Hatshepsut

Statue of Hatshepsut

Statue of Hatshepsut

In this life-size statue, Hatshepsut is wearing the nemes headdress and the shendyt kilt. These are part of the ceremonial attire of the Egyptian king, which was traditionally a man’s role. In spite of the masculine dress, the statue has a distinctly feminine air, unlike most representations of Hatshepsut as ruler. Hatshepsut, the most successful...

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt

The Woman Who Would Be King

An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power. “Hatshepsut—the daughter of a general who usurped Egypt’s throne and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty—was born into a privileged position in the royal household, and she was expected to bear the sons...

Kneeling statue of Hatshepsut making an offering of Nu vases

Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut

In this statue, Hatshepsut is kneeling and making an offering of Nu vases. From her mortuary temple in Deir el-Bahari, West Thebes. By making this offering, Hatshepsut affirms that Maat is the guiding principal of her reign. Hatshepsut, also spelled Hatshepsut, female king of Egypt who attained unprecedented power for a woman, adopting the full...

Sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut

Sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut

The sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut is carved in a fairly classical pose, in a similar manner to the Middle Kingdom sphinxes of Amenemhat III. The front legs extend forward and the tail curls around the right hind leg. This sphinx is a portrait of Hatshepsut with the elegant feminine features of all her statues: almond-shaped...

Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut

Mummy of Hatshepsut

The Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut was found in 1903 by Howard Carter in (KV60), in the Valley of the Kings. Carter had discovered two mummies in the tomb. One was in a coffin, the second was stretched out on the floor. Since the tomb had been ransacked in antiquity, Carter thought it of marginal interest...

Sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut

Sphinx of Hatshepsut

As a sphinx, Hatshepsut displays a lion’s mane and a king’s beard. Hatshepsut ruled as a man, not as a woman, and for this reason her royal protocols and titles are always written without the feminine qualification, which is the “T” letter in the hieroglyphic. This is the case in the text inscribed on the...

Hatshepsut offering Incense to Min-Amun

Hatshepsut offering Incense to Min-Amun

This sunken relief depicts Hatshepsut offering incense to the fertility god Min-Amun, most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail. Detail of a carving from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut or (“Chapelle Rouge”) constructed initially as...

Sphinx of Hatshepsut

Sphinx of Hatshepsut

The reconstructed sections of the sphinx of Hatshepsut have been cast from an almost identical, but more complete companion piece now in Cairo. The two small limestone sphinxes may have been on either side of the entrance to the upper terrace of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari. The head of this sphinx differs markedly...