# The Queen History Almost Erased _ Hatshepsut

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 11 Oct 2026, 1 h 02 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75561057/the_queen_history_almost_erased_hatshepsut_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3



## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The first great woman in history of whom we are informed.
[0:06] Speaker 1: This is how the Egyptologist James Henry Breasted described Queen Hatshepsut.
[0:13] Speaker 1: And indeed, the life of Hatshepsut reads like an ancient epic.
[0:19] Speaker 1: A royal princess who became a queen and then boldly
[0:23] Speaker 1: assumed the throne as pharaoh and ruled successfully for over
[0:27] Speaker 1: two decades. It's an extraordinary story, so extraordinary that later
[0:34] Speaker 1: rulers tried to erase her very name from the pages
[0:37] Speaker 1: of history. Yet through her ambitious building projects, daring trade expeditions,
[0:44] Speaker 1: and the sheer audacity of her reign, hers is a
[0:47] Speaker 1: legacy that refused to vanish. So today, we'll journey through
[0:53] Speaker 1: the life of Hatshepsut chronologically, from her early years as
[0:58] Speaker 1: a princess of Egypt, to her unprecedented reign as a
[1:02] Speaker 1: female pharaoh, and finally to the debates and mysteries that
[1:07] Speaker 1: have long surrounded her rule. It's a tale of power, innovation,
[1:12] Speaker 1: and intrigue, told with an academic lens, of course, but
[1:16] Speaker 1: we'll try and keep it as entertaining as possible, as
[1:20] Speaker 1: if we're uncovering one of those long-buried inscriptions together. But indeed,
[1:28] Speaker 1: where are my manners? Let me welcome you to the
[1:30] Speaker 1: channel first. Hello to any newcomers and welcome back to
[1:34] Speaker 1: those returning. Do me a favour, click the like and
[1:38] Speaker 1: subscribe button and leave a little comment down below. Certainly
[1:41] Speaker 1: helps the algorithm. And thank you for those supporting on
[1:45] Speaker 1: the Patreon and the ones who checked out the merch store.
[1:49] Speaker 1: Much appreciated. Now with no further ado and with all
[1:52] Speaker 1: that out of the way, let's get nice and relaxed
[1:56] Speaker 1: and take it slow. as we walk through the life
[1:59] Speaker 1: of Hatshepsut. And so our story begins, around 1507 to
[2:06] Speaker 1: 1505 BCE, in Egypt's illustrious 18th dynasty. What a time
[2:13] Speaker 1: to be alive! A family of pharaohs were forging a
[2:17] Speaker 1: new era of prosperity. She was the eldest daughter of
[2:22] Speaker 1: the pharaoh Thutmose I, and his great royal wife, Queen Ahmose.
[2:30] Speaker 1: Her father, Thutmose, was a charismatic and successful warrior-king who
[2:36] Speaker 1: was pretty famed for expanding Egypt's frontiers. One famous tale
[2:41] Speaker 1: from his reign recounts how he hung the defeated chief
[2:44] Speaker 1: of Nubia from the prow of his ship as a
[2:46] Speaker 1: warning to Egypt's enemies. That ought to show them. Growing
[2:52] Speaker 1: up in Thebes, young Hatshepsut would have been immersed in
[2:55] Speaker 1: the grandeur of her father's court, As a princess, she
[2:59] Speaker 1: likely observed rituals in Karnak Temple and learned the responsibilities
[3:04] Speaker 1: that came with her royal blood. And so, from an
[3:08] Speaker 1: early age, she was prepared for significant religious and political roles.
