Statues of Hatshepsut and Tutmosis III Karnak. Hatshepsut is a female pharaoh. Conflict with tradition

Hatshepsut (1490 / 1489-1468 BC, 1479-1458 BC or 1504-1482 BC) is a female pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty. Before accession, she bore the same name (Hatshepsut, that is, "She who is in front of the noble ladies"), which was not changed upon accession to the throne. Remained in history as a builder, a good military leader and an intelligent politician.

Hatshepsut completed the rebuilding of Egypt after the Hyksos invasion and erected many monuments throughout Egypt. She is one of the first known women in world history, and, along with Thutmose III, Ramses II, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Cleopatra VII, one of the most famous Egyptian rulers. In addition to Hatshepsut, among the sovereign rulers before the conquest by Alexander the Great, you can find only four women - Merneit (Meritneit), Nitokris (Neytikert) at the end of the Old Kingdom, Nefrusebek (Sebeknefrura) at the end of the Middle Kingdom and Tausert at the end of the 19th dynasty. Unlike Hatshepsut, they all came to power at critical periods in Egyptian history.

According to a quote from an Egyptian priest-historian of the 3rd century BC. e. Manetho according to Joseph Flavius, she ruled for 21 years and 9 months, but Sextus Julius Africanus cites the same quote, which states that Hatshepsut ruled for all 22 years. In the surviving extracts from the Annals of Thutmose III, the chronicle of the court military chronicler Tanini, the first campaign of Thutmose III as sole ruler (during which the famous battle of Megiddo took place) refers to the spring of the 22nd year of the nominal reign of the pharaoh, which clearly confirms the information of Manetho ...

The long and medium chronology of ancient Egyptian history widespread in the scientific literature date the reign of Hatshepsut to 1525-1503 BC, respectively. e. and 1504-1482 BC. e. The brief chronology adopted in modern studies dates the reign of Queen Hatshepsut to 1490 / 1489-1468 BC. e. or 1479-1458 BC e. The difference of 10 years is explained by the fact that the reign of Thutmose II in the royal lists is estimated at 13/14 years, but is practically not reflected in material monuments, on the basis of which its duration is reduced to 4 years (respectively, the time interval between the ascent to the throne of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut can be estimated at 25 or 14).

Queen Hatshepsut was the daughter of the third pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, Thutmose I, and Queen Yahmes (Ahmose). Thus, she was the granddaughter of the founder of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Ahmose I. During her father's lifetime, Hatshepsut became the "Spouse of God" - the high priestess of the Theban god Amun.

Hatshepsut had only one sister, Nefrubiti, as well as three (or four) younger half-brothers of Uajmos, Amenmos, Thutmose II and, possibly, Ramos, the sons of her father Thutmose I and Queen Mutnofret. Wajmos and Amenmos, Hatshepsut's two younger brothers, died in infancy. Therefore, after the death of Thutmose I, she married her half-brother Thutmose II (son of Thutmose I and the minor queen Mutnofret), a cruel and weak ruler who ruled for only less than 4 years (1494-1490 BC; Manetho is 13 years old) his reign, which is most likely mistaken). Thus, the continuity of the royal dynasty was preserved, since Hatshepsut was of pure royal blood. The fact that Hatshepsut later became pharaoh, experts explain the rather high status of women in ancient Egyptian society, as well as the fact that the throne in Egypt passed through the female line. In addition, it is generally believed that such a powerful person as Hatshepsut achieved significant influence during the life of her father and husband and could actually rule in place of Thutmose II.

Thutmose II and Hatshepsut, as the main royal wife, had a daughter Nefrura, who bore the title of "Spouse of God" (the high priestess of Amun) and was portrayed as the heir to the throne, and possibly Meritra Hatshepsut. Some Egyptologists dispute that Hatshepsut was the mother of Meritra, but the opposite seems more likely - since the name Hatshepsut was borne only by these two representatives of the XVIII dynasty, it may indicate their consanguinity. Images of Nefrura, whose tutor was the favorite of Hatshepsut Senmut, with a false beard and a lock of youth, are often interpreted as proof that Hatshepsut was preparing her heiress, "a new Hatshepsut." However, the heir (and later co-ruler of Thutmose II) was still considered the son of her husband and concubine Isis, the future Thutmose III, who was married first to Nefrur, and after her early death - to Meritra.

After ascending the throne, Hatshepsut was proclaimed the pharaoh of Egypt under the name Maatkara Henemetamon with all regalia and the daughter of Amun-Ra (in the image of Thutmose I), whose body was created by the god Khnum himself. The power of the queen, who relied primarily on the priesthood of Amun, was legitimized with the help of the legend of theogamy, or "divine marriage", during which the god Amon himself allegedly descended from heaven to the earthly queen Ahmes in order to take the form of Thutmose I, to conceive "my daughter" Hatshepsut. In addition, the ceremonial inscriptions stated that the queen was elected heir to the Egyptian throne during the life of her earthly father, which was not true. Subsequently, official propaganda constantly used the legend of Hatshepsut's divine origin to justify her stay on the throne.

Having accepted the title of the pharaohs, Hatshepsut began to be portrayed in a headdress of huts with an urey, with a false beard. Initially, statues and images of Hatshepsut represented her with a female figure, but in male clothes, and in later counterparts, her image was finally transformed into a male one. The prototype of such images of Hatshepsut can be considered the few surviving statues of Queen Nefrusebek, which are also characterized by a combination of male and female canons. Nevertheless, in the inscriptions on the walls of the temples, the queen continued to call herself the most beautiful of women and refused one of the royal titles - "Mighty bull".

Since the pharaoh in Egypt was the embodiment of Horus, he could only be a man. Therefore, Hatshepsut often wore men's clothes and an artificial beard at official ceremonies, but it was far from mandatory: individual statues of the queen, like those exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum, continue to depict her in her previous form - in tight-fitting women's clothing, but in a nemes cape and without a false beard.

Woman - Pharaoh - Builder

The reign of Hatshepsut marked the unprecedented prosperity and rise of Egypt. Of all the spheres of her state activity, Hatshepsut showed herself primarily as a pharaoh-builder. Only Ramses II Meriamon built more than it (who, by the way, put his name on the monuments of his predecessors). The queen restored many monuments destroyed by the Hyksos conquerors. In addition, she herself actively led the construction of temples: in Karnak, the so-called. "Red Sanctuary" of Hatshepsut for the ceremonial boat of the god Amun; The relief images on the walls of the sanctuary, recently completely rebuilt from scattered blocks, are dedicated to the co-rule of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, as well as the legitimization of her sole power. Here, in Karnak, by order of the queen, giant granite obelisks were erected, the VIII pylon was erected in the temple of Amun, the sanctuary of Amun-Kamutef was built, the temple of Amon's wife, the goddess Mut, was significantly expanded. The two obelisks of Hatshepsut (29.56 m high) next to the pylon of the Amun-Ra temple in Karnak were the highest of all those built earlier in Egypt, until they were laid with masonry by Thutmose III (one of them has survived to this day).

Yet the most famous architectural monument of the time of Hatshepsut is the beautiful temple in Deir el-Bahri in the remote western part of Thebes, which in ancient times was called Jeser Jeseru - "Most Sacred of the Sacred" - and was built over 9 years - from the 7th (presumably, 1482 BC) to the 16th (1473 BC) year of the queen's reign. Its architect was Senmut (?), And although the temple in many ways repeated the nearby temple of the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh Mentuhotep I, its majestic columns amaze the imagination even today. At one time, this temple was in many ways unique, demonstrating the impeccable harmony of the architectural complex 1000 years before the construction of the Parthenon in Athens.

In addition to the queen herself, the complex in Deir el-Bahri was dedicated to Amon-Ra, the deified father of Hatshepsut Thutmose I, the guide to the underworld Anubis and Hathor Imentet, the sovereign of the necropolises of Western Thebes and the great defender of the dead. A garden of exotic trees and shrubs was laid out in front of the temple itself, and T-shaped pools were dug.

