When Thutmose II died, his son Thutmose III was a small child. The boy's stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I and widow of Thutmose II, acted as regent. Within a few years she did something unprecedented in scale: she took the full titles of a king and ruled as king herself, beside the young Thutmose.
Key idea
A woman as king
Egyptian kingship was a male office, but a few women had held it before, such as Sobekneferu at the end of the 12th Dynasty. Hatshepsut took a throne name, Maatkare, and was shown with the king's kilt, crown and false beard, while her inscriptions often keep feminine word endings. She claimed that the god Amun was her true father, and reliefs at her temple tell the story of her divine birth.
Why it works
What she built
- Deir el-Bahari: her temple Djeser-djeseru ("holiest of holy places"), with three terraces against the cliffs, next to Mentuhotep II's older temple.
- Karnak: a pair of great obelisks (one still stands) and the Red Chapel for Amun's sacred boat.
- Punt: reliefs at Deir el-Bahari show ships bringing incense trees, ebony and animals from Punt, a land somewhere on the African coast of the Red Sea (its exact location is debated).
What happened to her monuments?
After her death, Thutmose III ruled alone for about thirty years. Late in his reign, about twenty years after she died, her images and names were cut out of many monuments and her statues broken. Because this came so late, most historians no longer think it was an act of personal hatred. A common view is that it removed a female king from the record and secured the succession for Thutmose's son; the reasons are still debated.
Worked example: Reading the timing
- Revenge would most likely come right after she died, around c. 1458 BC.
- The evidence shows the erasure late in Thutmose III's reign, about two decades later.
- That timing points to a political motive, such as the succession, rather than anger.
Answer: Revenge would be early; the erasure came late, which suggests a political reason.
Common mistake