Research Paper On Hatshepsut

Historian Marc van de Mieroop reveals the conventional view of Hatshepsut when he states how she "has become one of the most celebrated and controversial women of Egypt and the ancient world in general.” Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh to rule in the early period of the New Kingdom Egypt in the 18th dynasty, which developed into the most prosperous period of Egyptian history. She climbed from regent to co-regent, using her cunning schemes and manipulation, fighting to defend the legitimacy of her rule through social structure, religion, building programs and the economic structure. All contributed to the legitimacy of her reign and legacy, which were supposedly erased by Thutmose III, thus attributing to the minor evidence of her personal

Hatshepsut was cunning by using the social structure of Egypt, people’s beliefs and relationships with officials to legitimise her ruling as a female pharaoh. Hatshepsut stepped into the role of senior co-regent which was driven by her ambition and Thutmose III must have resented the subversion of patriarchal values as Hatshepsut. Nonetheless, more recent evidence shows that this move may have been caused by a political crisis at that time, therefore Hatshepsut may have been acting to save the throne for her stepson. The French historian R Tefnin explains that Hatshepsut was cunning in reinventing her image, gradually taking the characteristics of a male pharaoh with a beard and large muscles. As the protector of Egypt, Hatshepsut portrayed herself as a ‘warrior pharaoh’ with statues showing her in full pharaonic regalia in the guise of a Sphinx, seen in plate 1. These strategies were not attempts to fool people with her gender, but ways to assert her authority as she felt she had the same right to rule as men

Traditionally, it was the role for a Pharaoh to pursue an active building program, but recognising that she was in uncharted waters, Hatshepsut took ambitious steps building on a grander scale than any pharaoh before. The Mortuary Temple at Deir-el-Bahri was one of the greatest Egyptian architectural achievements (plate 11) as several pharaohs also decided to place their temples near Hatshepsut's, to connect themselves with the grandeur of her temple. Hatshepsut also constructed four enormous obelisks to Amon which was mentioned in Thuity’s (Hatshepsut’s official) tomb depicted in plate 8, the Red Chapel which depicted many of the events and accomplishments of her reign, the temple at Buhen, the temple at Medinet Habu and the fortress of Western Thebes which is evident in an inscription highlighted in plate 9. Through her building programs, she impressed the public and publicised her administration through inscriptions (plate7). However, Thutmose III erased her legacy by destroying her monuments and some believe it was due to his despise for her as she took his power. It is unfortunate that the evidence for her full building programs are sketchy, since many were damaged it is difficult to make an accurate assessment. Hatshepsut had a prosperous reign, though her ambitious steps induced Thutmose III in removing all