The unique reliefs of the temple in Deir el-Bahri, stunning with the highest level of their execution, narrate the main events of the reign of Hatshepsut. Thus, on the walls of the portico of the lower terrace, the delivery of the queen's obelisks from Aswan to Karnak and ritual scenes associated with the idea of \u200b\u200buniting Upper and Lower Egypt are depicted. The reliefs of the second terrace tell about the divine union of Hatshepsut's parents - the god Amun and Queen Yahmes and about the famous military-trade expedition to the distant country of Punt, equipped by the queen in the 9th year of her reign. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe unity of the Two Lands is met again on the railing of the ramp connecting the second and third terraces of the temple. The lower bases of this staircase are decorated with sculptural representations of a giant cobra - the symbol of the goddess Wajit - whose tail rose up along the top of the railing. The head of the snake, personifying the patroness of Lower Egypt, Uadzhet, is framed with its wings by the falcon Khor Behdetsky, the patron god of Upper Egypt.

Along the edges of the second terrace are the shrines of Anubis and Hathor. Both sanctuaries consist of 12-column hypostyle halls, located on the terrace, and interior rooms that go deep into the rock. The capitals of the columns of the sanctuary of Hathor were adorned with gilded faces of the goddess, directed to the west and east; Hatshepsut herself is depicted on the walls of the sanctuary drinking divine milk from the udder of the sacred cow Hathor. The upper terrace of the temple was dedicated to the gods who gave life to Egypt, and to Hatshepsut herself. On the sides of the central courtyard of the third terrace are the sanctuaries of Ra and the parents of Hatshepsut, Thutmose I and Yahmes. In the center of this complex is the sanctuary of Amon-Ra, the Holy of Holies, the most important and most intimate part of the entire Deir el-Bahri temple.

Known rock temple, erected by the queen in the future Speos Artemidos in honor of the lion-headed goddess Pahet, as well as the temple of the goddess Satet on the island of Elephantine; in addition, architectural fragments with the name of the queen were found in Memphis, Abydos, Armant, Kom Ombo, El-Kaba, Hermopolis, Kusa, Hebenu. In Nubia, by order of the queen, temples were erected in the fortress of the Middle Kingdom of Buchen, as well as in a number of other points - in Sai, Dhaka, Semne and Qasr Ibrim, while many of the monuments of Hatshepsut may have suffered during the sole rule of Thutmose III.

Military campaigns of Queen Hatshepsut

Under Hatshepsut, Egypt flourished economically. Classical slaveholding relations were established, and active trade was conducted. Around 1482/1481 BC e. she equipped an expedition of 210 sailors and five ships under the command of Nekhsi to the country of Punt, also known as Ta-Necher - "the Land of God". The location of the country Punt has not been precisely established (most likely, the coast of East Africa in the Horn of Africa - the modern peninsula of Somalia). Contacts with Punt were cut off in the Middle Kingdom, but they were vital, as Punt was the main exporter of myrrh tree. During the expedition, the Egyptians bought ebony wood, myrrh wood, a variety of incense in Punta, including incense (tisheps, ichmet, hesaite), black eye paint, ivory, hand monkeys, gold, slaves, and exotic animal skins. The reliefs of the Deir el-Bahri temple represent all the details of this campaign. The artists depicted in detail the Hatshepsut fleet, features of the Punta landscape with forests of fragrant trees, exotic animals and houses on stilts. Also on the walls of the temple is a scene of recognition by the rulers of Punta (King Parehu and Queen Ati) of the formal power of Hatshepsut.

For a long time it was believed that Hatshepsut, as a woman, could not conduct military campaigns, and her rule was extremely peaceful, which allegedly caused discontent among the army. However, the latest research has proven that she personally led one of two military campaigns to Nubia during her reign, and also controlled the Sinai Peninsula, the Phoenician coast, South Syria and Palestine. In particular, the conduct of military campaigns by the queen is confirmed by the inscription in Tangur - a victorious report carved on a rock near the Second Rapid of the Nile. Moreover, it is possible that Hatshepsut commanded Egyptian troops on a number of campaigns against rebellious Syrian and Palestinian cities. It is known that Hatshepsut admitted her stepson Thutmose to military service, which opened the way for him as the first great warrior in history.

Death of Pharaoh Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut died around 1468 BC. e. Since she had not yet reached old age, versions of both the natural death and the violent death of the queen were put forward. However, a 2007 analysis of the mummy, identified as Hatshepsut, showed that at the time of her death she was approximately 50 years old and she had died exclusively from diseases (cancer of the bones and liver, enhanced by diabetes)

There are two tombs belonging to Hatshepsut, but none of them has ever found the queen's mummy. For a long time, it was believed that the mummy of Hatshepsut was either destroyed or moved to another burial place in the last years of the Ramessid rule, when the plundering of tombs became a mass phenomenon, and the mummies of the prominent rulers of the New Kingdom were reburied by priests led by Herihor.

Work on the first tomb of the queen began when she was the main royal wife of Thutmose II. The early tomb of the queen is located in the cliffs of Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeid, south of the temple at Deir el-Bahri. However, she could not arrange for Hatshepsut, who became a pharaoh, so work on it stopped, and the main tomb of Hatshepsut, KV20, was cut out in the rocks of the Valley of the Kings. It was discovered in 1903 by Howard Carter. The original plan of the queen was, apparently, to connect the tomb with the memorial temple in Deir el-Bahri with a grand tunnel, however, due to the fragility of the limestone rocks, this idea was abandoned. Nevertheless, the workers had already begun work on the passage, which was later turned into a vast burial chamber, where the mummy of the father of Queen Thutmose I was also transferred from the tomb of KV38.

We do not know if the queen herself was ever buried in a magnificent quartzite sarcophagus that was found empty in this tomb. Thutmose III returned the grandfather's mummy to its original burial place, and it is believed that he could have transferred the stepmother's mummy as well. Fragments of a wooden gilded sarcophagus, possibly belonging to Hatshepsut, were discovered in 1979 among scraps of shroud and remains of burial implements in the unfinished tomb of the last pharaoh of the XX dynasty, Ramses XI (KV4).

In March 2006, at a lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the leading experts in modern Egyptology, Dr. Zahi Hawass, announced that the queen's mummy had been found on the third floor of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where it had been for several decades. This mummy, one of two found in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV60) and taken to Cairo in 1906, was considered until recently the mummy of a woman named Sat-Ra (Sitre), the queen's nurse, but not herself. Indirect evidence of the mummy's belonging to the woman-pharaoh is the throne found in the tomb of Sat-Ra, the board game Senet and Ushebti with the name Hatshepsut.

Another contender for the mummy of Hatshepsut was considered the mummy of the unknown queen of the New Kingdom, found in 1990 in the tomb KV21. A wooden canopy box with the entrails of Queen Hatshepsut was discovered in 1881 in an opened cache with royal bodies in Deir el-Bahri. Its belonging to the queen of the XVIII dynasty is also disputed, since it could also belong to a noble woman of the XXI dynasty, whose name also sounded like Hatshepsut.

By order of Zaha Hawass, a genetic laboratory was placed near the museum in 2007, in which scientists from different countries of the world had to check assumptions about which of the mummies really belonged to Queen Hatshepsut. As a result of the DNA analysis of the mummies carried out by Cairo scientists on June 26, 2007, the mummy from the tomb of Sat-Ra was officially identified as the body of Hatshepsut. Choosing from the abundance of surviving mummies of the representatives of the XVIII dynasty (for example, the mummy of the nephew and stepson of Queen Thutmose III was uniquely identified), the scientists settled on Hatshepsut's grandmother Yahmos Nefertari, whose genetic material was compared with the DNA from her granddaughter's mummy.

The findings of the DNA analysis were confirmed by a tomographic scan, which proved that the tooth previously found in a small wooden box with a picture of a Hatshepsut cartouche is exactly the missing tooth from the jaw of the KV60 mummy. This discovery was declared "the most important in the Valley of the Kings after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun."

Persecution after the death of Queen Hatshepsut

It is a well-established idea that Thutmose III, who went on a campaign against Syria and Palestine, which had gone out of obedience to Egypt three years earlier, in 1472 BC. e., ordered to destroy all information about the late Hatshepsut and all her images in revenge for the deprivation of his power, so for a long time almost nothing was known about this queen. In particular, the huge gilded obelisks in Karnak were laid with masonry or simply covered with sand, many images of the queen from the temple in Deir el-Bahri were destroyed or buried nearby, even the name Hatshepsut itself was excluded from the official temple lists of the pharaohs of Egypt. The name Hatshepsut was carved out of cartouches and replaced by the names of Thutmose I, Thutmose II and Thutmose III, which was tantamount to a curse for the ancient Egyptian. In a similar way, the pharaohs of the early 18th dynasty erased all inscriptions belonging to the period of the hated Hyksos kings, Akhenaten pursued names that included the name of Amun (excluding the name of God even from the cartouches of his own father Amenhotep III), and Horemheb, in turn, destroyed the name of the “Apostate from Akhetatona ".

