“Cleopatra.” When asked to give an example of a female leader in ancient Egypt, that is the name that will likely pop up; that is correct, but would be the incorrect answer when asked to give the first female pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
That distinction belongs to Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thuthmosis I, husband to Thuthmosis II (her half-brother) and stepmother to Thuthmosis III, who succeeded her. Hatshepsut ruled during the New Kingdom as part of the 18th dynasty.
She started as queen regent to Thuthmosis III, who succeeded Thuthmosis II, but was too young to rule on his own. Things went well for about 7 years before she declared herself a pharaoh, a position she held for the next 20 years.
While queens had been prominent in ancient Egypt, and women had a lot of freedom compared to other cultures, there had never been a female pharaoh. Hatshepsut had to reinvent herself in a manner that would endear her to the people.
She began by reminding people of her royal blood (in ancient Egypt, only women carried royal blood, so, she, as the daughter of Thuthmosis I, had royal blood; this is why Thuthmosis II had to marry her, to seal his right to the throne). She also claimed that his father had anointed her to succeed him.
She also claimed to be the daughter of Amun, an Egyptian god who rose to become the god of all gods, like Zeus in Ancient Greece. Furthermore, she took to dressing up as a pharaoh would; even adorning herself with the traditional false beard pharaohs wore. As pharaoh, she called herself Maatkare, meaning, “Truth is the soul of Ra” (Ra was the sun god who was the joined with Amun to form the all-powerful Amun-Ra).
Her reign was peaceful, and she built numerous splendid buildings; the only one that stands today is the temple at Deir el Bahr. Most things associated with her were systematically destroyed when Thuthmosis III came to the throne as pharaoh.
It took 14 centuries before another woman rose to a similar position of high power in Egypt, and that was Cleopatra VII, a descendant of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s general, and Greek by ancestry. She mostly ruled as co-regent, and was the last pharaoh of Egypt, before it fell under the Roman Empire.
By Matengo Chwanya
Editor: Nancy Nguyen
Sources: Ancient Egypt online, Mr Dowling, Ancient Egypt online, Touregypt
African Global News Publication
