoint individuals of her own choice and on whom she had complete faith and trust, to important designations and positions. Senenmut is one of these selected and most trusted individuals whose name is mentioned frequently. Some historians claim a sort of relationship between him and Hatshepsut. He was an architecht who was then made an important and trusted advisor and official by the queen (Lewis n.d.). The most notable among all the developmental works of Queen hatshepsut’s reign is the temple that was solely made for herself. This temple is famously known as “Der el-Bahri” or Queen Hatshepsut’s temple. It is located in western Thebes, lieing “in the cliffs on the east side of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, in the ridge which divides the plain of the Nile from Valley of the Tombs” (Murray 1977). It overlooks the river and vast Theban plains. It is mainly open to the sunshine and fresh air and the enclosed parts are those of shrines and colonades constructed mainly of limestone. The walls are filled with illustrous forms and figures depicting her life history, the supposedly divine birth and her contributions in the development and flourishes of Egypt. Throughout these artistic illustrations Hatshepsut is shown in male attire with beard. The most detailed story illustrated by the artists is the trade adventure to the unknown valley of Punt. It shows with great detail her contribution in expanding Egypts trade relations and increasing wealth of egypt through theses progressive steps. These illustration show “five ships” carrying men including “soldiers, officials and rowers” landing eventually to an unknown village situated in the forsts. The animals drawn include leopards, rhinoceros and giraffs showing that the village is somewhere in Africa and the season is shown to be that of spring. The people of village welcome the Egyptians and take them in the deeps of Punt where they all work and gather “ebony and incense” which the Egyptians bring back to their country. Hatshepsut is shown as accepting all these things in the name of God and Egypt. A small figure, belived to be that of Thatmos III, in the background is shown as offering the incense to the God Amun. Hatshepsut died a little suddenly leaving many mysteries behind as to the cause of her death. Some historians believe that she was killed by Thotmus III while others believe that she died of natural illness. A recent research has come to surface claiming that the “skin lotion” used by Hatshepsut ultimately caused her death. The little flask, found with the mummy of Hatshepsut, is said to be containing “palm and nutmeg oil” along with some tar residue, which caused bone-cancer. She is also said to be suffering from diabetes and arthritis. The CT scan used for the identification of her body also revealed that she died at around the age of 50 [His11]. Thotmus III gained complete rule after Hatshepsut’s death which was along awaited nad desired objective of the king. His ruled from 1458 to 1425 B.C.E.[Bon08] Before this period he was trained thoroughly by the army and by the time he gained the throne of Egypt, he was fully trained and equiped with the military capabilities. Towards the end of Thotmus III’s reign, a attempt was made to destroy evrything realted to Hatshepsut. Some historians believe that this attempt was an order by Thotmus III himself. Her statues were damaged, ruined and shattered to pieces. A lot of statues that are discovered have broken arms or missing detailes or are otherwise disfigured. Initially the this act was interpreted as an act of punishment and revenge but later on when the whole picture was put together the destruction was only caused where Hatshepsut’s name was meant to be removed from the king’s linage. The act was to totally remove her name from the history and the kingship should only be recorded as to have been tranfered from Tothmus I to Thotmus II and ultimately To Thotmus III. Queen Hatshepsut’s reign was full of growth and prosperity which was followed by the era of military campaigns and war fought by Thotmus III. The progress made the queen was ultimately diminished by the chaos of war and after king’s death Egypt lost its splendour all together for a long time. Hatshepsut is still known in the history to be one of the most influential ruler believing in its country’s prosperity and progress through the means of trade and development, instead of aiming to increase the surface area of her country by imposing by declaring war on her neighbours or just to prove her strenght attacking other weaker nations. Queen Hatshepsut’s ideology is the answer to our modern world’s problem of destruction, war and chaos. She believed in maintianing peace and rendering her people’s abilities in more progressive acts of trade, art and development. Wrok Cited 1. Clarke, John Henrik. "African Warrior Queens." In Black women in antiquity, by Ivan Van Sertima. New Brunswick [N.J.]: Transaction Books, 1984. 2. "The Tale of Two Dieties: Hatshepsut and Thutmose III." In The World in Ancient Times: The ancient Egyptian world, by Jill Rubalcaba Eric H. Cline. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 3. History.com. august 19, 2011. http://www.history.com/news/2011/08/19/did-skin-cream-kill-egypts-queen-hatshepsut/. 4. Lewis, Jone Johnson. About.com. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/ancientqueens/tp/women_pharaohs.htm. 5. "Queen Hatshepsut's Temple." In Egyptian Temples, by Margaret A. Murray. New York: Ams Press, 1977. 6. Smith, Bonnie G. The Oxford encyclopedia of women in world history, Volume 1. new York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Joh84: , (Clarke 1984), Eri05: , (Eric H. Cline 2005), His11: , (History.com 2011), Bon08: , (Smith 2008), Read More