Sunday, July 01, 2007

Hatshepsu

Her father, Thutmose 1, skewered the Nubian king and built the Temple of Karnak.

Her half-brother and husband, Thutmose 2, didn't do much outside of marrying her.

She was Hatshepsut when she was a girl; Hatshepsu when she went male and became Pharoah. While Thutmose 3 cut his teeth, Hatshepsu minded the throne. She ruled Egypt for twenty two years, establishing expeditions and erecting edifices. Obelisks arose at the Temple of Karnak. She had built the mighty Djeser-Djeseru in the Valley of the Kings. Her giant bearded likeness guarded the place, an nth degree Parthenon a millenium earlier. There she lay mummified at the top of the heap.

Until, that is, Thutmose 3 grew to rule. He shuffled sarcophagi to restore his father to the apex. Then he set about to build his own temples and such, in between war campaigns. Late in his reign he deigned to try to destroy all Hatshepsut's likenesses, to erase her any vestige and secure his own son's sovereignty. History was re-written, then decoded centuries later. Now she has returned.

Long live the dead queen.

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