Page 76 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

hatshepsut 895

God has made different religions to suit different aspirations, times
and countries... one can reach God if one follows any of the paths
with wholehearted devotion. • Ramakrishna (1836–1886)

Further Reading The political success of her otherwise conservative
Al-Tabari, & Bosworth, C. E. (1989). The ‘Abbasid Caliphate in equilib- and traditional reign can be measured by a relatively sta-
rium. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Clot,A. (1989). Harun Al-Rashid and the world of the Thousand and One ble foreign policy, active interaction with Egypt’s neigh-
Nights. London: Saqi. bors Nubia (present-day northern Sudan and southern
El-Hibri,T. (1999). Reinterpreting Islamic historiography: Harun Al-Rashid Egypt) and the Levant (present-day Syria and Lebanon,
and the narrative of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate (Cambridge Studies in
Islamic Civilization). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. and her seemingly uninhibited access to natural and
Hodgson, M. G. S. (1961). The venture of Islam:Vol. 1.The classical age human resources, which allowed her to engage in a sub-
of Islam. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Le Strange, G. (1983). Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate: From con- stantial building program throughout Egypt. The great
temporary Arabic and Persian sources. Westport, CT: Greenwood temple to her divine father Amun at Karnak received
Press. particularly generous additions in form of chapels,
shrines, obelisks, and a monumental gateway (the Eighth
Pylon). Her own funerary temple at Deir el-Bahari has
been described as “the most complete statement in mate-
Hatshepsut rial form of her reign” (Bryan 2000, 241) and is one of

(reigned c. 1503–c. 1482 bce) the finest examples of ancient Egyptian architecture,
Queen of Egypt combining elements of previous periods with unique
artistic representations of her time. Famous is the
atshepsut was queen of ancient Egypt during the detailed depiction of her naval expedition to the land of
Heighteenth dynasty (c. 1540–c. 1307 BCE). She was Punt in East Africa, which brought back such exotic
the daughter of pharaoh Thutmose I, half sister and wife goods as wild animals and live incense trees. Also rep-
of Thutmose II and stepmother of Thutmose III, with resented is the transport of two monumental obelisks
whom she ruled over Egypt for a period of about twenty from the granite quarries in Aswan to the temple at Kar-
years. Although the precise nature and circumstances of nak on a large barge, which even by today’s standards
her rule and subsequent demise are unclear, she is one of represents a major engineering feat,given their estimated
the most outstanding and controversial figures in the weight of about 144 metric tons each. Her court obvi-
long history of pharaonic Egypt. ously enjoyed a rule of affluence and generous economic
Withonlyfewfemaleexamplestofollow,sheascended support from their queen, which is reflected in an in-
the throne of Egypt, first as regent on behalf of her crease in wealthy and richly decorated private tombs of
young stepson Thutmose III, the official successor to officials and the large number of private statues of such
Thutmose II, and subsequently had herself crowned as individuals produced during her reign.
ruler of Egypt with all necessary royal titles and regalia. Interestingly, numerous art representations of her
This she was able to legitimize in two ways. First, there time document how she slowly abandoned her feminine
was her pure royal bloodline and fine genealogy, which features in favor of more male—that is, kingly—attri-
are well expressed in her original queenly titles before butes, including beard, bare and masculine upper torso,
she assumed kingship: “daughter of the king,” “sister of and kilt, which has often been interpreted by some
the king,” “the god’s wife,” “great royal wife,” and “mis- scholars as a desperate attemptfor political acceptance
tress of the Two Lands” (Seipel 1977, 1045; Bryan as ruler.That her rule may not have been fully endorsed
2000, 238). Second, she presented herself as the explic- by her contemporaries is supported by her successor
itly designated heir to her father Thutmose I, a political Thutmose III’s deliberate destruction of her monuments
claim that was theologically reinforced by the story of and radical efforts to erase her from public memory,
her divine conception and birth to the god Amun, artis- although this evidently happened only decades after her
tically depicted on the walls of her funerary temple in death. Other evidence that her rule may not have been
Deir el-Bahari (western Thebes). fully endorsed includes inscriptions from her funerary