[3:12] Speaker 1: She held the title of God's Wife of Amun, the
[3:18] Speaker 1: high-ranking priestess of the state god Amun, which gave her
[3:22] Speaker 1: influence in the powerful priesthood of Thebes. This role would
[3:26] Speaker 1: later bolster her claim to the throne, but we'll get
[3:29] Speaker 1: to that shortly. But before we do, let's discuss her
[3:35] Speaker 1: name for a second. You know, Egyptian names, they always
[3:39] Speaker 1: have those meanings that are quite literal. The name Hatshepsut
[3:43] Speaker 1: itself actually means foremost of noble women. She certainly didn't
[3:50] Speaker 1: disappoint in that promise. The very name itself, a foreshadowing
[3:54] Speaker 1: of her future reign. but she had several half-brothers too. Unfortunately,
[4:00] Speaker 1: two of the elder ones died in youth. The surviving
[4:04] Speaker 1: male heir of Thutmose I was a son by a
[4:06] Speaker 1: secondary wife, and he would reign as Thutmose II. To
[4:11] Speaker 1: strengthen the succession, the teenage Hatshepsut was married to him,
[4:16] Speaker 1: uniting the royal lineage. At around the age of twelve,
[4:21] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut became queen of Egypt as the great royal wife
[4:25] Speaker 1: of Thutmose II. Now that might sound a little bit
[4:30] Speaker 1: strange to us today. Why don't you take a seat
[4:33] Speaker 1: over there, Tatmase? But such sibling royal marriages were traditional.
[4:39] Speaker 1: They were meant to preserve the divine bloodline. I was
[4:43] Speaker 1: queen consort. Hatshepsut likely took an active role in court
[4:47] Speaker 1: life and religious ceremonies. We know that she and Tatmase
[4:51] Speaker 1: II did have one child, a daughter named Neferureh. Hatshepsut
[4:57] Speaker 1: doted on her, and the princess was often depicted in art,
[5:02] Speaker 1: sometimes shown wearing the side-lock of youth and even a
[5:05] Speaker 1: false beard, and his symbols usually reserved for kings. Neferule's
[5:11] Speaker 1: prominence hints that Hatshepsut was already breaking convention, grooming her
[5:17] Speaker 1: daughter for an important destiny. As for Tatmase the Second's reign, well,
[5:25] Speaker 1: that was pretty short. possibly only three to thirteen years,
[5:30] Speaker 1: and by all accounts and measurements, pretty unremarkable. Sorry to
[5:35] Speaker 1: disappoint you, he just didn't really do much. Not really
[5:41] Speaker 1: his fault. Ancient sources suggest he was frail and young,
[5:48] Speaker 1: so Hatshepsut's experience in royal pedigree made her a strong
[5:51] Speaker 1: partner in governance. And they were all together until tragedy struck.
[5:58] Speaker 1: Tatmose II died in his twenties, leaving the throne to
[6:03] Speaker 1: his infant son, by a lesser wife, by the way,
[6:07] Speaker 1: Tatmose III. And this is where Hatshepsut seems to step in.
[6:17] Speaker 1: With Tatmose all dead and gone, around 1479, the throne
[6:21] Speaker 1: passed to Tatmose III, Hatshepsut was now in her mid-twenties,
[6:29] Speaker 1: and she faced a pretty important decision. Traditionally, when a
[6:33] Speaker 1: pharaoh died leaving a very young heir, the queen or
[6:36] Speaker 1: another close relative would act as regent, governing until the
[6:40] Speaker 1: child came of age and could rule. As the child's
[6:45] Speaker 1: stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut was the logical choice for the regency.
[6:52] Speaker 1: She had royal authority, experience, and, most importantly, the support
[6:59] Speaker 1: of key officials and other nobles. Indeed, an inscription on
[7:05] Speaker 1: the tomb of Inendi, a high official who had served
[7:08] Speaker 1: Thutmose I and II, records how Hatshepsut assumed control as follows.
[7:16] Speaker 1: His son stood in his place as king of the
[7:18] Speaker 1: two lands. His sister, the divine consort Hatshepsut, settled the
[7:23] Speaker 1: affairs of the two lands. by reason of her plans,
[7:27] Speaker 1: Egypt was made to labour with bowed head for her. Well,
[7:35] Speaker 1: these words of Ineni, etched on his tomb walls, are
[7:39] Speaker 1: pretty telling. They credited Hatshepsut with competent rule at the
[7:44] Speaker 1: very start of Thutmose III's reign, indicating that she was
[7:48] Speaker 1: running the government with quite a bit of efficiency, certainly
[7:52] Speaker 1: off to a good start. So at first Hatshepsut fulfilled
[7:57] Speaker 1: the expected role of regent. She did not immediately take
[8:00] Speaker 1: the title of pharaoh. Instead, she managed the administration in
[8:05] Speaker 1: the name of the young Dutmose III. Early depictions show
[8:09] Speaker 1: her standing dutifully behind the boy-king in scenes, as a
[8:13] Speaker 1: traditional queen-mother would. But you may have guessed that Hatshepsut
[8:19] Speaker 1: was no ordinary regent. She was, as As Breasted said
[8:24] Speaker 1: in the introduction, a great woman with a strong vision.
