Statue of Queen Hatshepsut. The internecine strife of the Tutmosids and the reign of Queen Hatshepsut

The beginning of the reign of Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut. Statuette
Image by Keith Schengili-Roberts

When the thirtieth anniversary of Thutmose I's appointment as heir to the throne, which was at the same time the thirtieth anniversary of his coronation, he sent his faithful architect Ineni to the granite quarries at the first rapids behind two obelisks for the upcoming celebrations of Hebsed, or the thirtieth anniversary. In a barge more than 200 feet long and one-third of the length, Ineni lowered huge obelisks down the river to Thebes and placed them in front of the pylons of the Karnak temple, which he also built for the king. On one of them, which still stands at the temple gates, he inscribed the royal names and titles, but before he began the inscription on the second, unexpected changes occurred, as a result of which the obelisk remained without the name of Thutmose I. Pharaoh was now an old man, and his claim to the throne, successfully supported by him up to that time, probably suffered damage due to the death of his wife, Queen Ahmose, who alone gave him a serious right to the crown. She was the successor and representative of the ancient Theban princes who fought and expelled the Hyksos, and there was a strong party that believed that this line alone was entitled to royal honors. Ahmose gave birth to Thutmose I four children - two sons and two daughters, but both sons and one of the daughters died in adolescence or childhood. The surviving daughter of Hatshepsut was thus the only offspring of the ancient line, and the legitimate party was so strong that it forced the king, many years before, approximately in the middle of his reign, to appoint her as his successor, despite the national reluctance to obey the rule of the Queen. manifested throughout Egyptian history. Among other children, Thutmose I had two sons by other wives: one, who later became Thutmose II, was the son of Princess Mutnofret, and the other, later Thutmose III, was born from an unknown king's concubine named Isis. The end of Thutmose's reign is shrouded in deep darkness, and its restoration is not without difficulty. The traces of family strife, preserved in the writings on the walls of the temples, are not enough for us to trace the intricate struggle after 3500 years. The Time of Troubles that followed the reign of Thutmose I probably embraces the entire reign of Thutmose II and the beginning of the reign of Thutmose III. When the horizon finally clears up, we find Thutmose III having long occupied the throne, except that his reign was interrupted at first for a short time by the ephemeral reign of Thutmose II. Thus, although the reign of Thutmose III actually began earlier than the reign of Thutmose II, seven-eighths of it occurs after the death of the latter, and therefore the usual reckoning of the years of the reign of both kings is most convenient. Amidst a vague struggle, dotted with romantic and dramatic episodes, the life of a beautiful and gifted princess of the ancient line, Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. It is possible that after the death of her brothers, she was married to her half-brother, the son of a concubine, whom we should call Thutmose III. When he was a young prince without any future, who did not have any rights to the throne either by his father or by his mother, he was placed in the Karnak temple as a priest with the degree of a prophet. Since then, he managed to enlist the support of the priests long ago, for after the death of the old queen Ahmose Thutmose III had the same rights to the throne as his father once had, in other words, through his wife. To this legal right, the priesthood of Amun who supported him agreed to add divine sanction. Whether it was a consequence of a preliminary agreement with Thutmose I, or it was a completely unexpected coup for him, but only the accession to the throne of Thutmose III was suddenly proclaimed in the temple of Amun. On a festive day, when, among the cries of the crowd, the image of a god was carried out of the holy of holies into the courtyard of the temple, the priest Thutmose III stood with other priests in the middle of the northern colonnade in the temple hall of Thutmose I. The priests surrounded the god from both sides of the colonnade, as if he were looking for someone and finally, the god stopped before the young prince, who prostrated himself in front of him on the floor. God raised him up and, as a sign of his will, put him immediately on the "royal place", where only Pharaoh could stand on solemn occasions during temple services; Thutmose I, who just a minute earlier burned incense before God and brought him a great sacrifice, was thus removed from the throne by his own will, publicly and clearly expressed. The fivefold name and title of Thutmose III were immediately published, and on May 3, 1501 BC. e. he suddenly passed from the duties of the inconspicuous prophet Amun to the palace of the pharaohs. Years later, on the occasion of the opening of several new halls in the Karnak temple of Amun, he resumed this episode in the memory of the assembled courtiers, and added that instead of going to Heliopolis, he was caught up in heaven, where he saw the sun god in all his ineffable glory and was duly married to the kingdom and endowed with royal names. He then ordered this message of incomparable honors from God to be inscribed on the wall of the temple, so that it would be known to everyone forever.

Thutmose I obviously did not seem dangerous since he was allowed to live. Thutmose III soon threw off the tutelage of the legitimate party. After thirty months of reign, he erected on the site of the ancient brick temple of his ancestor Senusret III at Semna, at the second thresholds, a temple of fine Nubian sandstone, in which he carefully restored the ancient border plate of the Middle Kingdom and renewed the Senusert decree, providing donations to the temple by means of constant income. At the same time, he did not say a single word in his royal title, which stands at the beginning of the dedication record, about any co-government of his wife Hatshepsut. In fact, he did not find for her a more honorable title than "the great, or main, royal wife." But it was not so easy to remove the legitimate party. The appointment of Hatshepsut as heiress about fifteen years before and, what was even more significant, her descent from the ancient Theban family of Sekenenra and Yakhmoses were very serious facts in the eyes of the nobles of this party. As a result of their efforts, Thutmose III was forced to recognize his wife as a co-ruler and, in fact, allow her to participate in the government. Soon her supporters became so strong that the king was seriously curtailed in his rights and even in the end was pushed into the background. Thus, Hatshepsut became king - an incredible fact and not at all in harmony with the state legend about the origin of the pharaoh. It has been called the "Women's Mountain"! The word "majesty" took on a feminine form (because in Egyptian it is consistent with the gender of the ruler), and the customs of the court were changed and distorted so that they could fit the rule of a woman.

Hatshepsut and Thutmose II

Hatshepsut immediately undertook independent work and the construction of royal monuments, in particular a magnificent temple for her posthumous service in the deepening of the rocks, on the western side of the river, in Thebes. This is the temple now known as Deir el-Bahri; in the future we will have the opportunity to talk about it in more detail. We cannot establish at the present time whether the priestly party of Thutmose III and the party of the Legitimists weakened themselves by mutual struggle, so that they became easy prey for the third party, or whether a happy turn of fate favored the party of Thutmose II. In any case, after about five years of the reign of Thutmose III and his energetic wife, Thutmose II, who united with the old deposed king Thutmose I, managed to remove Thutmose III and Hatshepsut and seize the crown. Thereafter, Thutmose I and II, father and son, began to fiercely persecute the memory of Hatshepsut, erasing her name on the monuments and replacing it with two of their names wherever possible.

Rumors of strife in the royal house probably reached Nubia, and on the day of the accession to the throne of Thutmose II, he received news of a serious uprising there. Of course, it was impossible for Pharaoh to leave the court and the capital to the mercy of his enemies at the moment when he barely took possession of the scepter. He was therefore forced to send armies under the command of his subordinate, who quickly reached the third rapids, where the cattle of the Egyptians who lived in the valley were in great danger. According to the instructions, the Egyptian general not only defeated the army, but also killed all the men he could find. He captured the child of the rebellious Nubian leader and several other natives, who were then taken to Thebes as hostages and marched in front of the pharaoh on the throne. After this punishment, silence fell again in Nubia, but in the north the new pharaoh had to go against the Asian rebels up to Nia on the Euphrates. On the way there, or perhaps on the way back, he had to undertake a punitive expedition to southern Palestine against the Bedouin predators. He was accompanied by Ahmos-pen-Nehebt of El-Kaba, who took so many captives that he did not count them. This was the last campaign of the old warrior, who, like his relative and countryman Ahmose, was the son of Ebana. then retired with honor to retire to El-Kab. The majestic temple of Hatshepsut, unfinished and empty, abandoned by the workers, was used by Thutmose II after his return from the north to perpetuate the memory of his Asiatic campaign. On one of the empty walls, he depicted receiving tribute from the defeated, and you can still make out in the explanatory inscription the words: "horses" and "elephants". It is possible that the death of the aged Thutmose I, which occurred at this time, worsened the position of the weak and sick Thutmose II so much that he entered into an agreement with Thutmose III, who at that time, apparently, was away from affairs, but, of course, who was secretly looking for a chance to restore your position. In any case, we find both of them for a short time as co-rulers, but this position was interrupted by the death of Thutmose II. who reigned for at most three years.

Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III

Thutmose III, thus, once again held the throne, but he could not fight alone against the supporters of Hatshepsut and was forced to compromise, recognizing the queen as his co-ruler. This did not end there; Hatshepsut's party was so powerful that although it was impossible to finally depose Thutmose III, nevertheless he was again pushed into the background, and the queen began to play a leading role in the state. She and Thutmose III counted the years of their joint reign from the moment of the first accession to the throne of Thutmose III, as if it had not been interrupted at all by the short reign of Thutmose II. The queen set to work energetically, as the first great woman known in history. Her father's architect, Ineni, defines the position of both rulers as follows: after a short note about Thutmose III as “the ruler on the throne of the one who gave birth to him,” he says:

“His sister, Divine Consort Hatshepsut, put in order the affairs of Both Countries, according to her design; Egypt had to bow its head and work for her, the perfect seed of the god descended from him. The bow line of the South, the dock of the Southerners, the excellent stern line of the North Country - such is she, the sovereign, whose designs are perfect, satisfying Both Areas when she speaks.