However, there is an alternative point of view on the persecution of the memory of Hatshepsut: perhaps all these actions were necessary for the young pharaoh Thutmose III only in order to prove the legitimacy of his rule. This hypothesis is partially supported by recent studies carried out by various groups of Egyptologists, led by Charles Nims and Peter Dorman. These researchers, having studied the damaged images and inscriptions, came to the conclusion that the monuments from the times of Hatshepsut could have been damaged after the 42nd year (1448 BC) of the reign of Thutmose III, and not the 22nd, as was previously believed, which refutes the well-known the theory of revenge of Thutmose III on his stepmother-usurper.

Thus, it seems quite possible that Thutmose III, following the advice of those close to him, was forced to eliminate the traces of Hatshepsut's rule due to the very conservative hierarchical political system of Ancient Egypt, which allowed only men to rule the state - in the views of the Egyptians, the very fact of a woman on the throne could violate the "established from above" principle of cosmic justice maat. An indirect confirmation of this theory is also the fact that Senmut could have fallen out of favor during Hatshepsut's life, and his tomb could have been damaged even before Hatshepsut's stepson ascended the throne.

Debating about the reasons for the posthumous persecution of the woman-pharaoh, some Egyptologists even deny them systematicity, putting forward the hypothesis that her cartouches could have suffered as a result of Akhenaten's atonistic religious coup: part of the royal name of the queen, Henemetamon, included the name of Amun, therefore, was subject to prohibition and destruction. Seti I, who restored the monuments of the 18th dynasty, damaged during the "heretic tsar", by virtue of tradition, in place of the erased cartouches, could inscribe the names of not the queen herself, but her closest relatives.

In light of the ongoing debate over the relationship between Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, the recent discovery of nine gold cartouches, including both the name of Hatshepsut and the name of Thutmose, near one of the obelisks at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, is of particular importance.

Interest in the personality of Queen Hatschepsut

For a long time, the extraordinary personality of Hatshepsut was practically unknown neither to the scientific world, nor to the general public (although there is a version that she found her reflection in the medieval Arab historical tradition, which cited the story of the fictional ancient Egyptian queen Daluki, sometimes mistakenly identified with Cleopatra VII). However, thanks to historical and archaeological research, the vicissitudes of Hatshepsut's life began to attract wide interest to her. Beginning in the 19th century, her descriptions were dominated by two opposing tendencies, representing her either as a ruler ahead of his time, or as a greedy usurper. A variety of unthinkable theories were built around her name, one of which claimed that Hatshepsut was identical to the good Egyptian princess, who picked up a basket with the baby Moses from the Nile and raised a boy. Another interesting point regarding Hatshepsut is the hypothesis of Immanuel Velikovsky, according to which this Egyptian ruler is identified with the biblical queen of Sheba, and the expedition to Punt - with a visit by the queen's embassy to King Solomon.

For academic science, the discussion about the personality of the female pharaoh that flared up in the late 19th - early 20th centuries is remarkable for the solution of the so-called “Hatshepsut problem”. It was originally believed that Hatshepsut was the older sister and wife of Thutmose III. This point of view was based on the delusion that replacing the name of one king with the name of another necessarily indicates the direct sequence of their reign. The confusion with the cartouches of Hatshepsut, replaced by Thutmose III not only with their own cartouches, but also with the cartouches of her father and husband, led to the explanation of these processes by internecine strife between the aging Thutmose I and Thutmose II on the one hand, and Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, on the other.

This point of view was defended by the German Egyptologist Kurt Zete, who argued that Hatshepsut and Thutmose III together first overthrew Thutmose I, and then, having returned the aged king, removed Thutmose II from power. Thus, Hatshepsut appeared to be an ambitious usurper who had deprived even his father of power, and the constructions regarding the inheritance of the Tumosids were as follows: Thutmose I - Thutmose III - Thutmose III and Hatshepsut (co-rulers) - Thutmose III, who removed Hatshepsut, - Thutmose I and Thutmose II - Thutmose II (after the death of the elder Thutmose) - Thutmose III and Hatshepsut - Thutmose III (alone). Such a cumbersome scheme, numbering four coups d'état in twenty years, was strongly criticized by the Swiss scientist Eduard Naville, who, based on new archaeological discoveries, proposed his own theory to explain the Hatshepsut problem. Edouard Meyer perfected Naville's theory, which later allowed it to become generally accepted.

Despite the obvious inconsistency of his theory, Kurt Zete was not going to abandon it and only slightly revised it, simplifying it to the following chain of inheritance: Thutmose I - Thutmose II and Hatshepsut - Hatshepsut and Thutmose III - Thutmose I and Thutmose II - Thutmose II - Hatshepsut and Thutmose III - Thutmose III. Despite the fact that this hypothesis also sinned with the resurrection of Thutmose I and Thutmose II, who supposedly returned from political oblivion at the height of Hatshepsut's rule, many prominent Egyptologists adhered to it, including Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev and James Henry Brasted. The "Hatshepsut problem" was finally resolved by William F. Edgerton, who concluded that if Hatshepsut's reign had really been interrupted by the ephemeral reign of her husband and father, the damaged Hatshepsut cartouches would certainly have been restored after her return to the throne.

The name Hatshepsut was not included in any of the ancient lists of kings who ruled Egypt. Her images with the attributes of royal power and cartouches with her names were subsequently destroyed. The existence of a female pharaoh was contrary to the traditional beliefs of the Egyptians, and they wanted to hide this fact in order to eliminate the precedent. But it is impossible to destroy the memory of the great woman who devoted her life to the revival of her country.

The sculptural portrait of Hatshepsut cannot be confused with anyone else: a royal crown, a false beard, and suddenly - a woman's face, so beautiful that it is difficult to take your eyes off.

"The great and beautiful Law (Maat), beloved by the hidden God. I know that I live by it, I feed on it as my daily bread, and with the freshness of its dew I quench my thirst. We are one soul with him."
Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut, whose name means "first among the noble", was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I and the “great wife” of Pharaoh Thutmose II. Her husband was not destined to reign for long. He dies, leaving behind an heir - the boy Thutmose III. Since the child is still too young, Hatshepsut takes over the duties of the regent.

But the country needs a Master. One who will be the mediator between the world of gods and the world of people, who will be responsible for the prosperity of Egypt, for the existence of order and the observance of divine law. Until the Pharaoh is gone, chaos will reign in the country.

And Hatshepsut becomes Pharaoh, king of Upper and Lower Egypt. From now on, in sculpture and on reliefs, she is depicted in men's clothing and with all the attributes of royal power.

Statue of Hatshepsut from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Hatshepsut (1490 / 1489-1468 BC, 1479-1458 BC or 1504-1482 BC) is a female pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty. Before accession, she bore the same name (Hatshepsut, that is, "In front of the noble ladies"), which was not changed during her accession to the throne (although sources call her the throne name of Maatkara - Maat-Ka-Ra). She had the titles "Great wife of the king" and "wife of the god Amun".

Hatshepsut completed the rebuilding of Egypt after the Hyksos invasion and erected many monuments throughout Egypt. She is one of the first famous women in world history and, along with Thutmose III, Ramesses II, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Cleopatra VII, one of the most famous Egyptian rulers. In addition to Hatshepsut, among the sovereign rulers of Ancient Egypt before the conquest by Alexander the Great, you can find only four women - Merneit (Meritneit), Nitokris (Neytikert) at the end of the Old Kingdom, Nefrusebek (Sebeknefrura) at the end of the Middle Kingdom and Tausert at the end of the XIX dynasty. Unlike Hatshepsut, they all came to power at critical periods in Egyptian history.

"I went down to the Great Green Sea in a ship one hundred and twenty cubits long and forty wide. It had one hundred and twenty sailors from among the best in Egypt. They have seen the sky, they have seen the land, and their hearts were more courageous than those of lions."
From the fairy tale "Shipwrecked"

The long and medium chronology of ancient Egyptian history widespread in Soviet scientific literature date the reign of Hatshepsut to 1525-1503 BC, respectively. e. and 1504-1482 BC. e. The brief chronology adopted in modern studies dates the reign of Queen Hatshepsut to 1490 / 1489-1468 BC. e. or 1479-1458 BC e. The difference of 10 years is explained by the fact that the reign of Thutmose II in the royal lists is estimated at 13/14 years, but is practically not reflected in material monuments, on the basis of which its duration is reduced to 4 years (respectively, the time interval between the ascent to the throne of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut can be estimated at 25 or 14).