[8:28] Speaker 1: Over the next few years, that came into play. She
[8:33] Speaker 1: systematically consolidated power. She ensured that key positions were held
[8:38] Speaker 1: by loyalists. For example, Hapuseneb, the high priest of Amun,
[8:44] Speaker 1: became her chief advisor. And ever-trusted courtiers like her steward,
[8:49] Speaker 1: Senen Mut, rose in influence. These officials had often served
[8:55] Speaker 1: her father or husband before, so continuity was maintained. Notably,
[9:01] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut began to take on pharaonic privileges, even as a regent.
[9:08] Speaker 1: Relief carvings at Karnak Temple show her making offerings to
[9:12] Speaker 1: the gods on behalf of the king, an act usually
[9:15] Speaker 1: reserved for the pharaoh himself. She even adopted the five
[9:20] Speaker 1: royal names that is, a protocol for kingship, and started
[9:25] Speaker 1: being referred to with titles like Lady of the Two Lands,
[9:30] Speaker 1: just a feminized version of the king's title. This period
[9:37] Speaker 1: must have been pretty delicate. You see, she had to
[9:40] Speaker 1: project her authority to keep the kingdom stable, but also
[9:44] Speaker 1: respect this act that the young and inept Tatmose III
[9:49] Speaker 1: was the real king. Kind of humouring the whole situation,
[9:55] Speaker 1: I suppose. She managed this balancing act for several years.
[10:00] Speaker 1: all while strengthening her reputation as Egypt's de facto ruler.
[10:08] Speaker 1: Now at some point, perhaps about seven years into the regency,
[10:13] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut took a momentous step. She assumed the full powers
[10:17] Speaker 1: and symbols of kingship, She effectively crowned herself pharaoh of Egypt.
[10:24] Speaker 1: And that's not in opposition to Thutmose. This wasn't a usurpation,
[10:30] Speaker 1: but rather ruling alongside him. So in practical terms, she
[10:35] Speaker 1: was effectively the senior co-ruler. Now this is a bit different.
[10:41] Speaker 1: Usually when you want to take the top job, you
[10:43] Speaker 1: have to stab the previous guy in the back. But
[10:48] Speaker 1: that just did not seem to happen here. and so
[10:52] Speaker 1: she adopted a royal throne name Maat Kare now you
[10:58] Speaker 1: might have heard that word before Maat that means the
[11:03] Speaker 1: cosmic order and then we have the Ka of Re
[11:07] Speaker 1: so we have Maat Ka Re these three Egyptian words
[11:13] Speaker 1: so really it means the cosmic order is the Ka
[11:17] Speaker 1: of Re the Ka is like the soul Well, of course,
[11:21] Speaker 1: she used this name and began to be depicted in
[11:23] Speaker 1: traditional regalia of a male pharaoh, and that includes the
[11:27] Speaker 1: nemes headdress, the kilt, and, of course, you can't forget
[11:31] Speaker 1: the false beard. The striking relief from around this time
[11:37] Speaker 1: shows us slim and graceful Hatshepsut transforming. Previously, she stood
[11:43] Speaker 1: as a queen in a flowing dress, but by her
[11:47] Speaker 1: seventh year as regent, she appears as a full-fledged king,
[11:52] Speaker 1: with broad chest and kingly guilt. Now, this change was
[11:59] Speaker 1: not an attempt to fool anyone into thinking she was male.
[12:02] Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. In fact, she was not pretending
[12:06] Speaker 1: to be a man at all. It wasn't like she
[12:08] Speaker 1: was doing some kind of cross-dressing or something like this.
[12:13] Speaker 1: but rather she was presenting herself in the only acceptable
[12:16] Speaker 1: image of a pharaoh that the Egyptians recognized, that of
[12:21] Speaker 1: a divine king, traditionally male. It was a calculated and
[12:28] Speaker 1: brilliant use of imagery, set to legitimize her unprecedented rule.
[12:35] Speaker 1: And so she buttressed her claim to the throne with
[12:37] Speaker 1: a narrative of divine and royal approval. Of course, she
[12:42] Speaker 1: had all the nobles on her side, people high up
[12:46] Speaker 1: in high places. Certainly helps grease the wheels, doesn't it?