Thus, having, perhaps for the first time, such an example of a state boat in front of him, Ineni compares Hatshepsut, following a living oriental fantasy, with the mooring ropes of a Nile boat.

Granite Sphinx with the face of Queen Hatshepsut

This characteristic is confirmed by the deeds of the queen. Its supporters have occupied the most influential positions. Closest to the queen was Senmut, who deserved her full favor. He was the mentor of Thutmose III when he was a child, and he was now entrusted with the upbringing of the little daughter of Queen Nefrur, who was in her childhood in the care of old Ahmose-pen-Nehebt of El-Kab. The latter at this time was no longer capable of any responsible business, and therefore the education of the young girl was entrusted to Senmut. He had a brother named Senmen who also supported Hatshepsut. The most powerful of her supporters was Hapuseneb, who was both the vizier and high priest of Amun. He was also the head of the newly organized priesthood of the whole country, thus he united in his person all the power of the administrative government and all the power of a strong priestly party that sided with Hatshepsut. The tsarina's party now had such new forces. The aged Ineni had as his successor, as the guardian of the silver and gold treasury, a nobleman named Tutii; a certain Nekhsi was the chief treasurer and employee of Hapuseneb. The entire state machine was thus in the hands of the queen's supporters. Needless to say, the fate, and probably also the lives of these people, was closely dependent on the success and domination of Hatshepsut, so they took great care to maintain her position. They tried by all means to prove that the reign of the queen was predetermined by the gods themselves from the moment of her birth. At her temple in Deir el-Bahri, where work was actively renewed, they carved on the walls a long series of reliefs representing the birth of the queen. An ancient state legend was depicted here in all details, which said that the sovereign should be a son of the flesh of the sun god. The wife of Thutmose I Ahmose is depicted in loving communion with Amun (the successor of the sun god Ra in Theban theology), who says to her at parting:

"Hatshepsut should be the name of my daughter (to be born) ... She will be a wonderful queen over this whole country."

The reliefs, therefore, show how she was appointed from the outset by the will of the gods to rule Egypt; they depict her birth, accompanied by all the miracles with which the etiquette of the court and the gullibility of the people surrounded the birth of the heir to the sun god. The artist who produced the work so blindly adhered to the customary tradition that he depicted a newborn child in the form of a boy, from which it is clear to what extent the appearance of a woman in this case contradicted traditional forms. To these scenes were added others depicting the crowning of Hatshepsut by the gods and her recognition as Queen Thutmose I in the presence of the assembled court on New Year's Day. They copied an explanatory inscription to these scenes from the ancient chronicle of the XII dynasty about a similar appointment of Amenemhat III by his father Senusert III. In order that they may serve as a proper reminder for all those who would be inclined to rebel against the rule of a woman, these inscriptions are drawn up by the party of the queen in such a way that they depict Thutmose I, ostensibly speaking to the court:

“You will proclaim her word, you will obey her command. The one who will worship her will live; the one who blasphemously speaks ill of Her Majesty - will die. "

On a pylon built by Thutmose I in the form of the southern gate to the Karnak temple, he was even depicted in front of the Theban gods praying for the prosperous reign of his daughter. With the help of such fabrications, they tried to destroy the prejudice against the queen on the throne of the pharaohs.

Expedition to Punt

Hatshepsut's first venture was, as we have said, continuing to build her magnificent temple at the foot of the western Theban cliffs, where her father and brother carved their names in the place of her own. The building was conceived very differently from the large temples of that era. The plan was modeled on the small stepped temple of Mentuhotep II in the adjacent rock depression. It rose from the valley in three terraces to the level of an elevated courtyard adjoining high yellow rocks, where the holy of holies was carved. In front of these terraces there were wonderful colonnades, which, viewed from a distance, still display such an exceptional sense of proportion and appropriate position that they completely contradict the usual assertion that for the first time the Greeks learned the art of placing external colonnades, and the Egyptians knew how to place only columns inside the building. The architect of the temple was the favorite of Queen Senmut, and the successor of Ineni Tutii sculpted bronze doors, covered with figures of an alloy of gold and silver, and other metal accessories. The queen was especially interested in the layout of the temple. She saw in it the paradise of Amun, and its terraces seemed to her "the myrtle terraces of Punta, the original dwelling of the gods." She refers in one of her inscriptions to the fact that Amon wished "that she arrange for him a Punt in his house." For the full implementation of the plan, the myrtle trees from Punta had to be planted on the terraces. Her ancestors often sent expeditions there, but never, however, for the trees, and for a long time, as far as memory lasted, even the myrrh, necessary for liturgical incense, passed from hand to hand through land trade until it reached Egypt. Foreign trade suffered greatly during the prolonged reign of the Hyksos. But one day, when the queen stood before the naos of God, "a command was heard from the great throne, the oracle of God himself, which said that the roads to Punt must be inherited, that the paths to the myrtle terraces must be overcome", for this is what God says:

“This is the glorious region of the Divine Country, this is truly the place of my delights; I created it for myself, for the amusement of my heart. "

The queen adds:

"Everything was done according to the command of the majesty of this god."

The organization and dispatch of the expedition were, of course, entrusted by the queen to the chief treasurer Nekhsi, in whose chests the riches for which the expedition was sent were to be kept. Having made propitious sacrifices to the deities of the air in order to ensure a favorable wind for themselves, the fleet of five ships opened sails at the beginning of the ninth year of the queen's reign. The path lay down the Nile and further through a canal that went from the Eastern Delta through Wadi Tumilat and connected the Nile with the Red Sea.

This channel, as the reader will recall, was regularly used already in the era of the Middle Kingdom. Apart from many barter goods, the fleet was carrying a large stone statue of the queen, which was supposed to be erected in Punta. If it still stands there to this day, then this is the most distant statue from the metropolis, ever erected by Egyptian rulers. The ships safely reached Punta, the Egyptian leader pitched his tent on the shore, where he was friendly received by the leader of Punta Pereju, accompanied by his completely unnaturally folded wife and three children.

It has been so long since the last visit of the Egyptians to Punt that the latter depicted the natives shouting:

“How did you arrive here, in this country, which the (Egyptian) people do not know. Have you descended the path of heaven, or have you sailed on the water, on the sea of ​​the Divine Country? "

After the Puntian chieftain was gratified by the gifts, a lively exchange soon followed. The ships are pulled ashore, the gangways are thrown, and the loading moves forward quickly, until the ships are filled with “very heavily the wonders of the country of Punta, every fragrant tree of the Divine Land, heaps of myrtle resin and fresh myrtle trees, ebony and pure ivory, green gold from Emu , cinnamon wood, incense, eye rub, baboons, monkeys, dogs, southern panther skins, natives and their children. Nothing like this was brought to any king who ever lived in the north. " After a successful voyage, without any accidents or loss of cargo, as we know from sources, the fleet finally moored again at the Theban dock. Probably the Thebans had never before had such a spectacle as the one that now gave them so much pleasure - when a motley row of Puntians and the strange products of their distant country followed the streets to the queen's palace, where the Egyptian leader handed them over to her majesty. Having reviewed the results of his great expedition, the queen immediately brought some of them as a gift to Amun, along with a tribute from Nubia, which was always placed next to Punt. She donated to God thirty-one living myrtle, an alloy of gold and silver, eye rubbing, Puntian throwing sticks, ebony, elephant tusks, a live southern panther specially caught for Her Majesty, many panther skins and 3,300 heads of small livestock. Large piles of myrrh, twice the height of a man, were weighed under the supervision of the favorite of Queen Tutia, and huge rings of exchange gold were placed on a scale 10 feet high.

Then, formally announcing to Amon about the success of the expedition sent at the behest of his oracle, Hatshepsut gathered the court, and gave her favorites, Senmut and the chief treasurer Nekhsi, who equipped the expedition, places of honor at her feet, and informed the nobles of the results of her great enterprise. She reminded them of the oracle of Amun, who commanded her "to arrange for him a Punt in his house, to plant trees from the Divine Country in his garden, near the temple, according to his command." She continues proudly:

"It was done ... I arranged a Punt for him in his garden, just as he commanded me ... he is big enough for him to walk on."

Thus, the magnificent temple was turned for the god into a myrtle garden, located on terraces, and the energetic queen, in order to accomplish this, had to send to the edge of the world known at that time. She recorded all the incidents of this remarkable expedition in the form of reliefs on the wall, once appropriated by Thutmose II to record his Asian campaign, where they are still one of the first decorations of her temple. All her top favorites have found a place for themselves in these scenes. Senmut was even allowed to portray himself on one of the walls praying to Hathor for the queen - an incomparable honor!

