Hatshepsut's Accomplishments

In ancient Egypt, the esteemed pharaoh Thutmose III is known as one of the greatest kings of Egypt. However, even with his many incredible accomplishments, he is still one of the greatest sinners in history. He could belong to many of Dante´s many circles of hell, but there is only one true place for this sinful king to dwell in the afterlife.

A possible level Dante's hell that Thutmose could reside in is Limbo. Limbo is the first level of hell and does not have as harsh of punishment as other levels do. In this level, those that remain "cannot come into the light of God, but they are therefore, not tormented. Their only pain is that they have no hope." (Dante 25) Thutmose could belong here because he lived before the time of Christ, believing

It is theorized that Thutmose was angry because he was only a co-regent and not the king of Egypt until Hatshepsut died after 20 years of a prosperous reign. As a result of his anger, Thutmose III attempted to erase evidence of her reign. The second theory is that this was done by Thutmose III because, to the ancient Egyptians, if a woman ruled it would create imbalance in the world, because it was not common for such a thing to occur during this time in history. Joshua Mark writes in his entry about Hatshepsut that "The pharaoh served as a role model to his people and it is possible that Thutmose III feared that other women might look to Hatshepsut for inspiration and try to follow her example, thereby departing from a tradition which maintained that men should rule Egypt and women should be only consorts, as it was in the beginning of time when the god Osiris ruled with his consort Isis." So, to try and ensure this "balance," Thutmose destroyed many of her obelisks and defaced carvings of her from during her reign. Either way, Thutmose committed one of the worst crimes in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians, as he tried to keep her from passage into the