35 Facts About Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I and his principal wife Ahmose.

Several years into her regency, Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh and adopted the full royal titulary, making her a co-ruler alongside Thutmose III.

Hatshepsut's reign was a period of great prosperity and general peace.

Hatshepsut's statues were destroyed, her monuments were defaced, and many of her achievements were ascribed to other pharaohs.

Hatshepsut was married to Thutmose II, her half-brother, when she was 14 or 15 years old.

Hatshepsut served as co-regent during his reign, and was thought of by early modern scholars as only having served as a co-regent alongside Thutmose III.

Hatshepsut was described as having a reign of about 21 years by ancient authors.

Hatshepsut re-established a number of trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.

Hatshepsut oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt.

Hatshepsut's delegation returned from Punt bearing 31 live myrrh trees and other luxuries such as frankincense.

Hatshepsut had the expedition commemorated in relief at Deir el-Bahari, which is famous for its realistic depiction of Queen Ati of the Land of Punt.

Hatshepsut sent raiding expeditions to Byblos and the Sinai Peninsula shortly after the Punt expedition.

Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in Ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

At these temples, she performed religious rituals that had hitherto been reserved for kings, corroborating the evidence that Hatshepsut assumed traditionally male roles as pharaoh.

Hatshepsut employed the great architect Ineni, who had worked for her father, her husband, and for the royal steward Senenmut.

Hatshepsut restored the original Precinct of Mut, the great ancient goddess of Egypt, at Karnak that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation.

Hatshepsut had twin obelisks erected at the entrance to the temple which at the time of building were the tallest in the world.

Hatshepsut built the Temple of Pakhet at Beni Hasan in the Minya Governorate south of Al Minya.

Hatshepsut assumed all the regalia and symbols of the Pharaonic office in official representations: the Khat head cloth, topped with the uraeus, the traditional false beard, and shendyt kilt.

Hatshepsut was ambiguous and androgynous in many of her statues and monuments.

Hatshepsut would create a masculine version of herself to establish herself in the Egyptian patriarchy.

The Oracle of Amun proclaimed that it was the will of Amun that Hatshepsut be pharaoh, further strengthening her position.

Hatshepsut reiterated Amun's support by having these proclamations by the god Amun carved on her monuments:.

Once she became pharaoh herself, Hatshepsut supported her assertion that she was her father's designated successor with inscriptions on the walls of her mortuary temple:.

Hatshepsut began constructing a tomb when she was the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose II.

Hatshepsut refurbished her father's burial and prepared for a double interment of both Thutmose I and her within KV20.

Besides what was recovered from KV20 during egyptologist Howard Carter's clearance of the tomb in 1903, other funerary furniture belonging to Hatshepsut has been found elsewhere, including a lioness throne or bedstead, a senet game board with carved lioness-headed, red-jasper game pieces bearing her pharaonic title, a signet ring, and a partial shabti figurine bearing her name.

Hatshepsut's death has since been attributed to a benzopyrene carcinogenic skin lotion found in possession of the Pharaoh, which led to her having bone cancer.

Hatshepsut would have had a motive because his position in the royal lineage was not so strong as to assure his elevation to pharaoh.

Hatshepsut is documented, further, as having usurped many of Hatshepsut's accomplishments during his own reign.

Hatshepsut's reign is marked with attempts to break the royal lineage as well, not recording the names of his queens and eliminating the powerful titles and official roles of royal women, such as God's Wife of Amun.

Hatshepsut managed to rule as regent for a son who was not her own, going against the system which had previously only allowed mothers to rule on behalf of their biological sons.

Hatshepsut used this regency to create her female kingship, constructing extensive temples to celebrate her reign, which meant that the public became used to seeing a woman in such a powerful role.

Hatshepsut was arguably placed in power by men to further their own wealth.

The "Hatshepsut Problem" is a direct link to gender normatives in regards to ancient Egyptian social structures.