Memorial Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri

This one-of-a-kind temple represented in its function the completion of a new trend in the arrangement and architecture of the royal tomb and the prayer house, or temple, with it. Perhaps due to the fact that their funds received a different purpose, or due to the fact that they recognized the futility of the vast tombs, unable to protect the body of the builder from encroachment, the pharaohs, as we have seen, gradually abandoned the construction of the pyramids. Connected with the funeral chapel located on the east side, the pyramid probably survived until the reign of Ahmose I, but it gradually became smaller in size and importance, while the mine and the chamber beneath it and the chapel in front of it remained relatively large in size. Amenhotep I the latter followed an ancient tradition; he carved a 200-foot-long passage in the western Theban rocks, ending in a crypt where the king's body should have been. In front of the rock at the entrance to the mine, he built a modest funeral chapel, crowned with a pyramidal roof, which we have already mentioned above. Probably for the sake of safety, Thutmose I then radically separated the tomb from the standing front chapel. The latter was still located in the valley at the foot of the cliffs, but the crypt with a passage leading to it was carved into the western cliffs bordering a wild and desolate valley, lying about two miles in a straight direction from the river and accessible only by twice the longest bypass road. deviating to the north. It is clear that it was intended to keep the tsar's burial place a secret in order to prevent any possibility of his plundering. The architect of Thutmose I Ineni says that he alone watched the carving of the cave tomb of His Majesty, so that "no one saw and no one heard." The new arrangement was such that the tomb was still behind the chapel, or temple, which thus continued to remain east of the tomb, but both were now separated by intermediate rocks. The valley, known to us as the Valley of the Kings, quickly filled with the vast tombs of the successors of Thutmose I. It continued to be the cemetery of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties, and more than forty tombs of the Theban kings were carved in it. The forty-one tombs now available is one of the wonders attracting modern tourists to Thebes, and Strabo speaks of forty. worthy of a visit in his time. The terraced shrine of Hatshepsut was therefore her burial temple, also dedicated to her father. With the increase in the number of tombs in the back valley, on the plain in front of it, one after another, temples arose for the funeral service for the departed gods, the emperors who once ruled Egypt. They were dedicated to Amun, as the state god, and at the same time they bore euphemistic names indicating their funeral function. So, for example, the temple of Thutmose III was called "Gift of Life". The architect Hatshepsut, Hapuseneb, who was at the same time her vizier, carved her tomb also in the desert valley. On the east side of it, now behind the terraced temple, a passage descends into the rock for several hundred feet at a steep angle, ending in a series of chambers, one of which enclosed the sarcophagus of both her and her father Thutmose I. But probably due to family As we have seen, the latter built for himself his own tomb of modest size, and, no doubt, he never used the sarcophagus made for him by his daughter. Be that as it may, both sarcophagi were plundered in antiquity and did not contain any remains when they were discovered in modern times.

Egypt under the rule of Hatshepsut

The energetic queen's attention to the peaceful arts, her active concern for the development of the empire's wealth soon began to bear fruit. In addition to huge crown incomes from internal sources, Hatshepsut also received tribute from her vast dominions, stretching from the third Nile rapids to the Euphrates. She stated herself:

“My southern border extends to Punta ... my eastern border extends to the swamps of Asia, and the Asians are in my power; my western border extends to Mount Manu (sunset) ... My fame lives constantly among the inhabitants of the sands. Myrrh from Punta was delivered to me ... All the splendid wonders of this country were brought to my palace at one time ... I was brought a selection of products ... cedar, juniper and meruu ... every fragrant tree of the Divine Country. I received a tribute from Tehenu (Libya), consisting of ivory and seven hundred tusks that were there, many panther skins, five feet long, counting along the back, and four feet wide. "

Obviously, no serious unrest has yet occurred in Asia due to the fact that there was no longer a warrior on the throne of the pharaohs. Therefore, an energetic woman began to use her new riches to restore ancient temples, which, despite the fact that two generations had already passed, had not yet been corrected after the neglect in which they were under the Hyksos. She wrote down her good deed in the temple carved into the rock at Beni Hasan in the following words:

“I have restored what lay in the ruins. I erected what remained unfinished since the Asians were in Avar, in the Northern Land, and among them were barbarians, overthrowing what was done when they ruled in the ignorance of Ra. "

Obelisks of Hatshepsut

It has already been seven or eight years since she and Thutmose III took possession of the throne again, and fifteen years since they first seized it. Thutmose III was never appointed heir to the throne, but this honor fell to his wife's lot; now the thirtieth anniversary of her appointment was approaching, and she could celebrate her anniversary. She therefore had to make preparations for the setting up of the two obelisks with which such anniversaries were usually commemorated. The queen herself tells us about this:

“I was sitting in the palace. I remembered who created me. My heart prompted me to make for him two obelisks made of an alloy of gold and silver, the points of which would merge with the sky. "

Her favorite, Senmut, was summoned to the palace and ordered to go to the granite quarries at the first rapids behind two giant oblong blocks for obelisks. He recruited the necessary workers forcibly and began work at the beginning of February of the fifteenth year of the queen's reign. In early August, exactly seven months later, he dug out huge blocks from the quarry; taking advantage of the water quickly arriving at that time, he lowered them down the river and brought them to Thebes before the flood began to subside. The queen then chose an unusual place for her obelisks, namely the very peristyle hall of the Karnak temple erected by her father, where her husband Thutmose III was named king at the behest of Amun, despite the fact that this required the removal of all the cedar columns of her father from the southern half of the hall and four of those in the northern half, not to mention, of course, that it was necessary to remove the ceiling that was above the hall and destroy the southern wall to pass the obelisks. They were richly plated with an alloy of gold and silver, on which Tutii labored. Hatshepsut says that she measured out the precious metal in whole measures, like sacks of grain, and this strange assertion is supported by Tutia, who testifies that, at the royal command, he poured no less than twelve quadruples of an alloy of gold and silver in the palace banquet hall. The Queen proudly describes their beauty:

“Their tops, made of the finest alloy of gold and silver that can be found, are visible on both sides of the river. Their rays flood Both Countries when the sun rises between them, rising on the horizon of the sky. "

They towered so high above the hall of Thutmose I, from which the roof was removed, that the queen found it necessary to carve a long oath, where she calls all the gods to witness that each obelisk is made of one piece. These were truly the greatest obelisks ever erected in Egypt before that time; they were ninety-seven and a half feet high and each weighed about 350 tons. One of them still stands today, causing everyone to amaze modern visitors to Thebes. Hatshepsut at the same time erected two even larger obelisks at Karnak, but they are now dead. It is possible that she also placed two others in her stepped temple, therefore, a total of six, for she narrates in it about the transport of two large oblong blocks along the river and depicted this on a relief representing obelisks lying the entire length of a huge barge, which is dragged by thirty galleys, containing in total about 950 oarsmen. But this scene may refer to the first two obelisks, when they were lowered down the Senmut River.

In addition to the obelisks erected in the sixteenth year of her reign, we learn about another enterprise of Hatshepsut of the same year from the relief in Wadi Maghar, on the Sinai Peninsula, where the tireless queen sent a mountain expedition, which resumed work there, interrupted by the invasion of the Hyksos. Work on the Sinai Peninsula continued under her auspices until the twentieth year of her reign. In the interval between this date and the end of the twenty-first year, when we find Thutmose III the sole ruler, the great queen apparently died. If we spent some time describing her structures and expeditions, it is because this woman lived in an era when military affairs seemed impossible for her gender and great deeds could only be done by her in the field of peaceful arts and enterprises. Great as she was, her reign was an undoubted misfortune, for it fell at a time when Egyptian power in Asia was not yet sufficiently strong, and Syria was ready at every moment for an uprising.

Destruction of the memory of Hatshepsut after her death

Thutmose III did not treat her memory as chivalrous. He endured too much. At a time when he was eager to lead his troops to Asia, he had to do such a childish thing as smoking incense in front of Amun on the occasion of the return of the queen's expedition from Punta, or his tireless energy was given an outlet ... in the construction of the queen's funeral temple in the western Theban valley. Considering the time when he lived, we should not overly condemn his attitude towards the deceased queen. Around her obelisks, in the hall of her father in Karnak, he ordered the construction of a stone wall, covering her name and the information that she had erected them, at their base. He erased her name everywhere, and both her images and her name were destroyed on all the walls of the stepped temple. All her supporters no doubt fled. Otherwise, they would soon be done away with. On the relief scenes in the same temple where Senmut, Neksi and Tutiyi considered it such an honor to appear, their images and their names were mercilessly destroyed with a chisel. The queen granted Senmut three statues in the Theban temples, and on all of them his name was erased; in his tomb and on his tombstone, his name disappeared. The statue of Vizier Hapuseneb suffered the same fate. Likewise, they visited the tomb of Tutia and destroyed his name there. The tomb of Senmen, Senmut's brother, did not escape the same, and the name of one of their like-minded people, buried in a nearby tomb, was erased so well that we do not know who it was. By order of the king, they even visited the distant Silsil in order to do the same with the tomb of the "chief steward" of the queen. And these damaged monuments stand to our time as gloomy witnesses of the great revenge of the king. But in the magnificent temple of Hatshepsut, her fame still lives on, and the stone fence around the Karnak obelisks collapsed, revealing giant stone needles announcing the greatness of Hatshepsut to the modern world.