[12:51] Speaker 1: In the temple of Karnak, and at her magnificent mortuary
[12:54] Speaker 1: temple at Deir el-Bahri, she commissioned reliefs to tell her story.
[13:00] Speaker 1: In one inscription, purportedly the words of her father, Thutmose I, proclaims,
[13:05] Speaker 1: This daughter of mine, Hatshepsut, I have appointed as my
[13:10] Speaker 1: successor upon the throne. She shall lead you. Obey her words. Well,
[13:19] Speaker 1: it all sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But whether Thutmose
[13:22] Speaker 1: actually designated Hatshepsut as heir is pretty doubtful. It would
[13:29] Speaker 1: have been, if he did, extremely unusual. But the inscription
[13:35] Speaker 1: served its purpose as the propaganda needed at the time,
[13:38] Speaker 1: retroactively giving her a father's blessing. But even more dramatically,
[13:44] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut actually asserted that the god Amun himself chose her.
[13:51] Speaker 1: In the Oracle of Amun at Karnak, priests announced the
[13:54] Speaker 1: god's divine endorsement of her kingship. Hatshepsut later had this
[13:59] Speaker 1: divine degree carved in stone. The words go as follows. Welcome,
[14:05] Speaker 1: my sweet daughter, my favorite, the king of upper and
[14:10] Speaker 1: lower Egypt, Matkareh. Hatshepsut. Thou art Pharaoh, taking possession of
[14:17] Speaker 1: the two lands. By emphasizing both her earthly father's will
[14:22] Speaker 1: and the heavenly father's decree, well, she crafted an unassailable
[14:28] Speaker 1: legitimacy for herself. It's one thing to go against the
[14:31] Speaker 1: old Pharaoh. It's another thing to go against the gods themselves.
[14:36] Speaker 1: Who can argue against that? And so, It wasn't like
[14:42] Speaker 1: she was seizing the throne by force. It was put
[14:45] Speaker 1: across that she was simply fulfilling a destiny ordained by
[14:50] Speaker 1: the divine and her royal lineage. Well, as a pharaoh,
[14:58] Speaker 1: she maintained the balance of identities. She was a woman, sure,
[15:02] Speaker 1: but also the son of Ra, and is one of
[15:06] Speaker 1: the pharaoh's traditional titles. In inscription she sometimes used feminine grammar,
[15:12] Speaker 1: and sometimes masculine when referring to herself. One text proudly
[15:17] Speaker 1: toggles between calling her His Majesty and Her Majesty, highlighting
[15:23] Speaker 1: that Hatshepsut embodied both king and queen. In one poetic
[15:27] Speaker 1: scene carved at Deir el-Bahri, the god Gnum is shown
[15:32] Speaker 1: fashioning a child on a potter's wheel. And that child
[15:36] Speaker 1: is the baby Hatshepsut. Amun proclaims he will raise her
[15:42] Speaker 1: to be the ruler of Egypt. This divine birth myth
[15:46] Speaker 1: reinforced that Hatshepsut was not just a woman who managed
[15:49] Speaker 1: to become king, but she was meant to become king.
[15:53] Speaker 1: No arguments. And so, by year seven of young Thutmose's reign,
[15:59] Speaker 1: around 1473, there was really no turning back. Egypt had
[16:06] Speaker 1: two pharaohs on the throne. but it was obvious who
[16:11] Speaker 1: was the dominant. And so, once Hatshepsut had secured her kingship,
[16:18] Speaker 1: Egypt entered into a period of internal development and relative peace.
[16:24] Speaker 1: Later chroniclers and historians concur that her reign was marked
[16:27] Speaker 1: by prosperity and general peace too. While her predecessors, Thutmose
[16:33] Speaker 1: I and her successor, Thutmose III, are famous for their
[16:36] Speaker 1: military conquests, Hatshepsut had a little bit of a different strategy.