Before accession

Queen Hatshepsut was the daughter of the third pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, Thutmose I, and Queen Yahmes (Ahmose). Thus, she was the granddaughter of the founder of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Ahmose I. During her father's life, Hatshepsut became the "Spouse of God" - the high priestess of the Theban god Amun.

Hatshepsut had only one sister, Nefrubiti, as well as three (or four) younger half-brothers of Uajmos, Amenmos, Thutmose II and, possibly, Ramos - the sons of her father Thutmose I and Queen Mutnofret. Wajmos and Amenmos, two of Hatshepsut's younger brothers, died in infancy. Therefore, after the death of Thutmose I, she married her half-brother Thutmose II (son of Thutmose I and the minor queen Mutnofret), a cruel and weak ruler who ruled for only less than 4 years (1494-1490 BC; Manetho has 13 years of his reign, which is most likely wrong). Thus, the continuity of the royal dynasty was preserved, since Hatshepsut was of pure royal blood. The fact that Hatshepsut later became pharaoh, experts explain the rather high status of women in ancient Egyptian society, as well as the fact that the throne in Egypt passed through the female line. In addition, it is generally believed that such a powerful person as Hatshepsut achieved significant influence during the lifetime of her father and husband and could actually rule in place of Thutmose II.

Thutmose II and the "main royal wife" Hatshepsut had a daughter, Nefrur, who bore the title "Spouse of God" (the high priestess of Amun) and was portrayed as the heir to the throne, and possibly Meritra Hatshepsut. Some Egyptologists dispute that Hatshepsut was the mother of Meritra, but the opposite seems more likely - since the name Hatshepsut was borne only by these two representatives of the XVIII dynasty, it may indicate their blood relationship. Images of Nefrura, whose tutor was the favorite of Hatshepsut Senmut, with a false beard and a lock of youth, are often interpreted as proof that Hatshepsut was preparing her heiress, "a new Hatshepsut." However, the heir (and later co-ruler of Thutmose II) was still considered the son of her husband and concubine Isis, the future Thutmose III, who was married first to Nefrur, and after her early death - to Meritra.

"Hatshepsut took care of the country. Both lands (lived) according to her plans, worked for her. Egypt - in great zeal! The seed of God (that is, Hatshepsut) that came out of him! The bow rope of the South, the mooring stake of the southerners, the stern rope of this the excellent land of the North. The mistress of orders, excellent in her designs: she, according to whose speech both Shores are constantly (are) satisfied. "
From the autobiography of the architect Ineni

Accession

Some researchers believe that Hatshepsut concentrated real power in her hands even during the reign of her husband. To what extent this statement is true is unknown. However, we know for sure that after the death of Thutmose II in 1490 BC. e., the twelve-year-old Thutmose III was proclaimed the sole pharaoh, and Hatshepsut was the regent (before that, Egypt had already lived under female rule under the queens Nitokris from the VI dynasty and Sebeknefrur from the XII dynasty). However, after 18 months (or a year and a half), the young pharaoh was removed from the throne by the Legitimist party led by the Theban priesthood of Amun, which elevated Hatshepsut to the throne. During the ceremony in the temple of the supreme god of Thebes, Amun, the priests, carrying a heavy barge with a statue of the god, knelt right next to the queen, which was regarded by the Theban oracle as Amun's blessing to the new ruler of Egypt.

As a result of the coup, Thutmose III was sent to be raised in a temple, than it was planned to remove him from the Egyptian throne, at least for the duration of Hatshepsut's regency. Nevertheless, there is information that later Thutmose III was allowed to rule the state.

The main forces supporting Hatshepsut were the educated ("intellectual") circles of the Egyptian priesthood and aristocracy, as well as some of the outstanding military leaders. Among them were Hapuseneb, chati (vizier) and the high priest of Amun, the black nobleman Nekhsi, several veterans of the Egyptian army who still remember the campaign of Ahmose, the courtiers of Juti, Ineni and, finally, Senmut (Senenmut), the architect and educator of the queen's daughter, as well as the court (Senmut's brother?) Senmen. Many are inclined to see in Senmut the favorite of the queen, since he mentioned his name next to the name of the queen and built himself two tombs in the likeness of the tomb of Hatshepsut. Senmut was a poor provincial by birth, who was initially considered a commoner at court, but his outstanding abilities were soon appreciated.

Limestone sculpture of Hatshepsut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Although the queen is depicted on the statue without a false beard, it contains the rest of the symbols of the pharaoh's power; in particular, she is wearing a nemes headdress crowned with a royal uraeus.

After ascending to the throne, Hatshepsut was proclaimed the pharaoh of Egypt under the name Maatkara Henemetamon with all regalia and the daughter of Amon-Ra (in the image of Thutmose I), whose body was created by the god Khnum himself. The power of the queen, who relied primarily on the priesthood of Amun, was legitimized with the help of the legend of theogamy, or "divine marriage", during which the god Amon himself allegedly descended from heaven to the earthly queen Ahmes in order to take the form of Thutmose I, to conceive "my daughter" Hatshepsut. In addition, in the ceremonial inscriptions it was stated that the queen was elected heir to the Egyptian throne during the life of her earthly father, which was not true. Subsequently, official propaganda constantly used the legend of the divine origin of Hatshepsut to justify her stay on the throne.

Osiric head of Hatshepsut from the temple in Deir el-Bahri. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Since the pharaoh in Egypt was the embodiment of Horus, he could only be a man. Therefore, Hatshepsut often wore men's clothes and an artificial beard at official ceremonies, but it was far from obligatory: individual statues of the queen, like those exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum, continue to depict her in her previous form - in tight women's clothing, but in a nemes cape and without a false beard.

Pharaoh builder

The reign of Hatshepsut marked the unprecedented prosperity and rise of Egypt. Of all the spheres of her state activity, Hatshepsut showed herself, first of all, as a pharaoh-builder. Only Ramses II Meriamon built more than it (who, by the way, put his name on the monuments of his predecessors). The queen restored many monuments destroyed by the Hyksos conquerors. In addition, she herself actively led the construction of temples: in Karnak, the so-called. "Red Sanctuary" of Hatshepsut for the ceremonial boat of the god Amun; Relief images on the walls of the sanctuary, recently completely restored from scattered blocks, are dedicated to the co-rule of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, as well as the legitimization of her sole power. Here, in Karnak, by order of the queen, giant granite obelisks were erected, the VIII pylon was erected in the temple of Amun, the sanctuary of Amun-Kamutef was built, the temple of Amon's wife, the goddess Mut, was significantly expanded. Two obelisks of Hatshepsut (29.56 m high) next to the pylon of the Amun-Ra temple in Karnak were the highest of all those built earlier in Egypt, until they were laid with masonry by Thutmose III (one of them has survived to this day).

Paired waspian statues of Hatshepsut in front of the temple in Deir el-Bahri.

Still, the most famous architectural monument of the time of Hatshepsut is a beautiful temple in Deir el-Bahri in the remote western part of Thebes, which in ancient times was called Jeser Jeseru - "Most Sacred of the Sacred" - and was built over 9 years - from the 7th (presumably, 1482 BC) to the 16th (1473 BC) year of the queen's reign. Its architect was Senmut (?), And although the temple in many ways repeated the nearby temple of the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh Mentuhotep I, its majestic columns amaze the imagination even today. At one time, this temple was in many ways unique, demonstrating the impeccable harmony of the architectural complex 1000 years before the construction of the Parthenon in Athens.

Jeser Jeseru consisted of three large terraces, decorated with porticoes with snow-white limestone protodoric columns. The temple terraces in the center were divided by massive ramps leading up to the temple sanctuary; they were adorned with the queen's many brightly painted axir pilasters, her colossal kneeling statues and sphinxes, many of which are in the collections of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A long alley of the queen's polychrome sandstone sphinxes, planted with myrrh trees brought from Punta, led to the first of the terraces. The Sphinxes were located on both sides of a road approximately 40 meters wide, leading from the lower terrace of the temple to the border of the desert and irrigated fields of the Nile Valley, where a giant pylon was erected. In addition to the queen herself, the complex in Deir el-Bahri was dedicated to Amon-Ra, the deified father of Hatshepsut Thutmose I, the guide to the underworld Anubis and Hathor Imentet, the sovereign of the necropolises of Western Thebes and the great defender of the dead. A garden of exotic trees and shrubs was laid out in front of the temple itself, and T-shaped pools were dug.