The reign of Hatshepsut marked the unprecedented prosperity and rise of Egypt. She also proved herself as a pharaoh-builder. The queen restored many monuments destroyed by the Hyksos conquerors. In addition, she herself actively led the construction of temples.

Thutmose III, the adopted son of Hatshepsut, ordered the destruction of all images, references, altars of Hatshepsut to get rid of the power of his stepmother. By his order, all the official chronicles were rewritten, the name of the queen was replaced by the names of this ruler and his predecessors; all the deeds and monuments of the queen were henceforth attributed to the successor of Hatshepsut.

(from wikipedia)

She was portrayed as a man. She was considered a usurper. She was deleted from history. Her mummy was considered lost. And only today we begin to penetrate into the secrets of Hatshepsut.

Regent with an adult pharaoh. In the summer of the year before last, sensational news spread around the world: the mummy of Hatshepsut, the first woman in history who can be called famous, was found. Finding her was the solution to the greatest mystery, a mixture of exciting adventure in the spirit of Indiana Jones and crime drama.

In ancient Egypt, royal power was transferred in a rather original way: inheritance went along the female line - but at the same time, the pharaohs were men. That is, the king became the son-in-law of the pharaoh, the husband of the princess - the daughter of the main royal wife (also, in turn, the bearer of the royal blood). That is why the sons of the pharaohs were forced to marry their sisters - in order to inherit the throne. Through marriage, a dignitary or military leader could also become a pharaoh. So power was passed through daughters - but at the same time bypassing daughters, since tradition and religion argued that women could not rule. Therefore, the story of Hatshepsut, a woman who became a pharaoh, is completely unique.

Hatshepsut's grandfather, probably (there are still many blank spots in the history of the New Kingdom, and therefore it is difficult to say anything for sure), was the founder of the 18th dynasty Ahmose I, who expelled the formidable Hyksos from Egypt, who had captured the north of the Nile Valley two centuries earlier. The son of Ahmose I had no sons, and therefore the next pharaoh was a certain military leader Thutmose, who married Princess Ahmose, probably the daughter of Ahmose I. From this marriage, Thutmose had a daughter, Hatshepsut, and from his second wife, Queen Mutnofret (possibly daughter) - heir to Thutmose II.

Having entered into a marriage with his sister Hatshepsut, Thutmose II received the right to the throne. And she seemed to repeat the fate of her mother - only a daughter was born to the royal couple, while the second wife of Pharaoh Isis gave birth to an heir.

But then this story, which is still quite traditional, ceases to be such. For a long time it was believed that when Thutmose II left this world (from heart problems, as a computed tomograph established thousands of years later), his heir Thutmose III was still very young. That is why Queen Hatshepsut, by tradition, became regent with a child. However, today it is known from ancient inscriptions: even during the life of his father, Thutmose III was already a priest of Amun-Ra in the Karnak temple in Thebes. That is, when the pharaoh died, the heir was hardly a child. However, his stepmother somehow mysteriously managed to become regent under, probably, a young, but no longer a minor tsar.

Her Majesty the King. This was only the beginning - then traditions began to collapse like a house of cards. At first, Hatshepsut still ruled on behalf of her stepson - but soon they begin to depict on the reliefs how the regent performs purely royal functions: she brings gifts to the gods, orders obelisks from red granite. And after a few years, she also officially becomes a pharaoh.

Thutmose III was relegated to the status of co-ruler and, it seems, was not admitted to real power. Hatshepsut was the full-fledged mistress of Egypt for no less than 21 years. What made the Egyptian woman abandon her traditional role as regent? A crisis? Will of Amun-Ra? Power hunger? It is difficult to understand her motives today. But it is no less difficult to understand how Hatshepsut managed for twenty years to prevent the power of an adult stepson, who had an undeniable advantage from the point of view of the ancient Egyptians over his stepmother - gender.

It seems unlikely that Hatshepsut would usurp the throne by force. Although Thutmose III did not take part in state affairs, it was he who was "thrown" into the settlement of military conflicts. And it is unlikely that the queen would risk putting at the head of the army the one from whom she took power against her will.

This situation could be explained by the weakness and passivity of the opponent - but no! After the death of his stepmother, Thutmose III showed himself to be an extremely active ruler, he actively erected monuments and fought so successfully that he was later nicknamed the ancient Egyptian Napoleon. For 19 years, Thutmose III conducted 17 military campaigns, including defeating the Canaanites at Megiddo, on the territory of present-day Israel - an operation that is still being studied in military academies!

So, most likely, peace and harmony reigned between the stepson and stepmother - but it remains to be seen how Hatshepsut managed to make the defeated rival her ally. Probably, this woman perfectly knew how to get along with people, and manipulate them, and intrigue. And her talents, willpower and motivation were certainly outstanding.

“No one knows what she was,” says Egyptologist Katharina Roerig. “I think she was an excellent strategist and knew how to play people off against each other so that they would not be destroyed and not perished herself.” One way or another, Hatshepsut solved the problems with the co-ruler, but the problem remained more serious. Tradition and religion unanimously asserted that the pharaoh was always a man, and this probably made the position of the queen very fragile. Pharaoh Hatshepsut tried to solve this issue in different ways.

PR campaign royally. In the written texts, the pharaoh did not hide the gender - we see many female endings. But in the images, she clearly tried to combine the images of the queen and the king. On one seated statue of red granite, Hatshepsut's body shapes are female, but on the head are symbols of male kings: nemes - a striped headdress and urey - the forehead figurine of a sacred cobra. On some reliefs, Hatshepsut appears in a traditional, strict dress below the knees, but with legs wide apart - this is how the kings were depicted in a walking pose. Hatshepsut implanted visual images of the female pharaoh, as if teaching the Egyptians to such a paradox.

But either the method did not bring the desired results, or Hatshepsut was persuaded - one way or another, over time she changed her tactics. Pharaoh began to demand that she be portrayed in a man's guise: in a pharaoh's headdress, a pharaoh's loincloth, with a royal false beard - and no female features. Trying to justify her strange position, the woman-pharaoh calls for allies ... the gods. On the reliefs of the burial temple, Hatshepsut says that her accession to the throne is the fulfillment of a divine plan and that her father Thutmose I not only wanted his daughter to become king, but even be able to attend her coronation!

The reliefs also tell how the great god Amon appears in the guise of Thutmose I before mother Hatshepsut. He turns to the creator god Khnum, who creates a man out of clay on a potter's wheel: "So create it better than all other gods, mold it for me, this is my daughter, born of me." Khnum echoes Amun: "When she takes the great post of king, they will worship more than gods ..." - and immediately starts to work. Interestingly, on the Khnum potter's wheel, baby Hatshepsut is clearly a boy.

Pharaoh Hatshepsut became a great builder. Everywhere, from Sinai to Nubia, she erected and restored temples and shrines. Under her, masterpieces of architecture were created - four granite obelisks in the huge temple of the god Amun-Ra in Karnak. She commissioned hundreds of her own statues and immortalized in stone the history of the entire family, her titles, events of her own life, real and fictional, even her thoughts and aspirations. Her statement, carved on one of the obelisks in Karnak, is striking in its sincerity and shrillness: “My heart trembles at the thought of what people will say. What will those who will look at my monuments after years say about my deeds ”.

But at whom was this powerful propaganda directed? For whom did Pharaoh write her sincere confessions and create myths? For the priests? Know? The military? Officials? Gods? Future?

Humanist and vandal. One of the answers is suggested by Hatshepsut's habit of referring to lapwings - an inconspicuous wading bird. In ancient Egypt, lapwing was called "rehit", which in hieroglyphic texts usually means "common people." They, ordinary, like lapwings on the Nile, were not taken into account by any of the pharaohs and did not influence politics in any way, although the word is often found in the inscriptions. But Kenneth Griffin from Swansea University in Wales noticed that Hatshepsut uses it much more often than other pharaohs of the XVIII dynasty. A unique phenomenon, the scientist believes. Hatshepsut often used the form "my rehit", appealed to ordinary people for support ... Saying that her heart trembles at the thought of what people will say, the queen may have meant just rehit - mere mortals.

After the death of Hatshepsut, her stepson came to power. And he was engaged in by no means only conducting successful military campaigns. Thutmose III was unexpectedly carried away by the methodical deletion of the period of his stepmother's reign from history. Almost all images of Hatshepsut and even her name were systematically cut off from temples, monuments and obelisks. Pharaoh pounced on the traces of the existence of Hatshepsut the king no less zealously than on the Canaanites in Megiddo. Its inscriptions on obelisks were laid with stones (which had an unplanned result - the texts were perfectly preserved).