[16:41] Speaker 1: She focused on economic growth, monumental architecture, and rebuilding the
[16:46] Speaker 1: foundations of Egypt's wealth. She understood that a successful pharaoh
[16:51] Speaker 1: maintained mart, order, and justice, that is, not only by
[16:56] Speaker 1: victory in battle, but by feeding the gods and the
[16:59] Speaker 1: people through prosperity. One of the greatest achievements of Hatshepsut's
[17:05] Speaker 1: reign was the expedition to the land of Punt. the
[17:09] Speaker 1: trading voyage that she herself commemorated in detail on the
[17:12] Speaker 1: walls of her temple. Now, you might not have heard
[17:16] Speaker 1: of Punt, and we're not exactly sure where it was.
[17:21] Speaker 1: We have a bit of an idea. Modern scholarship sort
[17:25] Speaker 1: of places it on the Red Sea coast, in what
[17:28] Speaker 1: is now Somalia or Etruria. Well, either way, it was
[17:32] Speaker 1: a far-off and exotic land, rich in treasures that Egypt wanted.
[17:38] Speaker 1: You're talking all the old, ancient staples. Myrrh, frankincense, ivory, ebony, gold, incense.
[17:48] Speaker 1: Exotic animals, too. And much more. So, around the ninth
[17:55] Speaker 1: year of Hatshepsut's reign, she ordered a fleet of ships
[17:59] Speaker 1: to be sent down the Nile to the Red Sea
[18:00] Speaker 1: and beyond. Now, this was daring. Earlier pharaohs, sure, they'd
[18:05] Speaker 1: trade it with punt. but such large-scale voyages like this
[18:09] Speaker 1: were rare. Well, when the delegation returned, their pockets were full,
[18:16] Speaker 1: fabulous riches. Thirty-one live myrrh trees were brought back and
[18:23] Speaker 1: planted in the gardens of Deir el-Bahri, an astonishing feat,
[18:27] Speaker 1: transplanting foreign trees into Egyptian soil. The reliefs vividly depict
[18:33] Speaker 1: the people of Punt, including the Queen of Punt, identified
[18:37] Speaker 1: as Queen Arty, who was shown with notable obesity and
[18:41] Speaker 1: fonds of skin. An unvarnished, pretty realistic portrayal that still
[18:47] Speaker 1: intrigues the viewer today, it's really something to see. Alongside
[18:51] Speaker 1: the Queen are huts on stilts, incense trees being loaded
[18:56] Speaker 1: onto Egyptian ships, and joyful Egyptians carrying away their treasure.
[19:03] Speaker 1: This successful expedition not only provided Egypt with precious goods,
[19:07] Speaker 1: but it also proclaimed Hatshepsut's reach as a ruler. She
[19:12] Speaker 1: could obtain the bounties of far lands without having to
[19:16] Speaker 1: wage war to get them. Instead of stealing them and looting,
[19:23] Speaker 1: she could just talk and make a deal. What a
[19:28] Speaker 1: novel idea. And so the treasures of Punt had practical
[19:33] Speaker 1: and symbolic value. Aschepsut was especially interested in incense and myrrh,
[19:39] Speaker 1: which were used in temple rituals to please the gods.
[19:42] Speaker 1: She even found a personal use for one exotic import, frankincense,
[19:47] Speaker 1: the aromatic resin. According to later reports, she ground charred
[19:51] Speaker 1: frankincense into coal eyeliner, making hers the first recorded use
[19:59] Speaker 1: of the resin in cosmetics. We can imagine the Queen
[20:04] Speaker 1: Pharaoh at her dressing table, applying this luxurious eye-paint. its
[20:09] Speaker 1: smoky scent, a reminder of her expedition's success. And such
[20:15] Speaker 1: anecdotes kind of humanise her, don't you think? Blending that
[20:19] Speaker 1: opulence with a bit of piety. Either way, the message
[20:24] Speaker 1: was clear. Under Hatshepsut, Egypt was wealthy. The gods were happy,
[20:31] Speaker 1: for she could shower the temples with incense, myrrh and gold,
[20:35] Speaker 1: thanks to this divine favour. But parallel to economic ventures,
[20:41] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut invested heavily in monumental construction. She was one of
[20:45] Speaker 1: the most prolific builders in Egyptian history. Everywhere across Egypt,
[20:51] Speaker 1: she left her mark in stone, from the delta in
[20:54] Speaker 1: the north to Nubia in the south. At Karnak Temple
[20:59] Speaker 1: in Thebes, the great sanctuary of Amun, Hatshepsut erected two
[21:04] Speaker 1: towering obelisks to honour the god. These obelisks were feats
[21:09] Speaker 1: of engineering. Each was about thirty metres high, nearly a
[21:13] Speaker 1: hundred feet, and weighed an estimated three hundred and fifty tons.
