Essay Example on Hatshepsut was an extraordinary pharoah bringing Economic

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Hatshepsut was an extraordinary pharoah bringing economic architectural and military success to ancient Egypt Born in 1508 BCE Hatshepsut reigned over Egypt for more than 20 years in the 15th century BCE She is historically considered one of the most successful pharaohs to fully appreciate her legacy her life s accomplishments especially in light of the typical patriarchal governance of the time must be discussed Hatshepsut's father King Thutmose I had two daughters but was left with only Hatshepsut after his other daughter s early death Hatshepsut married her half brother pharaoh Thutmose II at age 12 to become queen and solidify her position within the royal family This inter family marriage was accepted among the aristocracy in ancient Egypt To perpetuate the monarchy Hatshepsut needed to produce a male heir but gave birth to a girl In light of this Thutmose II designated a male heir from one of his minor wives In 1479 BC Thutmose II passed away at a young age likely from a skin disease per markings on his mummy His son was too young to become king thus Hatshepsut and Thutmose III became co regents Approximately two years into their joint reign in 1473 BCE

Hatshepsut abandoned the pretext of co leadership and gave herself the label of king Seven years later Hatshepsut took the revolutionary step of naming herself pharaoh becoming only the third pharaoh in 3000 years of ancient Egyptian history In theory a pharaoh could be female since the sun god had both male and female attributes in creation texts but it is not known if this was welcomed in practical policies Realizing that reign as a woman was extremely controversial Hatshepsut claimed that her father a widely trusted king scheduled her to be his successor To further minimize critique she solicited more masculine likenesses for statues and paintings and took to wearing the trappings of men such as a wigged beard kilt and headpiece These measures were likely efforts to legitimate her power as people may not have taken her seriously if portrayed as feminine The possibility that ancient Egypt was matriarchal has been considered but most experts believe that the required inheritance of title through the father is strong evidence of a patriarchy This is further substantiated by the fact that a woman s status depended solely on the standing of the family into which they married not their own upbringing Given this male dominant society Hatshepsut s ascendance to power and her many successes are even more astounding Under Hatshepsut's reign

Egypt prospered in diverse ways ranging from economic to physical She rebuilt destroyed monuments as well as commissioned her own She built the temple of Djeser Djeseru located in Deir el Bahri and dedicated to Amon to serve as her funerary court She also built a pair of red granite monuments at the temple one is still standing These and other monuments provided many jobs leading Egypt to overcome an economic standpoint Additionally Hatshepsut had a noteworthy trading expedition from Egypt to the distant land Punt which introduced animal skins baboons gold ivory myrrh trees ebony spices and other new things to stimulate economic growth Finally Hatshepsut led successful military campaigns to the regions of Syria and Nubia continuing the historical convention of wealth through conquest Hatshepsut s vision extended beyond her own reign Since Hatshepsut didn t have an heir herself she mentored her nephew Thutmose III to carry on her efforts In the later years of Hatshepsut s monarchy her stepson Thutmose III arose as an energetic co king Hatshepsut s date of death is a mystery but ecologists assume she died before the year 22 BCE in her early 40s It has been theorized that the cause of her death was a toxic ointment used to treat a chronic skin condition Thutmose III ascended to the position of pharaoh after her death and immediately sought to eliminate evidence of her leadership At the beginning of his reign he ordered for Hatshepsut s in progress monuments to be finished and for his name to be added to them Hatshepsut's Red Temple had been dismantled in an effort to work on it but was never completed

Though Hatshepsut had requested male features be added to her likenesses Thutmose III altered them to appear completely male Thutmose III took further actions to rid history of the existence of Hatshepsut such as destroying the statues and Osiride pillars of Hatshepsut and replacing her coronation text There are many speculations of his reasoning for taking such aggressive actions It was originally speculated that Thutmose III tried to rid Hatshepsut s presence out of anger that she took the throne from him at such a young age but this theory has been debunked by the fact that he did not use the opportunity while in his twenties in the military to overthrow her rule More likely he attempted to erase proof of her rule to emphasize his family s line of succession and to ensure that nobody challenged his son for the throne It is believed that Hatshepsut s corpse was hidden from Thutmose III out of fear of him destroying the corpse additional evidence that some of her supporters feared he would succeed in his attempt to rid the world of proof of Hatshepsut Much of Hatshepsut's life was successfully removed from history until the texts on the Deir el Bahri temple walls were uncovered Hatshepsut was prodigious as pharaoh bringing economic architectural and military prosperity to ancient Egypt Thutmose III attempts to destroy all depictions of Hatshepsut's rule hid her name for thousands of years Fortunately what has been recovered identifies Hatshepsut's legacy as one of the most fundamental women in history all the more admirable for occurring in a time when women were not meant to rule



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