In Deir el-Bahri on the western bank of the Nile, opposite modern Luxor, there is a memorial temple of Hatshepsut Jeser Jeseru - “the most sacred of the sacred”. A three-level structure, porticoes, wide terraces connected by ramps, an alley of sphinxes that has not survived to us, T-shaped pools with papyrus and shading myrrh trees - all this makes Jeser Jeseru one of the most beautiful temples in the world and the best structure of Hatshepsut. According to the project of the architect (probably Senmut, presumably the favorite of Hatshepsut), the temple was to become the central place of the cult of the queen. But under Thutmose III, her statues were broken here and thrown into a pit.

It would seem that Thutmose III acted in full accordance with the popular ancient Egyptian tradition - to erase the names of his unloved predecessors from monuments. Well, how can we not recall the version of the unfortunate orphan who was bullied by the evil stepmother for many years? And historians succumbed to the temptation - the hypothesis that Thutmose III destroyed the memory of Hatshepsut in revenge for her shameless usurpation of royal power, became very popular for many years. Conclusions about the personality of Hatshepsut herself drew appropriate. In 1953, archaeologist William Hayes wrote: "Soon ... this vain, ambitious, unprincipled woman showed herself in her true light."

Who was prevented by the dead queen. However, in the 1960s, the sentimental story of family showdowns ceased to seem indisputable. It was established that the persecution of Hatshepsut-Pharaoh began at least twenty years after her death! Somewhat strange is such an anger - twenty years of endurance!

There is another mystery - the "avenger" for some reason did not touch those images where Hatshepsut appears as the king's wife. But on all those where she declares herself as a pharaoh, his workers walked with chisels. Neat, such vandalism, pinpoint. “The destruction was not carried out under the influence of emotion. It was a political calculation, ”says Zbigniew Shafranski, head of the Polish archaeological mission in Egypt, who has been working in the memorial temple of Hatshepsut since 1961. Indeed, today it seems more logical to assume that Thutmose III acted in the interests of politics. Perhaps it was necessary to confirm the legal right of his son Amenhotep II to the throne, to which other members also claimed royal family... Descendants of Hatshepsut? Women?

Escaped Mummy. In 1903, the famous archaeologist Howard Carter discovered in the twentieth tomb from the Valley of the Kings (number KV20) two sarcophagi named Hatshepsut - apparently from among the three that the queen herself had prepared for herself in advance. However, the mummy was not there.

But in a small tomb next door, KV60, Carter saw "two heavily naked female mummies and several mummified geese." One mummy, a smaller one, lay in the sarcophagus, another, larger one, right on the floor. Carter took the geese and closed the tomb.

Three years later, the mummy from the sarcophagus was transported to the Cairo Museum, after establishing that the inscription on the coffin indicates the nurse Hatshepsut. And the second mummy remained on the floor. She was, it seemed, a simple slave - too uninteresting to be placed somewhere. KV60a (under this number the mummy was entered in the registers) set off on an eternal journey, having no coffin, no clothes, no figures of servants, no headdress, no jewelry, no sandals - nothing that a noble woman was supposed to take.

The arm bent at the elbow. As the years passed, everyone completely forgot about the mummy left on the floor, and even the road to the KV60 tomb was lost. She was found again in 1989 by the scientist Donald Ryan, who came to investigate several small undecorated graves. He also included the KV60 in the application.

Going down to the tomb, the scientist immediately realized that in ancient times it was barbarously plundered. “We found a broken piece of a coffin with a face and a grain of gold that had all been scraped off,” he recalls. That is, thieves could easily take away the sarcophagus and all the decorations of the mummies, if any. And in the next room Ryan found a huge heap of cloth and a pile of "edible mummies" - food folded into knots, which was given to the deceased with them on a journey through eternity. But Ryan was most interested in the left hand of the mummy, still lying on the floor. The arm was bent at the elbow - and some scholars believe that only royal persons were buried in this way in the eighteenth dynasty. And the longer Ryan studied the mummy, the more convinced he was that it was an important person. “She was superbly mummified,” he recalls. "But there was no clue to somehow identify her."

And yet the scientist thought it wrong to leave the mummy, whoever it was, to roll on the floor in a heap of rags. Ryan and a colleague tidied up the tomb, ordered a modest coffin from the carpenter, lowered the stranger into a new box and closed the lid. In the tomb and in obscurity, the mummy spent almost two decades - until a new study began on the secret of Hatshepsut.

It's all about the tooth. The study was started by Zahi Hawass, program manager for the study of Egyptian mummies and general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt. First, Hawass collected all the unidentified female mummies of the 18th Dynasty, presumably belonging to the royal family. There were four of them, among them - both inhabitants of the tomb KV60. The scientist, however, was sure that the KV60a mummy had nothing to do with it. Her posture was not at all regal and, as the archaeologist wrote, “a huge chest hung down” - rather, it could be a nurse. But all the same, together with others, they examined her on a computed tomography, establishing the age and cause of death.

Dentists have determined that this is the second molar, which is missing a part of the root. And the large mummy from the floor of the tomb KV60 had a root without a tooth in the upper jaw on the right. Measurements were taken - the root and tooth were completely consistent with each other!

Today the mummy KV60a is on display at the Cairo Museum. The tablet says in Arabic and English that this is Hatshepsut, Her Majesty the King, who has finally reunited with her large family - the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. Her body in the era of the XXI dynasty, about 1000 BC, could be transferred to the nanny's tomb by the high priests of Amun in order to protect the mummy from thieves - members of the royal family were often hidden in secret graves.

Computed tomographs have already disproved the hypothesis that Hatshepsut killed her stepson. A large female KV60a died of an acute and severe infection caused by an abscess in a tooth; and she probably suffered from bone cancer and possibly diabetes.

And if the tooth from the box did not belong to Hatshepsut after all? The first DNA tests are still uncertain. But new research should come up with a better verdict.

Against the backdrop of deserted hills in Deir el-Bahri stands the burial temple of Hatshepsut - one of the most beautiful and majestic temples in the world. They tried to destroy the reliefs on its porticos - but today they tell us about the reign of the female pharaoh.

A scene on a wall in Deir el-Bahri: a man drags a myrrh tree to Egyptian ships sailing across the Red Sea to the country of Punt (which is still little known). Around 1470 BC, Hatshepsut sent merchants there.

The woman-pharaoh Hatshepsut “searched for her image” all her life - she decided in what form to appear before the people and descendants. In the photo, she is wearing a pharaoh's headdress, but the slight curves and graceful chin indicate that this is a woman (early version).

In the guise of a sphinx, she already looks more like a man - with a lion's mane and a royal false beard.

Hatshepsut's stepson Thutmose III.

Having seized power, Hatshepsut gave her stepson Thutmose III a secondary role - this is evidenced by the reliefs on the walls of the Red Sanctuary in Karnak. On a stage depicting a religious celebration, Hatshepsut stands in front of Thutmose III, both dressed as pharaohs, but the titles above describe them as one person.

Red shrine at Karnak.

The memorial temple of Hatshepsut is framed by the sheer hills of the Western Desert. A gigantic crevice begins behind the highest ridge. This is the Valley of the Kings - the cemetery of the pharaohs, where the entrance to the tomb of Hatshepsut is located. Her father, apparently, was the first of the pharaohs to equip himself a last refuge in the valley. The tradition laid down by him has existed for more than four centuries.

Nurse Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut.

Where did Hatshepsut's mummy go? A century ago, two unidentified female mummies were discovered in a small tomb. Probably, the priests hid them from thieves. Recent tests have shown that the tooth found in a box named Hatshepsut exactly matches the hole in the jaw of the larger mummy. It looks like the secret of the pharaoh is almost solved.

Recent tests have shown that the tooth found in a box named Hatshepsut exactly matches the hole in the jaw of the larger mummy. It looks like the secret of the pharaoh is almost solved.

In the temple of the god Amon-Ra in Karnak, tourists can see for themselves that after the death of Hatshepsut (at least twenty years later) everywhere they began to destroy her images in the guise of a pharaoh. Whom did the queen interfere with two decades after her death? Perhaps the children of the new pharaoh - if the direct descendants of Hatshepsut claimed the throne.

The obelisk of Hatshepsut from a single piece of granite rises thirty meters above the ruins of Karnak. Despising all attempts to erase the queen from history, the majestic monument survived and today is the tallest monument of its kind in Egypt.

Pharaoh woman Hatshepsut

In the history of Egypt, there was only one ruler with absolute power, one of the few women who ruled alone. Thus, she violated the centuries-old tradition of succession to the throne, since the male heir, Thutmose III, her stepson, was also alive. But Queen Hatshepsut became a pharaoh contrary to all traditions, and the Egyptians hid this fact for a long time. As well as some circumstances of Hatshepsut's life, which had to be kept secret.

Limestone sculpture of Hatshepsut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Statue of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I, after whose death she married her half-brother, born of a commoner, Thutmose II. When archaeologists examined the mummy of Thutmose II, they concluded that he suffered from a rare form of skin disease that appears to have caused his sudden death.