[21:19] Speaker 1: Garbed from pink Aswan granite, they gleamed with a cap
[21:23] Speaker 1: of electrum, a gold-silver alloy at the top, always catching
[21:28] Speaker 1: the sun's rays. One inscription on the obelisks has Hatshepsut
[21:34] Speaker 1: marvelling at her own achievement. the quarrying, transport, and putting
[21:39] Speaker 1: it up all accomplished, just within seven months. A remarkably
[21:44] Speaker 1: short time, that's for sure, especially back then. In that
[21:48] Speaker 1: text she speaks to the future onlookers with pride and caution. Quote, Truly,
[21:56] Speaker 1: my heart turns this way and that, concerning with what
[21:59] Speaker 1: people will say, who shall see my monument years later,
[22:04] Speaker 1: Beware of saying, I do not know why it was made. Interesting, huh?
[22:11] Speaker 1: We hear the voice of a ruler, who knew that
[22:14] Speaker 1: what she was doing was unusual. She explicitly urges posterity
[22:20] Speaker 1: not to underestimate her. These obelisks, as she put it,
[22:24] Speaker 1: a mountain of fine gold, were made to stand the
[22:28] Speaker 1: test of time and glorify Amun. Showing the sheet, too,
[22:32] Speaker 1: was a legitimate pharaoh. Indeed, one of these Karnak obelisks
[22:37] Speaker 1: still stands today, the tallest ancient obelisk still standing in Egypt. Now,
[22:43] Speaker 1: if that's not a testament to skillful engineering, I don't
[22:46] Speaker 1: know what is. But undoubtedly, the crowning architectural glory is
[22:58] Speaker 1: her mortuary temple at Deir al-Bahri, known in ancient time
[23:03] Speaker 1: as Jesser, Jesseru, the Holy of Holies. Nestled against the
[23:09] Speaker 1: limestone cliffs on the west bank of Thebes, the temple
[23:12] Speaker 1: is a masterpiece of design. Its three terraces rise gradually,
[23:18] Speaker 1: connected by ramps adorned with colonnades of elegant square pillars.
[23:22] Speaker 1: Design was coordinated by Senen Mut, Hatshepsut's chief architect and confidant,
[23:29] Speaker 1: and it was unlike any other temple of its time.
[23:32] Speaker 1: On the walls of Deir al-Bahri, Hatshepsut had carved the
[23:36] Speaker 1: grand narratives of her reign, the story of her divine birth,
[23:40] Speaker 1: where the god Amun and her mother Ahmose conceive her,
[23:45] Speaker 1: and the gods Khnum and Heket form and bless the child,
[23:51] Speaker 1: her coronation with the gods, and her earthly father affirming
[23:54] Speaker 1: her right to rule, and the great expedition to bond
[23:57] Speaker 1: with all of its wonders. In effect, The temple's artwork
[24:02] Speaker 1: was Hatshepsut's autobiography in stone, written for the gods and
[24:07] Speaker 1: for eternity. Pilgrims and priests, and plenty of them, visiting
[24:14] Speaker 1: the sanctuary would see these scenes and understand that Amun
[24:18] Speaker 1: himself cherished this pharaoh. The temple also served as a
[24:23] Speaker 1: place of worship for Hatshepsut's cult after her death and
[24:27] Speaker 1: honoured Amun and other deities. Its harmonious architecture, aligned to
[24:32] Speaker 1: the winter solstice sunrise, reflected Hatshepsut's reign. Ordered. Prosperous. In
[24:40] Speaker 1: balance with cosmic order. In balance with March. Beyond Thebes,
[24:47] Speaker 1: she commissioned building projects throughout Egypt. At Beni Hassan in
[24:51] Speaker 1: Middle Egypt, she built a rock-cut temple, Speos Artemidos, dedicated
[24:56] Speaker 1: to the lioness goddess Paget. On its architrave, Hatshepsut left
[25:02] Speaker 1: a powerful message about her rule. She famously denounced the
[25:06] Speaker 1: recently expelled Hyksos, foreign Semitic rulers who had occupied northern
[25:13] Speaker 1: Egypt in the previous era, and praised herself for restoring
[25:19] Speaker 1: Egypt's temples too. Quote, I have raised up that which
[25:25] Speaker 1: was in ruins. I restored that which was destroyed. This statement,
[25:32] Speaker 1: bold and concise, shows Hatshepsut positioning herself as a restorer
