Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
Written By Kara Cooney, Review by Marcianne Miller
I was probably the only archaeologist you ever met who couldn’t stand ancient Egypt. Too hot, too sunny, only one river, and all those pointy-topped pyramids. I’ve got European DNA — give me soggy peat bogs, rain, green hills and megaliths, such as Stonehenge and Newgrange.
However, a new book by UCLA-based Egyptologist Kara Cooney, has turned me into an Egyptphile and it’s all because of a woman I never heard of. Her name is Hatshepsut (1508-1458 BC), which means “Foremost of Noble Ladies,” and she, among the few women who became rulers, was the longest reigning female pharaoh, the fifth ruler in the 18 Dynasty, for those in the know.
Hatshepsut was the keenly intelligent daughter of a famous general who usurped the throne and became pharaoh. She spent her childhood in the shadow of her father’s machinations, learning the royalty’s elaborate rituals, eavesdropping at palace intrigues and spying on how the powerful men acquired all those gold objects and built the tombs to house their remains for eternity.
Since the pharaoh was believed to be a god, it was he, not his wife, who was responsible for fertility. The job of a pharaoh’s wife was to bear a son, the new god. Hung up as they were about keeping the royal bloodline pure, the god-king often married his sister. After generations of inbreeding it was no wonder there were fertility issues in the palace.
Hatshepsut married a pharaoh, but gave birth to a daughter not a son. This didn’t stop her ambition however. Her husband had a son with one of his secondary wives, and Hatshepsut maneuvered things so she, not the mother, became regent of the infant pharaoh and ruled for about 20 years.
Realizing what Egyptian male-centric tradition demanded of its rulers, she got creative – she denied her feminine wiles and dressed as a man. Yep, she became a cross-dressing king, not queen. During her long peaceful reign, she expanded Egypt’s trade network, allowing her to go on an enormous building campaign. She ordered the constructing of hundreds of palaces, temples, tombs and obelisks, in both Upper and Lower Egypt.
Her efforts produced so much statuary that almost every major museum in the world has some of her projects in their collections. The tallest surviving ancient obelisk on Earth is one she had constructed at the Temple of Karnak.
Hatshepsut lived to the ripe old age of about 50, despite gross obesity, aching teeth and a carcinogenic skin cream. Once she was gone, the length and success of her reign, didn’t matter. Her successors tried to destroy all traces of her, tearing down her temples, ripping images of her off most of her buildings, claiming for themselves what she had accomplished.
Only recently have archaeological findings been able to restore Hatshepsut to her rightful legacy. It’s a fascinating story, made all the more memorable by author Cooney’s detailed descriptions of life in ancient Egypt and the power wielded by the pharaohs.
The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt, written by Kara Cooney. Crown (2014), 320 pp.