The unique reliefs of the temple in Deir el-Bahri, stunning with the highest level of their execution, narrate about the main events of the reign of Hatshepsut. So, on the walls of the portico of the lower terrace, the delivery of the queen's obelisks from Aswan to Karnak and ritual scenes associated with the idea of \u200b\u200buniting Upper and Lower Egypt are depicted. The reliefs of the second terrace tell about the divine union of Hatshepsut's parents - the god Amun and the queen Yahmes and about the famous military-trade expedition to the distant country of Punt, equipped by the queen in the 9th year of her reign. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe unity of the Two lands is met once again on the railing of the ramp connecting the second and third terraces of the temple. The lower bases of this staircase are decorated with sculptural representations of a giant cobra - the symbol of the goddess Wajit - with its tail rising up the top of the railing. The head of the snake, personifying the patroness of Lower Egypt, Uadzhet, is framed with its wings by the falcon Khor Behdetsky, the patron god of Upper Egypt.

Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri. Architect - Senmut.

Near Deir el-Bahri, also west of Thebes, Hatshepsut ordered the construction of a special sanctuary in Medinet Abu on the site of the sacred hill Djeme, under which the serpent Kematef, the embodiment of the creative energy of Amun-Ra, rested at the beginning of time. However, Hatshepsut was actively building temples not only in Thebes, but throughout Egypt. Known rock temple, erected by the queen in the future Speos Artemidos in honor of the lion-headed goddess Pahet, as well as the temple of the goddess Satet on the island of Elephantine; in addition, architectural fragments with the name of the queen were found in Memphis, Abydos, Armante, Kom Ombo, El-Kaba, Hermopolis, Kusa, Hebenu. In Nubia, by order of the queen, temples were erected in the fortress of the Middle Kingdom of Buchen, as well as in a number of other points - in Sai, Dhaka, Semne and Qasr Ibrim, while many of the monuments of Hatshepsut may have suffered during the sole rule of Thutmose III.

"I did it with a loving heart
for my father, Amon,
Initiated into the mystery of its beginnings,
Knowing about its beneficial power,
Not forgetting about his orders.
...
I will tell the people of the times to come
To those who see the monument
dedicated to my father,
To those who will speak and argue
Those who turn to their descendants -
Here, it was when I sat in the palace,
Reflecting on my creator
My heart told me to create for him
Two obelisks that are (covered) with electrum,
The height of which reaches the heavens
In the sacred pillared hall. "

From the inscription of Queen Hatshepsut
at the base of the obelisk in Karnak.
Thebes, XVI century BC.

Female statue of Hatshepsut

Expedition to Punt and military activities

Under Hatshepsut, Egypt flourished economically. Classical slaveholding relations were established, and active trade was conducted. Around 1482/1481 BC e. she equipped an expedition of 210 sailors and five ships under the command of Nekhsi to the country of Punt, also known as Ta-Necher - "the Land of God". The location of the country Punt has not been precisely established (most likely, the coast of East Africa in the Horn of Africa - the modern peninsula of Somalia). Contacts with Punt were cut off during the Middle Kingdom, but they were vital since Punt was the main exporter of myrrh tree. During the expedition, the Egyptians bought ebony wood, myrrh wood, a variety of incense in Punta, including incense (tisheps, ichmet, hesaite), black eye paint, ivory, hand monkeys, gold, slaves, and exotic animal skins. The reliefs of the Deir el-Bahri temple represent all the details of this campaign. The artists depicted in detail the Hatshepsut fleet, features of the Punta landscape with forests of fragrant trees, exotic animals and houses on stilts. Also on the walls of the temple is a scene of recognition by the rulers of Punta (King Parehu and Queen Ati) of the formal authority of Hatshepsut.

Double stele of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, Vatican

For a long time it was believed that Hatshepsut, as a woman, could not conduct military campaigns, and her rule was extremely peaceful, which allegedly caused the discontent of the army. However, the latest research has proven that she personally led one of two military campaigns to Nubia during her reign, and also controlled the Sinai Peninsula, the Phoenician coast, South Syria and Palestine. In particular, the conduct of military campaigns by the queen is confirmed by the inscription in Tangur - a victorious report carved on a rock near the Second Rapid of the Nile. Moreover, it is possible that Hatshepsut commanded Egyptian troops on a number of campaigns against rebellious Syrian and Palestinian cities. It is known that Hatshepsut admitted her stepson Thutmose to military service, which opened the way for him as the first great warrior in history.

Hatshepsut died around 1468 BC. e., in the 22nd year of the reign. Since she had not yet reached old age, versions of both the natural death and the violent death of the queen were put forward. For example, by Thutmose III to get rid of the power of his stepmother, he also ordered to destroy all images, references, altars of Hatshepsut. However, a 2007 analysis of a mummy identified as Hatshepsut showed that at the time of her death she was over 50 years old, an obese woman, and she died exclusively from diseases (bone tumor and liver cancer, enhanced by diabetes). In addition, the female pharaoh had arthritis and dental problems. A 2011 analysis of the mummy found that Hatshepsut was using a drug for short-term relief from pain (option: cosmetic for the skin), which included a carcinogen, and could have poisoned herself with poison over several years of use. The lotion contained benzpyrene, an aromatic and highly carcinogenic hydrocarbon. As noted by scientists, this makes it extremely likely that the female pharaoh accidentally killed herself.

Granite Sphinx with the face of Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut in the guise of a sphinx, Metropolitan Museum

Literature
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Ancient East and Antiquity. // Rulers of the World. Chronological and genealogical tables of world history in 4 vols. / Author-compiler V.V. Erlikhman. - T. 1.
Bolshakov V.A. The accession of Hatshepsut: a new version // East (Oriens). 2009.1.S. 14-21.
Bolshakov V.A. Daughter of Ra Hatshepsut. - M.: RUDN, 2009.
Mathieu M.E.Art of Ancient Egypt. New kingdom of the XVI-XV centuries. // History of Art of the Ancient East. Volume I. Ancient Egypt. Issue III. - L., 1947.
Mertz B. Ancient Egypt: Temples, Tombs, Hieroglyphs. / Per from English. - M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2003.
Desroches Noblecourt Ch. La Reine Mystérieuse: Hatshepsout. - Paris, 2002.
Ratie S. La Reine Hatschepsout. Sources et Problemes. Leyden, 1979.
Tyldesley J. Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh. - Penguin Books, 1998.
Wells E. Hatshepsut. - Double Day, 1969.

"Best for Nobility" or "First of the Honorable" - female pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the XVIII dynasty-Maatkar Hatshepsut Henmetamon - Queen Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut was the daughter of the third pharaoh of the 18th dynasty Thutmose I and Queen Yahmes, the granddaughter of the founder of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Ahmose I. During her father's lifetime, Hatshepsut became the "Spouse of God" - the high priestess of the Theban God Amun. Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh in Egyptian history who managed to put on her head the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt.
Hatshepsut received all the secular and religious honors appropriate to the pharaohs, she was portrayed, as befits a real pharaoh, with the attributes of Osiris, with a beard tied under her chin. After the death of her father, Thutmose I, she married the half-brother of Thutmose II. When he died at a fairly early age, his only heir was the young Thutmose III, the son of one of the pharaoh's younger wives. Hatshepsut ruled the state on his behalf for 22 years.

The Egyptian pharaohs were considered the earthly incarnation of the god Horus and could only be men. When the female pharaoh Hatshepsut ascended the throne, a legend was invented to legitimize her power, according to which the god Amon himself descended to earth in order to conceive his daughter in the guise of Thutmose I.

In the funeral temple of Queen Hatshepsut - Jeser-Jeseru or the "Holy of Holies" in Deir el-Bahri, built by her favorite and court architect Senmut, hieroglyphic inscriptions have been preserved, which represent descriptions of events associated with the appearance of Hatshepsut into the world, as well as ritual formulas ... The translation of each inscription is preceded by a short description of the relief image to which it refers. On one of the reliefs, Amon informs the gods (Montu, Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Gebu, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Set, Hathor) about the forthcoming conception of a new "king" who will be entrusted with power in the country.