[25:36] Speaker 1: of tradition. She claims to have rebuilt what the Asiatics
[25:40] Speaker 1: had wrecked, a reference to damage or neglect due in
[25:44] Speaker 1: the Hyksos period a century before. Now, by invoking the
[25:53] Speaker 1: past chaos and her role in fixing it, Hatshepsut legitimized
[25:58] Speaker 1: her unusual kingship as a return to normalcy and divine favor. Indeed,
[26:03] Speaker 1: she carried out many restoration works. For example, she refurbished
[26:07] Speaker 1: the precinct of Mutetkanak, a venerable temple that had been
[26:12] Speaker 1: ravaged in earlier turbulent times. Each restored shrine or new
[26:18] Speaker 1: chapel was enough a brick in the edifice of her
[26:21] Speaker 1: right to rule. So to administer her ambitious projects, She
[26:27] Speaker 1: relied on a cadre of skilled and loyal officials. The
[26:31] Speaker 1: royal steward, Senenmut, is a standout figure. Rising from a
[26:36] Speaker 1: non-royal background, he became one of Hatshepsut's closest advisors. He
[26:41] Speaker 1: supervised major building works, including the Deir el-Bahri temple, and
[26:46] Speaker 1: was tutor to Princess Neferude, indicating the queen's deep trust
[26:51] Speaker 1: in him. Senenmut's name appears on over twenty statues. and
[26:57] Speaker 1: he was allowed to carve a humble graffito of himself
[26:59] Speaker 1: standing before Hatshepsut's names in a niche at Ashwan. Such
[27:05] Speaker 1: privileges were pretty extraordinary, fueling later speculation, of course, that
[27:11] Speaker 1: the two may have shared a special relationship. Well, well,
[27:18] Speaker 1: whether they were lovers or not, that remains unknown. The
[27:23] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut nor Senenmut left any explicit records of that, but
[27:29] Speaker 1: you have to note the close association. But other officials,
[27:34] Speaker 1: like Hapuseneb, the high priest of Amun and Vizier, and Nessie,
[27:40] Speaker 1: who led the Punt expedition, they also had key roles.
[27:44] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut surrounded herself with the most talented people she could find,
[27:48] Speaker 1: who had served her father and husband. and has ensured
[27:52] Speaker 1: continuity and loyalty. The government of Egypt ran effectively under
[27:58] Speaker 1: her guidance. There's no records of revolt or crisis in
[28:02] Speaker 1: her time, and that's a pretty good achievement. In fact,
[28:08] Speaker 1: one of her proud inscriptions declares, I have no enemies
[28:12] Speaker 1: in all lands, all foreign lands are my subjects. A
[28:17] Speaker 1: typical royal hyperbole, perhaps. but given the stability of her era,
[28:22] Speaker 1: it might not actually be far off. Well, militarily, her
[28:28] Speaker 1: reign was not completely devoid of activity. Though she did
[28:32] Speaker 1: not personally lead conquests on the scale of other pharaohs,
[28:36] Speaker 1: Egyptian armies did campaign during her lifetime, possibly under the
[28:42] Speaker 1: nominal command of Thutmose III or her generals. There is
[28:47] Speaker 1: evidence suggesting a minor campaign in Nubia, early in her reign,
[28:50] Speaker 1: for instance, briefs its sale, and an inscription by an
[28:55] Speaker 1: official named Tai, indicate an action in the twelfth year
[28:59] Speaker 1: that could correspond to Hatshepsut's rule. She also sent the
[29:04] Speaker 1: expeditions to the Sinai to mine for turquoise, and to
[29:08] Speaker 1: Byblos in Lebanon to secure cedar wood. These were routine
[29:12] Speaker 1: missions to protect and enhance Egypt's resources, notably ancient writers
[29:17] Speaker 1: like Manetho, And later, Josephus did not attribute any wars
[29:23] Speaker 1: to Hatshepsut, whom they called Amasis, reinforcing the view that
[29:27] Speaker 1: her reign was largely peaceful. Well, far from being a
[29:33] Speaker 1: warrior king, Hatshepsut was a strategist. She kept Egypt's borders secure.