The sculptural image of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut

On the left are the paired axiric statues of Hatshepsut in front of the temple in Deir el-Bahri. On the right is the wasp head of Hatshepsut from the temple in Deir el-Bahri. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

After the death of Thutmose II, his son received the right to inherit the throne from the side wife of Thutmose III, but he was too small, and Hatshepsut performed the duties of regent under him. However, this role did not suit the queen - she wanted to achieve full power. After her stepson came of age, she had to put down several uprisings. To strengthen her position, she used the same techniques as other Egyptian pharaohs: during her reign, many sculptures and bas-reliefs were built, glorifying the divine nature of royal power. At the same time, Hatshepsut was portrayed in the traditional male attire of rulers, with all the attributes of royal power. In all the sculptural portraits, her face is adorned with a royal headdress and a false beard.

Stele of Hatshepsut in the temple of Amon-Rav Karnak

There have been several female rulers in the history of Egypt, but none of them has achieved such full power. In addition, Egypt flourished during her reign. Hatshepsut directed all her efforts to reviving the country after prolonged wars. Within 7 months, by her order, two 30-meter obelisks were carved from a single piece of granite in the Amon-Ra temple complex in Karnak. One of them was inscribed with the following words: "My heart worries about what the people will say about the creations I have left in many years."

Column from the temple of Hatshepsut

The symbol of her reign was the terraced temple of Millions of Years on the banks of the Nile in Thebes, so skillfully built into the surrounding landscape, as if it were in fact an extension of the rock. Her achievement is also called an expedition to the country of Punt (Somalia), after a 400-year hiatus. After 3 years, the ships returned to Egypt with gold, incense, skins of rare animals and ivory. She was ultimately recognized as the rightful queen of Egypt and remained so for nearly 20 years.

Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri

Temple of Hatshepsut at night

Evidence of her reign did not appear until the 19th century. - the sovereign rule of a woman was a phenomenon in the history of Egypt, carefully hidden for centuries. In addition, her stepson Thutmose III destroyed all the monuments created during her reign - either in revenge or in order to eliminate the official evidence of the royal title of Hatshepsut, so that everyone believed that the throne passed directly from his father to him.

Painting in the temple of Hatshepsut

Columns of the temple of Hatshepsut

Her relationship with the main adviser, the architect of the temple in the Valley of the Kings, the mentor of the queen's daughter Senmut, also remained a secret. According to one version, he was not only a mentor, but also her real father. With the accession of Hatshepsut to the throne, Senmut became the owner of 93 titles and the closest confidant of the ruler. Some researchers believe that this connection was only the subject of speculation and gossip: "Hatshepsut understood too well the precariousness of her position to become physically connected with him," says Keller. If their connection became common knowledge, a military coup would be inevitable.

Hatshepsut - ruler of Egypt

It is also extremely difficult to recreate a true portrait of a female pharaoh - usually the images of the ruler were rather conventional and symbolic. The location of the Hatshepsut mummy also remained a mystery for a long time: it was not in the discovered tomb. Only after some time was she found in one of the rooms near the tomb, lying right on the floor.

Granite Sphinx with the face of Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut in the guise of a sphinx. Metropolitan Museum

Queen Hatshepsut occupies an exceptional place in the history of Ancient Egypt. She was able to stand at the head of a powerful state and rule it for over 20 years. However, the most striking fact was that the queen was crowned as the rightful pharaoh, ignoring the centuries-old Egyptian religious tradition of succession to the throne in the presence of a male heir - Thutmose III, her nephew and stepson.

Hatshepsut was not the first and only female pharaoh in the history of Egypt, which was traditionally ruled by men. Long before Hatshepsut, only two women ruled Egypt: Neitikert at the end of the 6th dynasty and Nefrusebek at the end of the 12th dynasty (1). Nevertheless, unlike Hatshepsut, these queens, representatives of dying dynasties, reigned for a very short time. Hatshepsut, on the other hand, received power over a prosperous power, whose international authority was confirmed by military campaigns in Asia and Nubia under the queen's closest predecessors, Amenhotep! (1551-1524 BC) and Thutmose! (1524-1518 BC).

Any attempt to oppose the traditional concept of royal power could end tragically even for such an ambitious and politically clever woman, which, apparently, was Hatshepsut.

Her father, Thutmose I, was distinguished by great militancy, his successful military campaigns in Nubia and Asia testified to the desire to expand the borders of Egypt and create a kind of intermediate zone between Egypt and the hostile kingdom of Mitanni in the northeast. After Thutmose I, almost all the pharaohs of the XVIII-XIX dynasties tried to move the border of their possessions to the Euphrates River, on the banks of which he erected a memorial stele. In addition to the implementation of predatory goals, the campaigns of the pharaohs of the beginning of the New Kingdom were supposed to ensure the safety of Egypt from invasions from the north. However, despite the ativized aggressive policy of the Egyptians, this period in the history of Ancient Egypt was relatively peaceful when compared with the times of the pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, who reigned immediately after Hatshepsut within the same dynasty. The expansion of temple construction in the capital Thebes (Uaset) was a consequence of the successful campaigns. The attention of the victorious pharaohs was primarily focused on the main sanctuary of the city, the Karnak temple (Ipet-Sut), dedicated to the king of the gods Amon, the patron saint of the pharaohs who ruled in Thebes, and the state they created. Of course, large-scale construction would have been impossible without the economic rise of Egypt, caused by the influx of booty from the conquered peoples. Thutmose I directed his main forces towards the exaltation of the temple of Amun at Karnak, which was consistent with the policy of the pharaohs, who sought to give Thebes the features of an unusual, victorious city in which a powerful deity is present.

When Thutmose I died, power passed to Thutmose II (1518 -1504 BC). From his marriage to Queen Yahmes, Thutmose had two daughters - Hatshepsut and Nefrubiti, who died early. From his second wife Mutnofret, he also had three sons, one of whom was Thutmose II, who became the heir. Thutmose was married to Hatshepsut (2).

Hatshepsut by that time was between 15 and 20 years old. It cannot be said with certainty whether she was married to Thutmose II before her father's death. In any case, she was now "the great royal consort." The reign of Thutmose II is practically shrouded in the darkness of obscurity; according to some sources, he ruled for 3 years, according to others, 14 years (!). It is known that he tried to pursue a policy of conquest, both in the south and in the north. In poor health, Thutmose II died, leaving behind him the young son of Thutmose III from his bastard wife Iset and the experienced queen Hatshepsut, who was apparently older than her husband. Since Thutmose III was too small to rule on her own, Hatshepsut assumed the duties of regent, perhaps from the very beginning wishing to arrogate to herself all the power. Among Egyptologists, there are many opinions and interpretations of when and how Hatshepsut managed to achieve his goal. Did this happen naturally or as a result of a court struggle? Was it a usurpation, or was it a match between aunt and nephew? It is not even known more or less exactly how old Hatshepsut and Thutmose III were when the latter was under the care of his stepmother. The clarification of this issue is further complicated by the relativity of the dates of Egyptian chronology, which are very conditional in relation to the modern chronology, not to mention the fact that due to the scarcity of sources it is sometimes not even known how many years one or another pharaoh ruled. As for the dates of reign adopted by the author, they are taken from the monograph by P. Clayton (3) and seem to be quite convincing, although there are other chronological options.

According to the Polish Egyptologist J. Karkovsky, Thutmose III was no more than 2 years old after the death of Thutmose II, while Hatshepsut was no more than 15 years old. “Therefore, the government of the country should have been taken over by senior officials and, possibly, the mother of Hatshepsut, Queen Yahmes. The reason for the recognition of the political role of Hatshepsut by her contemporaries was the fact of the recognition that after the death of her husband she was the eldest representative of the royal family. Around her, as a child, when Thutmose I was still alive, a court staff was formed. During the regency, Hatshepsut turned 20 years old. According to Egyptian sources, it is impossible to firmly establish how active Hatshepsut was involved in governing the state. It is rather difficult to answer the question of who was the creator of the idea to proclaim Hatshepsut as pharaoh. In any case, much indicates that this happened in the 7th year of the reign of Thutmose III, when Hatshepsut had already reached adulthood. It is also likely that she took an active part in this decision ”(4).

One way or another, according to the version most widespread among scientists, the first two years after the death of his father, Thutmose III ruled on his own behalf (of course, not counting the regency of Hatshepsut). On the monuments of that time, Hatshepsut was depicted behind the figure of Thutmose III under the titles of the queen and the great royal wife. On blocks from Karnak, Hatshepsut appears in images of religious ceremonies, which only the pharaoh could perform.

The court architect Ineni wrote about this period: “His son (Thutmose II) took his place as king of the Two Lands (5). He began to rule on the throne of the one who conceived him. His sister, the wife of God (6) Hatshepsut took care of the country. Both Earths (lived) according to her plans, worked for her, Egypt - in great zeal! The useful seed of God (that is, Hatshepsut) that came out of him! The bow rope of the South, the mooring stake of the Southerners, the stern rope of this excellent land of the North. Lady of orders, excellent in her designs; the one according to whose speech Both Shores (that is, Egypt) are constantly (are) satisfied ”(7).

