Hatshepsut - Skibins

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Hatshepsut Egyptian Pharaoh An Egyptian Princess Hatshepsut and her father, Thutmose I Hatshepsut was born an Egyptian princess around 1508 BC.. Her father was the Pharaoh Thutmose I. She grew up in the great royal courts of Egypt with her sister and two brothers. Unfortunately, Hatshepsut's brothers and sister died while they were still young. Now she was an only child. Without a son to inherit the throne, Thutmose I was worried who would be pharaoh after he died. He decided to name one of Hatshepsut's step-brothers as heir. Hatshepsut was married to her step-brother when she was 12. This was common for Egyptian royalty. A Queen Hatshepsut’s father died a short time after she was married and her husband became the pharaoh Thutmose II. Hatshepsut was now queen of Egypt. Thutmose II, however, was a sickly man. He ruled for only 15 years before he died. During this time Hatshepsut had begun to take an active role in running the country. Egypt faced a problem, though. Hatshepsut had not had a son with Thutmose II, only a daughter. Now what would Egypt do for a leader? A Regent The only male heir to the throne was was Hatshepsut’s two year-old nephew, Thutmose III. He was crowned the new pharaoh of Egypt at a young age, but Hatshepsut was named regent (someone who would run the country for him). Becoming Pharaoh Hatshepsut was a powerful and intelligent leader. There were people in the government who were very loyal to her. After a few years of being regent, she decided to have herself named Pharaoh. She took charge of the country. In order for people to accept her as pharaoh, Hatshepsut began to dress like a pharaoh. She wore the pharaoh's headdress with a cobra. She even wore a fake beard and a short kilt like the men wore. Using the statue on the left, an artist created a computer-generated image of what Hatshepsut may have looked like. Ruling Egypt Hatshepsut was a gifted and cunning leader. She had to be to remain in power for 20 years as a woman pharaoh. Rather than go to war, she established trade relationships with many foreign countries. Through trade she made Egypt a rich nation. Her time of rule was a time of peace and prosperity. Building One way that Hatshepsut stayed in power was to construct many buildings and monuments throughout Egypt. She also had many statues of herself at these sites. This way the people continued to think of her as their leader and pharaoh. One of her most famous buildings was her mortuary temple at Djeser-Djeseru. This temple is considered one of the great achievements in Egyptian architecture. It was similar to the classical architecture that the Greeks would develop around a thousand years later and marked a major turning point in Egyptian architecture. Death A painting of Hatshepsut’s funeral at her mortuary temple In 1458 BC, after 22 years of rule, Hatshepsut died at about the age of 50. People thought she probably died from a blood infection. Some also thought that her nephew, Thutmose III, who was was not fond of her, may have had her assassinated so he could become Pharaoh. Thutmose III was pharaoh for the next 32 years. The Search for Hatshepsut Hatshepsut’s box Howard Carter could not identify the mummy in this sarcophagus Items belonging to Hatshepsut were found in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, including furniture, a ring, a jar, and a box with her insignia on the knob containing her molar. In 1903, archaeologist Howard Carter (who would later find King Tut’s tomb) had discovered a tomb in the Valley of the Kings that contained two female mummies, one identified as Hatshepsut's wetnurse (someone who helped nurse the royal babies), and the other unidentified. The Search for Hatshepsut Seniseneb, Hatshepsut's grandmother In the spring of 2007, the unidentified body was finally removed from the tomb and brought to Cairo's Egyptian Museum for testing. This mummy was missing a tooth, and the space in the jaw perfectly matched Hatshepsut's existing molar found in the box. The mummy then underwent DNA testing. It showed the unidentified mummy shared DNA with the mummy of Hatshepsut's grandmother, proving that the unidentified mummy was Hatshepsut. The Real Cause of Death Tests also showed that Hatshepsut had been suffering from bone cancer. It was known that her family suffered from skin diseases. Scientists examining her jar opened it and found a black, oily tar-like substance. It contained creosote, which is a sticky residue from Hatshepsut’s skin cream jar burning wood. It was a cream she used to relieve her itchy skin. But It is now known that creosote causes cancer. Scientists determined that Hatshepsut died from bone cancer caused by using her own skin cream. Creosote