Amun's words to the gods:

“Here, I loved my wife, chosen by me, the mother of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkar, endowed with life, Khnumit-Amon Hatshepsut ... I will be the protection of her flesh ... Here, I gave her all the countries of Egypt and all foreign countries ... She will be the leader of the living all ... I have connected both Earths for her in contentment ... She will build your temples, she will consecrate your houses ... She will make your altars prosperous ... "

The reign of Hatshepsut marked the unprecedented prosperity and rise of Egypt. Of all the spheres of her state activity, Hatshepsut showed herself primarily as a pharaoh-builder. The queen restored many monuments destroyed by the Hyksos conquerors. Two obelisks of Hatshepsut with a height of about 30 meters next to the pylon of the temple of Amon-Ra in Karnak were the highest of all those built earlier in Egypt, until they were laid with masonry by Thutmose III (one of them has survived to this day).

Hatshepsut was actively involved in the construction of temples: in Karnak, the "Red Sanctuary" of Hatshepsut was erected for the ceremonial boat of the god Amun. Her name is associated with a sea expedition to the distant country of Punt, also known as Ta-Necher - "Land of God". The location of the country Punt has not been precisely determined, possibly the northern coast of Somalia, according to other sources - India.

As Irina Darneva writes in the book "The Silence of the Sphinx", these obelisks resemble the Gates to Heaven, through which an invisible ray of distant worlds comes and pink granite gives them an unearthly state. The color pink was not chosen by the queen by chance, because pink pearls are considered a symbol of Venus and correspond to the dawn. "Light of the Morning Dawn" - this is how Venus was addressed in ancient times.

Hatshepsut was considered the daughter of the Solar Dynasty of the Pharaohs, as well as an ordained priestess with a high spiritual position; the Priests of the Karnak Temple knew her destiny.

The greatest structures of the New Kingdom era were temples, or "houses" of the gods, as the ancient Egyptians called them. The waters of the Nile divided Ancient Egypt into the Kingdom of the Living and the Kingdom of the Dead. On the eastern bank of the Nile, palaces of the pharaohs and huge temples praising the gods were erected; on the western bank, pyramids, tombs and funeral temples were built in honor of the dead and deified pharaohs.

In Luxor, at the very foot of the Deir el-Bahri rocks, there is the most unusual monument of ancient Egyptian architecture - the memorial temple of Queen Hatshepsut, dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The temple stands at the foot of the steep cliffs of the Libyan plateau; it was erected in the middle of the second millennium BC next to the memorial temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep I, the founder of the dynasty to which Hatshepsut belonged.

The construction of the funeral temple began during the life of Queen Hatshepsut. Dzheser-Dzheseru or "Holy of Holies" - that's how Hatshepsut called her memorial temple. On the border of the desert and irrigated land, a giant pylon was erected, from which a processional road, about 37 meters wide, led to the temple itself, which was guarded on both sides by sphinxes made of sandstone and painted with bright colors. Right in front of the temple, a garden of outlandish trees and shrubs was laid out, brought from the mysterious country of Punt. Two sacred lakes were dug here.

The temple itself was truly an engineering marvel of the ancient Egyptians. Carved into limestone rocks, it consisted of three huge terraces, one above the other. On each of the terraces there was an open courtyard, covered rooms with columns and a sanctuary that went into the rocks. This grandiose plan was embodied by the hands of the architect Senenmut, the favorite of the queen and educator of her daughter Nefrura.

Almost three and a half thousand years have passed. The book of Daniel says: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some for eternal life, others for eternal reproach and shame." Archaeologists managed to find a statue of Hatshepsut with an intact face. In 2008, it was officially announced that the mummy of Hatshepsut was buried in the Cairo Museum.

HATSHEPSUT IS THE ONLY WOMAN PHARAOH OF EGYPT. THE OPENING OF A CENTURY!

The pyramids of Ancient Egypt are rightfully considered one of the wonders of the world. They are as mysterious as they are majestic and unique. And whenever Egyptologists manage to shed light on even one of the secrets of the ancient pyramids, it becomes a sensation. The find of the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut is from the category of the latter and has already been named one of the most important discoveries of our century.

The mummy of Hatshepsut has long been considered lost. But her find, according to the head of the Supreme Council for the Study of Antiquities of Egypt, doctor and, in fact, the author of the discovery Zaha Hawass, today is comparable in importance only with the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun by Carter in 1922. And although they are trying to challenge the hypothesis of Hawass, for connoisseurs of Egyptian culture, the next work of the "hunter for antiquities" has become a real gift. The Indiana Jones Egyptologist posted a detailed account of his discovery on guardians.net.

An effort to identify the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut was undertaken by Dr. Hawass as early as 2006, when he began to identify unidentified female mummies. Three of them were in the Cairo Museum. But the fourth is in the burial under the letter KV60 in the Valley of the Kings. Interestingly, this mysterious sarcophagus was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903. Before that, the tomb had already been robbed, but still Carter was incredibly lucky. In total, he found two mummies. One of which belonged to a small woman. The second was an extremely obese person who was lying next to the tomb. But Carter sealed the sarcophagus. Apparently, due to the lack of treasures in it.

In 1906, the same tomb was investigated by another prominent British Egyptologist, Edward Ayrton. He managed to read the name of the woman in the sarcophagus: her name was Sitre-In, and she was Hatshepsut's nurse. He sent the find to Cairo. But the second mummy found on the floor, Ayrton could not identify. Many years later, in 1989, anthropologist Donald Ryan investigated the tomb once again. But in the end, the mummy went to the museum unnamed.

But why did Dr. Hawass decide that she was Hatshepsut? The key to unraveling this mystery was in a wooden box with the regalia of her throne. It was in it, in addition to the canopies, that the queen's only molar tooth was found. The researcher suggested that following tradition, the embalmers placed Hatshepsut's tooth in a box like a ritually charged object.

Canopes are vessels with organs. It is known that organs removed during mummification were not thrown away or destroyed. They also persisted. After removing them, they were washed and then immersed in special vessels with balsam - canopes.

All unidentified female mummies and found objects, as well as the mummies of Pharaohs Thutmose II and III, because the first is the half-brother of Hatshepsut, and the second is her stepson, were subjected to a thorough examination. Once this was not possible, but modern advances have allowed Egyptologists to make significant headway. The scans using computed tomography and DNA analysis of the mummies left no doubt. The mummy of an obese 50-year-old woman with a missing molar is Hatshepsut.

In addition, it turned out that the Pharaoh woman suffered from many diseases, including diabetes and even cancer - metastases were found in almost all of the queen's bones, and most likely it was one of the diseases that caused her death. Thus, the version that Hatshepsut died as a result of a violent death is completely refuted. As well as the fact that all the temples and monuments erected by the queen were destroyed by her stepson Thutmose III out of revenge.

The head of the Supreme Council for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass: “When I started researching and searching for the Hatshepsut mummy, I really did not think that I would be able to identify the queen's mummy. I saw the experiment as an excellent opportunity to study the unidentified female mummies of this particular dynasty. Never before have they used modern scientific technology in their research. There are many high status unidentified mummies found mainly in royal caches. This is a series of secret graves. And we must be aware that for the sake of preserving the mummies and protecting them from robbers, many bodies were hidden and moved by initiates to graves nearby. For example, we know from historical records that the mummy of Ramses II was originally moved from her grave to the grave of his father Seti I. This was a very important point and argument in the search for the mummy of Hatshepsut. And the first thing I did was to notice the small, unadorned grave KV60 in front of the real tomb of the queen. Then I studied all the mummies found in this burial and came to the conclusion that they really moved. And at that moment he decided to go down to the original tomb of Hatshepsut - KV20. I don't think that many people entered this grave. Even the Egyptologists who worked in the Valley of the Kings avoided this because the KV20 is one of the most difficult tombs in the valley. "

Behind idealized images of kings and eloquent descriptions of their divine deeds, living people were hidden - sick, aging and mortals (statue of Hatshepsut in the form of a sphinx)

Recently I watched a program about how Zahi Hawass, at that time the head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was looking for the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut. I must say that on the screen the enthusiasm of the temperamental Egyptian scientist often looks premature, and sometimes even not entirely justified, and not all conclusions are unambiguously perceived as 100% convincing, the criticism of his numerous opponents is, in general, understandable to me. And in general, as I understand it, there have been many dances with tambourines around Egyptology at all times, but the program still seemed to me quite interesting.

Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut

The queen's illness helped to identify the previously unnamed mummy, which quickly brought her to the grave - in one of the canopes (organ storage vessel) signed with the queen's name, a tooth was found, which, apparently, was pulled out shortly before her death, because the queen suffered from a dental abscess. The tooth exactly "approached" the jaw of the "anonymous" mummy, and so Hatshepsut was identified after a long search. Later, the relationship with other representatives of the 18th dynasty was confirmed, or rather, the mitochondrial DNA of the queen's grandmother and Hatshepsut herself coincided.

The figure of the court dwarf Seneb with his wife and children (5-6 dynasty, Cairo Museum).
This man was a funeral priest and suffered from achondroplasia - a disease when the growth zones of tubular bones close prematurely and the proportions of the body are greatly disturbed.

This is how the intimate secret of the ruler of Egypt was revealed - she had a bad dentist. The mummy's teeth were in a deplorable state. However, like the entire bone skeleton - the bones turned out to be very softened, however, I did not understand from the transmission how the researchers determined that this change in bone tissue was intravital. The periodontal abscess brought the queen long, exhausting anguish; most likely, it was hard for her to eat, the queen was tormented by severe pain. The court doctors eventually pulled out the tooth, but it was too late - the infection spread throughout the body, and the queen died at the age of about 50.

Also, using a scan of the mummy, it was possible to determine that the queen suffered from a rather large tumor in the abdominal cavity and was overweight (and was generally a large woman, but with a beautiful chiseled face with noble features). The tumor focus was located in the liver, metastases spread to the bones. It is possible that for an organism ravaged by cancer (and also diabetes), tooth infection has become the last straw. Yes, and the life of the queen at that time, I must say, lost its meaning for her - her only daughter, young Nefrura died, her parents and husband, her beloved friend, adviser and closest person, the architect Semnut also died - all those close already were in the kingdom of the dead.

The ancient papyrus depicts chiropractors - surgeons who correct dislocations and treat fractures.

The researchers also found that, among other things, Hatshepsut had a genetically determined skin condition that plagued her entire family - something like eczema or psoriasis, causing her skin to be covered with ugly itchy patches. Her father, husband-brother and some other relatives suffered from the same disease.

There is one interesting version of the origin of the tumor in the womb of the queen - scientists from the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn discovered dangerous carcinogens in the medicine for the queen's skin - creosote and benzopyrene. This was discovered after examining a bottle of ointment or lotion (it was clearly not a perfume - the substance gave off a very nasty smell, and it had a very specific composition), the drug also contained various oils and was intended to relieve inflammation and reduce itching. Apparently, the unfortunate queen, suffering from itching and rubbing the salvage agent, did not realize that she was slowly poisoning herself.

Lethal bottle of Hatshepsut (photo by AP Photo / DAPD, Sascha Schuermann).

It became interesting to me: after all, over the past 20 years, modern research science has acquired very effective methods - several scanning techniques, scintigraphy, the most accurate chemical, genetic and DNA analysis, and modern microscopes will soon examine bosons. All this should be used to study mummies, and not only such famous ones as Hatshepsut. It became interesting, and what diseases the ancient Egyptians suffered from in general. I rummaged in the book and the Internet, it turned out that modern science has been very successful in patopaleology in recent years.

Relatively recently, the mummy of another famous ruler, Tutankhamun, was thoroughly examined, however, he is famous not so much for his deeds, since he died at only 19 years old, as for his luxurious, not plundered burial.

In this 18th Dynasty stele, we see a polio victim, a man with a deformed foot leaning on a crutch.

Traditionally, it was believed that he died from the complication of an injury, possibly received while hunting, but it turned out that everything is much more prosaic - the king was killed by tropical malaria, a disease that is very common in the swampy area around the Nile. Plasmodium DNA was isolated from the mummy's tissues.

I must say that the young tsar hardly lasted long in any case, his health was clearly not heroic. And on the hunt, he certainly did not jump briskly from bump to bump, since he could hardly move without crutches. His parents were siblings, which in Ancient Egypt was quite normal practice due to the peculiarities of succession to the throne, so the king had a whole bunch of genetic defects. He was found to have a non-closure of the upper palate (“cleft palate”), Kohler's disease, which led to a severe deformity of the foot, on the other foot there was a congenital absence of several toes.

Reconstruction of the appearance of Tutankhamun (here all fingers are in place)

In the burial of King Tut, they found mummies of two stillborn babies, apparently his children; they also had congenital anomalies, such as spinal cord cleft and deformity of the skull, as in hydrocephalus.

The first serious researcher of Egyptian mummies on the subject of causes of death and ancillary diseases was the American pathologist Michael Zimmerman (no, not the one who shot the black teenager). He began his research back in 1993, still without sophisticated methods. At first, research was hampered by the fact that the tissues of the mummies were too dry and stiff to study their cellular composition. Later, samples taken from mummies learned to soak in a solution based on alcohol and soda.

The ancient Egyptians practiced male circumcision. In hot climates, in clouds of desert dust, this was necessary. In the picture, adults are circumcised - slaves from barbarian tribes, apparently. The Egyptians themselves "underwent" circumcision in early childhood.

Zimmermann faced many difficulties (even with fake "mummies"), but he managed to make a number of interesting discoveries.
His first "patient", as it turned out, died of pneumonia caused by Klebsiels - it is now a frequent causative agent of respiratory tract infections, normally coexisting calmly with the human body, and when the body is weakened or hypothermic, it becomes pathogenic. Apparently, the poor fellow, whose mummy was investigated by the American, was just out of luck.

For a long time it was believed that the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, the husband of Nefertiti, suffered from a rare genetic disease - Marfan syndrome. Such patients have long ugly limbs, a wide pelvis, an elongated face with "doggy" eyes. Studies of the mummies of close relatives (the mummy of the heretic himself was not found) showed that many relatives looked like Akhenaten in appearance, but they did not find any signs of Marfan. So the pharaoh was simply a freak, he had a specific appearance, romantically played by artists and sculptors.

Zimmerman also encountered the first found deceased who died of tuberculosis - it was a 6-year-old child who died 1300 years ago (although later on the territory of present-day Israel, even more ancient "tuberculosis patients" were found - a mother and baby, whose remains are more than 9000 years old) ...

In general, tuberculosis was a real scourge of Egypt. After all, the settlements of the Egyptians were crowded, families were rather large, and their homes were cramped. The mortality rate from this disease was high among both children and adults. Both bovine and human mycobacterium tuberculosis are found, scientists suggest that the pathogen appeared thousands of years ago due to a mutation of the causative agent of infection in cattle. Remains with traces of various forms of tuberculosis, not only pulmonary, are found. Bone tuberculosis was quite common.

Egyptian women, as you can see, gave birth to children while squatting.

Zimmerman concluded that the low incidence of cancer in the Egyptians confirms that cancer is a disease of modern civilization, caused by overeating and smoking.

Egyptian Surgical Instruments (from here)

His opponents believe that, perhaps, during the study of mummies, "detectability" suffers - there was cancer, only after thousands of years it is difficult to detect it. It is also possible they believe that the short life expectancy of the Egyptians simply did not allow them to live to the age when the incidence of cancer is increasing.

Zimmerman objects that he came across the mummies of 90-year-olds, and his "subjects" often met metabolic diseases of the elderly - diabetes, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. The very widespread occurrence of atherosclerosis is just surprising - this was noted by other researchers. Perhaps this was due to some peculiarities of nutrition, for example, it is known that the Egyptians consumed a large amount of beer (and maybe they also had fast foods?) Or with genetics, because the Egyptians in the order of things were closely related marriages.

The ancient Egyptian prosthetic big toe is not for beauty, for burial: the deceased must have had all the required body parts.

More recently, 52 mummies from the Cairo Museum were examined, another cancer was found - a prostate tumor in an elderly man, and Zimmermann's observation was confirmed - more than a third of atherosclerosis was found.

An interesting discovery was associated with ancient Egyptian dentistry. Hatshepsut wasn't the only one who suffered from dental problems. Most of the remains examined had very bad teeth. Firstly, severe dental infectious complications were very common - abscesses, periodontal disease and caries, several teeth were missing in almost every mummy.

