Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Hatshepsut, the woman who dressed like men. Dr. Reda abdel-Rahim
Hatshepsut was one of the most prominent and powerful queens who ruled Egypt. She belonged to the Eighteenth Dynasty and was born in 1508 BC.
Her father was Thutmose I, her mother, Queen Ahmose, her brother Thutmose II, and her nephew Thutmose III.
Hatshepsut participated in the government at the end of her father’s rule, and after years her father died and she assumed all the affairs of government and began to paint herself on the temples while she was wearing men’s clothes, where she spoke in masculine pronouns, and that was to delude the people that there was no change with a woman sitting on the throne, and after that she chose some employees for her, and the most important of them “Senmut”, who is the engineer who built the Deir el-Bahari temple for her, which is one of the greatest, most beautiful and most luxurious temples ever built. Senmut took over the supervision of her daughter, “Nefru Ra”, who declared her queen after that, but she died when she was young. Hatshepsut claimed the story of her birth so that she would have the right of ownership to rule, and she said that she was the daughter of the god “Amon”. And she wrote this down on her temple, so she recorded that her father pledged allegiance to the ruler, and that her brother and nephew, Thutmose II and Thutmose III, usurped her right. Hatshepsut took care of rebuilding the temples that the Hyksos demolished. And the borders of Egypt in her era were confined between Syria and Palestine, and that was due to her peaceful policy, and Hatshepsut campaigned to the south, because the people of Syria and Palestine revolted against Egyptian sovereignty. by placing it at the entrance to her temple.
This temple is a masterpiece of ancient historical monuments, as it is located in the interior of the mountain on the western mainland. It was established 3,500 years ago, and it was ordered to be built to perpetuate its memory in a good land. Deir el-Bahari is a group of tombs on the West Bank, and 40 mummies were recently found. Deir el-Bahari contains three temples and behind it The Valley of the Kings is the most famous tomb of the kings.
The temple has three floors
The first: Pictures of hunting birds and transporting obelisks from Aswan to the temple
The second: depicting a punt trip
Third: foyer for celebrations
The temple consists of an ascending road that contains statues of the Queen in the form of the Sphinx and leads us to the first flat, which is an open courtyard that contains a group of trees brought from Punt, two basins of water and papyrus plants, and there are two balconies in the west on the right and left, and each balcony bears 22 columns and 16 ribs, and there are statues It has the form of “Osir”, the god of death, its length is 7 m and it contains inscriptions and two obelisks, then after that the second surface: it is a road with a width of 10 m bordered by arched walls and begins with a statue in the form of a lion to protect it and contains two balconies with 22 columns on the right and left and on the south there is a small temple “for worship Hathor” and the second part is carved in the rock, with two halls with 16 columns, and 12 columns with colored capitals, and its ceiling represents the sky and the stars, and represents the planets, and on the right recorded scenes of the sacred birth.
Hatshepsut was a capable woman, but her aggressive attitude towards her husband and her stepson made Thutmose III an enemy to her. When he had the opportunity, he took revenge on her most severely. We do not know how Hatshepsut’s life ended, but it is certain that it was a tragic end, because her body was only recently found. Thutmose III demolished her monuments, removed her name and the names of everyone who followed her, and destroyed the tombs of those close to her, including “we will die.”
Thus, her 18-year rule ended, and Hatshepsut died in January 1457 BC.