However, everything soon changed when Hatshepsut gained the support of influential nobles at court. She completely concentrated the management of the country in her hands, leaving only secondary functions to her nephew. This political step was not accompanied by any upheavals: neither the enmity of the opposing parties, nor civil war... However, Hatshepsut could only take such a step with the support of devotees and, no doubt, interested dignitaries, the most significant of whom were Hapuseneb and Senmut. Presumably, the queen quite abruptly changed her environment, leaving the old nobles - the military of Thutmose I. Perhaps Hatshepsut sought to change the previous expansionist policy of the pharaohs. At least during her reign, Egypt did not wage wars of conquest. Even in the 2nd year of the reign of Thutmose III, the oracle of the god Amun predicted Hatshepsut's power (albeit without indicating when this would happen). One way or another, the true reasons for this decision are unfortunately unclear. All the more strange is the fact that she became the full pharaoh only five years later, that is, in the 7th year of the reign of Thutmose III and her regency.

To confirm his new position, Hatshepsut orders to portray himself in the guise of a male king with all the insignia of the power of the pharaohs. The ancient royal titulature was reworked taking into account the gender of the sovereign. According to religious tradition, the ruling pharaoh was identified with the god Horus, but Hatshepsut was often called the female Choir (!), Which clearly contradicted the Egyptian ideas about the pharaoh. In sculpture and on reliefs of the period of autocratic rule, Hatshepsut appears in a man's attire, and her appearance is rendered in accordance with the canon of depicting a male body, with the exception of a few early statues of the queen that have come down to us.

Hatshepsut's true appearance is not easy to establish. Usually, the pharaoh was considered eternally young and strong and, based on this, Egyptian artists created a rather conventional, symbolic portrait of the ruler, therefore, it is very difficult to judge the real features of the character of the person depicted. However, you can try to recreate the portrait of Hatshepsut: a graceful oval of the face tapering to a small chin, almond-shaped eyes that are distinctive for an Egyptian woman, a thin protruding nose, narrow, slightly smiling lips and long black hair. However, one should not forget that the sculptures embodied the Ka (8) of the queen, and were not a realistic portrait of the Roman type.

When Hatshepsut became pharaoh, the priests of Amun created a propaganda text about the election Hatshepsut was the heiress even by Thutmose I, and the legend of her divine origin from the queen Iahmes and the king of the gods Amun, who took the guise of Pharaoh Thutmose I.

“Both during his regency and after his coronation, Hatshepsut emphasizes his special reverence for the gods, especially for the main god Amun. Her reign was marked by the flourishing of theological thought, this was reflected in the temples and chapels built by her. At the same time, the desire to create something is clearly expressed

new, previously unknown, which fully made itself felt in the magnificent temple of Deir el-Bahri ”(9). This temple, located on the west bank of the Nile, the queen began to build in the 8th year of her reign, shortly after her coronation. Dedicated to the Queen's funeral cult, this sanctuary was supposed to demonstrate her power and greatness. The new temple was likely to capture the imagination of contemporaries. First of all, it was dedicated to Amun and the Queen of Ka. In addition to the sanctuary of Amun, the temple worshiped Ra, Hator, Anubis and the deified Thutmose I. The terraced temple decorated with colonnades of porticoes organically blended into the surrounding rocky landscape of the western bank of the Nile. In addition to graceful polychrome reliefs, the temple had 200 statues, 22 sphinxes, 40 axiric statues depicting the queen sitting or kneeling, about 120 sphinxes adorned the courtyards and the road (10). Senmut, a talented architect and a prominent dignitary, is considered the creator of this miracle of Egyptian architecture. He was also one of the organizers of the famous expedition of the Egyptians to the semi-legendary country of Punt, presumably located on the territory of modern Somalia on the shores of the Gulf of Aden, with which they have maintained trade relations since ancient times. Apparently, Hatshepsut regarded the sea expedition to Punt as one of the most significant events of her reign, worthy of perpetuation. The history of this trade (more precisely, military-trade) expedition is captured in a series of relief scenes in the so-called Punta portico in Deir el Bahri. This is the main source for the journey to Punt at Hatshepsut. Although the Egyptians equipped expeditions to this country earlier, in the era of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the expedition sent by Hatshepsut was much larger and it was the first since the beginning of the New Kingdom after a long break in relations with Punt, which came at the end of the Middle Kingdom after the Troubles and the capture of Egypt by the Hyksos.

The purpose of the trip to the “land of God” was to establish trade relations and purchase exotic goods: pater, skins of rare animals, ostriches, feathers, ivory, gold, valuable types of wood and living trees themselves, transplanted into baskets, and, in particular, incense for temple rituals. This significant event took place in the 9th year of the reign of Thutmose III, in fact - in the second year of the reign of Hatshepsut - Pharaoh, that is, at the time when the temple in Deir el-Bahri was being built. The members of the expedition were required to bring to Thebes live varieties of fragrant trees in order to plant them on artificial terraces and in the courtyard of the temple and, thus, “arrange a Punt inside the temple”. “Although the Egyptians arrived in the country of Punt, accompanied by military detachments, Punt was not conquered by the Egyptian troops. Hatshepsut sent her “royal ambassador” to Punt in exactly the same way as the Egyptian pharaohs sent their ambassadors to independent states ”(11). The efforts of the leaders of the expedition were rewarded with gold, Hatshepsut herself accepted the gifts of Punta, weighing gold and myrrh: “The best myrrh was on all her members, her fragrance (was) the fragrance of God. ... Her skin was, as it were, gilded with light gold, shining, as the stars do, inside the (temple) festive courtyard in front of the whole earth. "

The temple in Deir el-Bahri, this “Egyptian Parthenon”, which became an architectural symbol of the reign of Hatshepsut, was not the only object of her construction activities, which unfolded in various cities of the country: Thebes, Hermopolis, Hermontis, El-Kus, El-Kaba, Armant, Medamude, Kom-Ombo, Ele-phantine, Speos-Artemidos. Hatshepsut apparently attached special importance to the last of the listed places, having dedicated this rocky temple near Beni Hasan to the lioness goddess Pahet. According to religious beliefs, this goddess repelled the attacks of the spirits of the desert. In the attention of Hatshepsut to regional sanctuaries, Yu. Ya. Perepelkin saw the queen's desire to be friends with the temple nobility, with the local nobility in general. “Local princes have long been the stewards of the priests in their cities, and often the high priests of local deities” (12).

Hatshepsut's death appears to be rather sudden. According to Egyptian chronology, she died between the 20th and 22nd years of the reign of Thutmose III. Continuing the tradition of her predecessors, Hatshepsut sent expeditions to the extraction of turquoise in Sinai, in the area of ​​modern Serabit el-Khadim. The stele from the 20th year of the reign of Thutmose III, installed in the temple of Hathor on Sinai, contains the name Hatshepsut, which means that then she was still alive. However, in the 21st year, there is no longer any mention of Hatshepsut, nor are there any in the 22nd year, when Thutmose III sent the expedition alone; apparently, by this time he began to rule without Hatshepsut. “Without a doubt, Hatshepsut died, however, we do not know of a single document where this would be mentioned” (13). Traditionally, it is believed that Thutmose III fiercely hated his aunt, who kept him in the background for too long, and after her death he began to hastily erase her memory, which, in particular, was expressed in the destruction of her images and names. For example, the Soviet Egyptologist M.E. Mathieu wrote that “Thutmose III destroyed all the sculptures of Deir el-Bahri so thoroughly that no one even thought about their existence before the excavations. Removing and breaking into pieces dozens of wonderful statues of his hated stepmother-aunt, Thutmose III believed that he not only erased the memory of her from the face of the earth and from the memory of his people, but even destroyed the afterlife of her soul ”(14). The radical reconstruction of the Karnak temple undertaken by Thutmose III apparently pursued precisely this goal. Perepelkin also shares this practically generally accepted point of view (15). The old confidants of Hatshepsut were in the field of close observation of Thutmose III, the tombs of some of them, who had died by that time, were destroyed. This is exactly what the actions of Thutmose III look like after the death of the queen. Some domestic and foreign Egyptologists regard these "repressions" as a consequence of Thutmose's personal hatred for Hatshepsut and a sharp turn in policy, a renewal of the course for the continuation of conquests that were not under her.

However, the question remains, why did Thutmose III not only not destroy all the images of Hatshepsut, but also did not destroy her memorial temple in Deir el-Bahri at all? It may be recalled that the temple in Deir el-Bahri was dedicated not only to Hatshepsut, but also to other deities and, first of all, to Amonu, the god of the most powerful priesthood, with whom Thutmose III could not help but reckon. But in this case, why the pharaohs (and Thutmose III as well) did not hesitate to remodel and destroy the whole suite and halls in the central sanctuary of this god in Karnak? This is exactly what was to be expected from the haunting memory of Hatshepsut Thutmose, as he looks in some studies.