Secondly, there is a strong abrasion of the chewing surfaces of the teeth. There is a hypothesis that this is due to the peculiarities of the milling industry of that time: in the bread used by the Egyptians, there was a large percentage of dusty sand, which quickly "erased" teeth. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the banks of the Nile had almost no problems with the dentition and bite, the Egyptians had strong, well-developed jaws, probably due to the consumption of harsh, rough food. Traces of the work of ancient dentists have also been found - in burials, artificial teeth made of bone, fastened with gold wire, are sometimes found.

Queen Punta Ati, met by the ambassadors of Queen Hatshepsut, clearly suffered from severe obesity or even elephantiasis, which made a strong impression on the Egyptians. Excessive fullness in Egypt was clearly not held in high esteem ...

Interestingly, at least one more ruler, Ramses II, probably died from a dental abscess. His mummy is also well studied. He, like many, was found to have atherosclerosis, as well as many traces of battle wounds and old fractures, and also age-related arthritis. And it turned out that in his youth, the pharaoh was red-haired! At first, scientists did not attach any importance to the red color of the rare remaining hair of the mummy - the hair was often dyed with henna on the deceased, but during the study it was found that this was also the natural pigment.

Other pharaohs also had abscesses of the jaw (Psusenes the First, for example; he died very old, when he was already twisted from arthritis).

... Although the Egyptians themselves were not all obsessed with diets! (statue of the village headman of Kaaper, 25th century BC, wood (!!!)).

A mummified body of a one-year-old child was found who had obviously died of scurvy - it would seem, how was the disease caused by a lack of vitamin C allowed ?! They have a lot of lemons there! Perhaps the baby "got" the disease from a mother suffering from scurvy, and she lacked the necessary vitamin in breast milk.

In general, a whole medical encyclopedia! The examined remains were sometimes diagnosed with diseases and rather rare ones - the Hend-Schüller-Christian syndrome, for example, (such a congenital disorder of lipid metabolism, when a person forms foci of softening of the bones of the skull). Osteomyelitis was often found - after all, there were no antibiotics, and any complicated bone fracture could end in failure.

Brewery.
The Egyptians drank beer almost instead of water. Is this not the reason for such a wide spread of atherosclerosis?

Here we should mention the most interesting document - "The Smith Papyrus". This is a real textbook of military field surgery of the 16th century BC with a fairly accurate description of 48 types of injuries and methods of their management.

For example:
“Case five.
Title: Instructions on a gaping head wound with a broken skull. Examination: If you are examining a man who has a gaping head wound that penetrates to the bone (and) with a split skull; you have to feel the wound. It is advisable to find what broke the skull if parts of it are in the depth of the wound (s); to extract the fragments floating under your fingers. While there may be a tumor over the wound, blood may flow from both nostrils (and) and both ears, (and) the person suffers a feeling of stiffness in his neck, so that he is unable to look at both his shoulders and chest (in modern neurology this is called "neck stiffness").
Diagnosis: You have to say about him: "This is a gaping wound in the head, penetrating to the bone, (and) a broken skull, with a stiffness in the neck not associated with another ailment."
Treatment: you do not tie too tight, but you connect and fix the fragments, for the whole time until the wound is healed. "

Can you imagine? Just!
It is surprising that the wounds are described in great detail, and the recommendations are given sensibly in most cases! And no magic, which could well be expected to be found in the Egyptian manuscript, because the Egyptians were literally obsessed with it!

Magic was used in one case - during the plague, in the face of the Black Death, the ancient doctors were powerless.

Due to the constant dust, the Egyptians most likely suffered from eye diseases. Pretty little arrows in front of the pharaohs and their wives are not just a cosmetic product. The Egyptians applied a thick layer of paste based on grated malachite to the upper eyelid. She just protected from dust.

Ancient ophthalmologist (and maybe a beautician)

I think that the scorpions bit them, and the snakes - after all, it was not in vain that the god Horus asked for protection from them. And the crocodiles ate them, of course, and all sorts of large felines gnawed. Injuries were common, and especially in the military.
In the burials of builders, skeletons with strong growths of bone tissue in the lumbar region are found - due to the carrying of weights, but all these diseases were characteristic of other peoples and at other times.

So the Egyptians died, mainly because of heart attacks and strokes as a result of atherosclerosis, and also because of infections - malaria, schistosomiasis and tuberculosis. Well, or a violent death.

And you live long and do not get sick!

Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for over 20 years. She reigned along with her husband Thutmose II, but after his death took on the role of pharaoh, eventually becoming the most influential woman - pharaoh. Hatshepsut is considered one of the most successful rulers of Egypt.

1. Who is she?

The daughter of King Thutmose I, Hatshepsut became Queen of Egypt when she married her half-brother, Thutmose II, at about 12 years old. After his death, she began to act as regent for her stepson, the infant Thutmose III, but later assumed full authority of the pharaoh. As ruler of Egypt, Hatshepsut expanded Egyptian trade and pursued ambitious construction projects.

2. She became the queen of Egypt by coincidence

Initially, Hatshepsut carried this role traditionally as the regent of the little stepson, but later, for reasons unknown to art critics, she assumed the full role of the pharaoh. Technically, Hatshepsut did not "usurp" the crown, as Thutmose III was never deposed and was considered a co-ruler throughout his life, but it is clear that Hatshepsut became the main dominant ruler of power.

3. Successful diplomat

Hatshepsut's successful transition from queen to pharaoh is due in part to her ability to attract influential supporters, and many of those she chose were privileged officials of her father Thutmose I. One of her most important advisers was Senenmut, the queen's obedient servant and devoted friend to her surroundings. Hatshepsut found the support of influential nobles at court.

4. Built the "most sacred" temple

The vast burial temple of Hatshepsut was considered one of the most impressive architectural achievements in the ancient world. Called the Jeser Jeseru ("The Sacred of the Sacred"), the terraced sandstone complex was built in the cliffs of Deir el-Bahri in western Thebes. She built it next to the temple of the Mentuhotep kings, a complex of funeral temples and tombs on the west coast of the Nile, wanting to emphasize her belonging to their family and thereby justify the legitimacy of her so unusual for a woman possession of the throne. Temple of Hatshepsut stood out from a number of many funeral temples of that time, first of all, with its luxurious decorative relief, size and decorated with large-scale statues.

5. Implemented the most important trade expedition

Instead of sending her subjects to the wars, Hatshepsut organized expeditions for them: a trade expedition to the legendary country of Punt (possibly modern Eritrea), where no Egyptian had been for 500 years. It was a success: the expedition returned with gold, ivory, live myrrh and a menagerie of exotic animals, including monkeys, panthers and giraffes. A brilliant campaign has greatly increased its reputation and popularity.

6. Pretended to be a man and changed her name

Hatshepsut wished to be portrayed in statues and paintings of that time as a male pharaoh with a beard and large muscles. Taking the title of Pharaoh, Hatshepsut changed her name from the female version of Hatshepsut, which means "The best of noble ladies," to the male version, Hatshepsu.

7. The first but not the only female pharaoh

Hatshepsut was the first, but not the only female ruler of Ancient Egypt. Nefertiti followed her, and then Cleopatra came to power after 1500 years, but none of them took the title of pharaoh, like Hatshepsut.

8. The period of her reign - the heyday of Egypt

Hatshepsut did not banish Thutmose III, who technically served as her co-ruler, but she clearly overshadowed him. Her 21-year reign - 15 years as main monarch - was a time of peace and prosperity for Egypt. She undertook ambitious building projects, including two pairs of imposing obelisks at Karnak and her Jeser Jeseru temple. Scientists have proved that the queen also led military campaigns, including the campaign against Nubia, and also conquered the Sinai Peninsula, South Syria and Palestine. A fleet was even built, making expeditions to different countries, including the mysterious country of Punt.

9. After her death, the stepson erased her memory

Hatshepsut died at the age of forty. Her stepson Thutmose III continued to rule for another 30 years, proving to be as ambitious a builder as his stepmother and a great warrior. At the end of her reign, Thutmose III destroyed almost all evidence of Hatshepsut's reign - including her images on the temples and monuments she built. Why did he do it? Perhaps to erase her example as a powerful female ruler, or to close the gap in the line of the male dynasty. Fortunately for archaeologists, the reconstruction was incomplete and much of the original temple remains visible today.

10. The secret of the mummy Hatshepsut

The queen owned two whole tombs, but none of them found her mummy, because for a long time it was believed that she was destroyed during the looting of the chamber. But in 2006, the mummy was found in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This mummy was found in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings and transported to Cairo in 1906, believed to be the mummy of Sat-Ra, the queen's nurse.