The Mysterious Queen Hatshepsut, Essay Example

According to Susanna Thomas, Hatshepsut was “a unique figure in ancient Egyptian history because she ruled Egypt as a King” and although the length of her reign as “Queen of the Nile” is not certain, most archeologists agree that it lasted from about 1504 until about 1480 B.C.E. But what makes Hatshepsut such a mysterious figure in ancient Egyptian history is that after her death, “Egyptian officials destroyed many of her monuments and inscriptions,” along with documentation that may have provided more information on her as the first female Egyptian pharaoh (2003, pp. 12-13).

Today, there are two specific theories or hypotheses set forth by historians and egyptologists to explain what exactly happened to Hatshepsut and why. The first theory was proposed by archeologists Edouard Naville and Kurt Sethe in the late 19th century which claimed that Tuthmose III, the step-son of Hatshepsut, became extremely jealous and envious of Hatshepsut’s power and influence. So, when Hatshepsut died around the age of fifty, Tuthmose III “ordered the systematic erasure of her name from any monument she had built, including her temple at Deir-el-Bahri” (Bediz, 2013) which would account for the absence of Hatshepsut’s name and physical self or image in what remains from her dynasty as pharaoh.

However, for reasons that remain unclear, when Tuthmose III died, “his sarcophagus (funerary coffin for his mummy) was completely destroyed.” Also, his mummy was never found; Hatshepsut’s mummy was likewise stolen and her tomb destroyed (Bediz, 2013). All that was found in her tomb (if it was indeed her tomb and not that of her consort Senmut) was a canopic jar holding the remains of her liver. Naville and Sethe also believed that Tuthmose III had murdered Hatshepsut and her consort Senmut which would help explain why his sarcophagus and tomb had been destroyed by either grave robbers or someone linked to Hatshepsut who knew about the crime and thus sought revenge for her death (Bediz, 2013).

A second theory is known as the “Evil Stepmother Theory” which was proposed by William C. Hayes in his 1966 book Internal Affairs from Tuthmosis I to the Death of Amenophis III. Although similar to the theory proposed by Naville and Sethe, Haye’s suggestion runs thus-“In 1482 B.C.E., Tuthmose III was no longer a child but a fiercely energetic and extremely capable leader of men whose impatience with Hatshepsut’s weak foreign policy” eventually led to conspiring to kill his step-mother who was a “shrewd, ambitious, and unscrupulous woman” (Editing Hatshepsut, 2013).

Hayes also proposed that Hatshepsut wished to create a maternal or feminine Egyptian dynasty that would rule ancient Egypt for the next thousand years which might explain why Hatshepsut allegedly wished to remain in power and prevent Tuthmose III from becoming pharaoh. However, the evidence for this theory is lacking, due to the absence of documentation and hard archeological evidence (Editing Hatshepsut, 2013).

Of these two theories, the one that seems the most probable is that proposed by Naville and Sethe in the late 19th century. This is because of two basic reasons–first, Hatshepsut’s tomb (or at least what archeologists believe was hers) was completely destroyed as was that of Tuthmose III which indicates some type of familial rivalry; and second, since Tuthmose III attempted to have all signs of Hatshepsut’s reign erased from Egyptian history via the destruction of her monuments, it is clear that he harbored great jealousy for Hatshepsut, perhaps even enough to murder her.

References

Bediz, D. (2013). The story of Hatshepsut. Retrieved from http://hatshepsut.bediz.com/story.html

Editing Hatshepsut: Creating history in the reigns of Hatshepsut and Tuthmoses III. (2013). Retrieved from http://edmichaels.hubpages.com/hub/Editing-Hatshepsut-Creating-History-in-the-Reigns-of-Hatshepsut-and-Tuthmosis-III

Thomas, S. (2003). Hatshepsut: The First Woman Pharaoh. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.