If the warlike Thutmose really hated his stepmother, if he wanted to give oblivion the name Hatshepsut, then he really did it only after a considerable period of time after her death and very selectively. Most likely, the pharaoh removed the monuments of Hatshepsut not for personal reasons, but was guided by political and religious considerations, since the unnatural existence of a female pharaoh contradicted the worldview of the ancient Egyptians and did not correspond to the idea of ​​a cosmic world order, where everything took its rightful place. It is noteworthy that the names and images of Hatshepsut within the framework of the iconography of the queen (and not the pharaoh!) Remained intact. French Egyptologist C. Jacques believes that “the hatred of Thutmose III exists in the imagination of some Egyptologists. Chipping, erasing, destroying images is associated with the pursuit of some magical goals that cannot yet be satisfactorily explained ”(16). Indeed, a number of inscriptions and relief scenes were shot down in such a strange manner that their contours remained clearly visible; Jacques ascribes these actions to Ramses II (1279-1212 BC). Perhaps more acceptable is the opinion of Karkovsky, who writes, “that the actions to destroy the names and statues of Hatshepsut, as well as her other images, began at the end of the reign of Thutmose III, many years after the death of the queen. This was a deliberate political decision, and not a consequence of the pharaoh's blind hatred caused by the subordinate position he held during the reign of Hatshepsut. The reason for the destruction of images and inscriptions was the desire to eliminate a precedent that would complicate the order of succession to the throne, in which a woman could become a pharaoh. Moreover, before the eyes of Thutmose III, the heirs to the throne were growing up and he did not want to repeat the situation that developed after the death of Thutmose I and Thutmose II, who did not leave behind adult sons. It was necessary to exclude the reason for the transfer of power to the queen or princess. Thus, the power of the pharaoh, achieved by Hatshepsut, was only an episode and did not lead to the fact that women had the right to fight for power over Egypt ”(17).

Two tombs have survived, prepared by Hatshepsut in advance. The first (WA D) was carved at Wadi Sikket Taka el-Zeid when Hatshepsut remained as queen and regent, but this tomb was never used, although a quartzite sarcophagus was found in it. The second tomb, already intended for Hatshepsut-pharaoh, is located in the Valley of the Kings (kv 20) - the traditional burial place of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom era, starting with Thutmose I (18). However, the mummy of Hatshepsut was not found there either. The identification of the body of the great Hatshepsut with an unnamed female mummy from the tomb of the queen's nurse is controversial.

Bolshakov V.A.

1. The last woman - a pharaoh who lived and ruled at the end of the 19th dynasty, that is, about 200 years after Hatshepsut, was Queen Tausert. Her reign was as short as that of the queens before Hatshepsut.
2. Geheimnisvolle Konigin atschepsut. Agyptishe Kunst des 15. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Warschau. 1997, S. 20.
3. CLAYTON P. Chronicle of the Pharaohs. Lnd. 1994.
4. Geheimnisvolle, S. 22-24
5. Upper and Lower Egypt
6. This title was held by some women from the royal house during the XVIII dynasty. For the first time among the queens it was worn by Yahmes-Nefertari. Apparently, it was inherited. Hatshepsut also had this title, moreover, she retained it even when she became regent under Thutmose III. But, having become pharaoh, she was forced to transfer it to her daughter from Thutmose II Nefrura, since this title was incompatible with her new position. The understanding of the title “God's Wife” is debatable. For a long time, Egyptologists believed that this title should be understood as the queen-heiress, whom the pharaoh was supposed to marry in order to confirm his rights to the throne. It was also believed that this title was borne by the queen - the earthly wife of the god Amun, to whom he came to make her the mother of the future pharaoh.
7. Reader on the history of the Ancient East. M. 1963, p. 91.
8. As one of the complex concepts-elements that constitute, according to the ideas of the Egyptians, the human essence. It is generally accepted to translate this word as "double", although there are slightly different interpretations of Ka. Ka is the life force, the “second self” of a person, born with him, but did not die after his death. Ka did not depend on a person, but determined his fate. The ka of the deceased needed food and water to continue its existence, sculptures and reliefs were the receptacles of ka.
9. Geheimnisvolle, S. 24.
10. MATTIER M.E.Art of Ancient Egypt. M.-L. 1961, p. 232.237.
11. AVDIEV VI Military history of Ancient Egypt. T. II. M. 1959, p. 52.
12. History of the Ancient East. The origin of the most ancient class societies and the first centers of the slave-owning civilization. Part II. M. 1988, p. 428, 431.
13. JACQ Chr. Les Egyptiennes. P. 1996, p. 92.
14. MATTIER M.E.Uk. cit., p. 249-250.
15. History of the Ancient East .., p. 434.
16. JACQ Chr. Op. cit., p. 94.
17. Geheimnisvolle, S. 27.
18. For the excavation of the tombs of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, see The Complete Valley of the Kings. Lnd. 1996, pp. 91-95.

Hatshepsut is a talented female ruler, one of the most famous Egyptian queens- along with Nefertiti, Cleopatra, Teie and some others.

Unlike most other female pharaohs, Hatshepsut came to power in a prosperous era.

At that time, the Egypt of the New Kingdom, freed from the power of the Hyksos nomads, was restoring its power.

Hatshepsut was the granddaughter of the founder of the New Kingdom - Ahmose I, she also completed the work begun by her predecessors.

Biography

Hatshepsut was born in the late 16th or early 15th century BC. Her father was Thutmose I, and her mother was Queen Jahmes. Even during the reign of her father, she was proclaimed "the wife of God", that is, the main priestess of Amun.

Researchers agree that she showed her imperious ambitions during the reign of her brother, the weak and stern Thutmose II, whom she married. This pharaoh ruled for less than four years and was not remembered for anything special.

Hatshepsut's claims to power are understandable, since, unlike her, Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I's secondary wife, and not the main one. After the death of the second Thutmose, a third - a twelve-year-old boy was elevated to the throne. Hatshepsut was regent with him. She did not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity that opened up and removed the teenager from power, sending him to be raised in a temple.

The priests of Amun, who supported the queen, proclaimed her the new pharaoh. It was said that during a solemn ceremony in the temple of Amon, the priests, carrying a heavy barge with a statue of the god, stopped near Hatshepsut and knelt in front of her - this was a symbolic blessing to the throne.

Subsequently, Hatshepsut launched a propaganda program in which the priests under her control declared her the daughter of Amon himself. According to this legend, the supreme god descended to Queen Yahmes in the form of her earthly husband Thutmose I and copulated with her, from which Hatshepsut was born. So the "pharaoh", with the help of religion, gave her rule a legitimate status.

Conflict with tradition

Despite the fact that Hatshepsut relied on religion and supported it, her accession came into conflict with tradition. The fact is that the pharaoh in Egypt was considered the incarnation of Horus and, therefore, could only be a man. The queen got out of this situation, appearing at official events in men's clothing and with a false beard. Many sculptures depict her in the same form.

Queen of Egypt Hatshepsut photo

However, she did not always change clothes, and for all her "masculine" qualities (intellectuality, decisiveness, will) she wanted to remain a woman. After all, she was very beautiful and feminine. For this, she abandoned one of the traditional royal titles - "Mighty bull".

Builder

Under Hatshepsut, Egypt reached its hitherto unprecedented flourishing. The queen patronized many areas, but above all she developed construction. Only Ramses II built more than it, and that is not a fact, since he liked to leave his name on the buildings of his predecessors.

Among the construction feats of Hatshepsut, the following are especially noted:

• Restoration of buildings destroyed by the Hyksos;
• The "Red Sanctuary" at Karnak, intended for the sacred boat of Amun;
• A memorial temple in Deir el-Bahri, which has amazed the imagination of people for thousands of years. This most famous building of Hatshepsut is a majestic complex built with a subtle architectural flair and stands out for its huge columns. In terms of its importance and grandeur, the temple was compared to the Parthenon, built in Athens many centuries later.

Great warrior

Another hobby of Hatshepsut was military affairs. At first, researchers believed that the queen, since she was a woman, could not organize military campaigns, so her rule was extremely peaceful, and the military leaders did not like this. However, it was subsequently proved that Hatshepsut personally commanded the troops during the campaign to Nubia, and also conducted several more successful campaigns.

She also admitted her matured stepson Thutmose to military affairs, giving him the opportunity to become famous. In addition, Hatshepsut restored trade contacts with the state of Punt, sending an impressive expedition there. The details of this journey are colorfully reflected in the drawings of her funeral temple in Deir el-Bahri.

In Punta, the Egyptians bought large quantities of ebony wood, incense, gold, ivory, hand monkeys, slaves and many other goods. The location of Punta has not yet been finally established - it is believed that it was in Somalia. With this country, Egypt has long maintained trade relations, but in the era of the Middle Kingdom, they were interrupted.

Death

Hatshepsut died around 1468. She has not yet had time to grow old, so some researchers believe that she did not die of natural causes, but was killed.