[29:40] Speaker 1: likely through forts and diplomacy, while focusing on economic enlargement
[29:44] Speaker 1: and spiritual legitimacy at home. This peace dividend benefited the
[29:49] Speaker 1: common people too. Agriculture and trade flourished when soldiers were
[29:54] Speaker 1: not off fighting distant wars. For about 22 years, Hatshepsut,
[30:01] Speaker 1: and Thutmose III officially co-reigned. But she was clearly the
[30:07] Speaker 1: senior partner until the end of her life. Egypt enjoyed continuity.
[30:13] Speaker 1: The young king grew up in the background, presumably receiving
[30:16] Speaker 1: military training, while his stepmother-slash-aunt managed the state affairs. Thutmose
[30:23] Speaker 1: III as an adult must have recognized Hatshepsut's effective rule.
[30:27] Speaker 1: Later evidence even suggests he named a daughter after her,
[30:30] Speaker 1: though this is debated. Certainly he did not attempt to
[30:34] Speaker 1: overthrow her, and appeared content to just wait his turn.
[30:40] Speaker 1: But Hatshepsut, for her part, taught him carefully. He wasn't
[30:45] Speaker 1: under house arrest. He was learning how to be a
[30:49] Speaker 1: very good soldier. This arrangement was perhaps mutually beneficial. Egypt
[30:56] Speaker 1: got a seasoned leader in Hatshepsut, and by the time
[30:59] Speaker 1: Thutmose III took sole charge, he was a mature and
[31:04] Speaker 1: experienced man, ready to embark on his famous military campaigns.
[31:13] Speaker 1: In the 22nd year of Thutmose's reign, around 1458, Hatshepsut
[31:19] Speaker 1: seems to disappear from the historical record. So it's presumed
[31:24] Speaker 1: that she died around that time. Astarte Massé III began
[31:28] Speaker 1: counting his reign as sole pharaoh. At that time, she
[31:34] Speaker 1: may have been in her mid-forties or fifties. Ancient Egyptian
[31:38] Speaker 1: records are pretty silent on the cause of her death.
[31:41] Speaker 1: No dramatic tales, no obvious foul play. Just silence. For
[31:47] Speaker 1: a long time, her end was shrouded in mystery. But
[31:52] Speaker 1: this is where modern science comes in and gives us
[31:55] Speaker 1: a few little clues about her final days. Now, when
[32:00] Speaker 1: I say modern, let's start in 1903. That still counts
[32:05] Speaker 1: as modern when you're talking about things that happened 3,000
[32:08] Speaker 1: years ago. In 1903, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered an undecorated tomb,
[32:15] Speaker 1: KV60 in the Valley of the Kings, containing two female mummies,
[32:21] Speaker 1: one of which was later suspected to be Hatshepsut. Small
[32:27] Speaker 1: bogs found in a different tomb cage bore Hatshepsut's name
[32:31] Speaker 1: and contained a molar tooth. In 2007, researchers led by Dr.
[32:37] Speaker 1: Zahi Hawass matched that tooth to the jaw of the
[32:41] Speaker 1: unidentified mummy from KV-60, strongly suggesting that it was indeed
[32:47] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut's remains. Testing of the mummy provided a poignant insight, too.
[32:54] Speaker 1: She likely died of natural causes, specifically illness. She appears
[32:58] Speaker 1: to have suffered from bone cancer, and, intriguingly, a toxic substance, benzopyrine,
[33:05] Speaker 1: were found, possibly from a skin lotion in her possession.
[33:09] Speaker 1: It seems the queen had chronic skin conditions, perhaps eczema
[33:14] Speaker 1: or psoriasis, and was using a salve or cosmetic treatment
[33:17] Speaker 1: to soothe it. Unbeknownst to her, the remedy contained carcinogenic chemicals,
[33:24] Speaker 1: likely derived from tar or creosote, that could cause cancer.
[33:29] Speaker 1: Thus Hatshepsut may have inadvertently poisoned herself with her skincare routine.
[33:34] Speaker 1: A pretty tragic footnote. The very cosmetics she loved might
[33:39] Speaker 1: have led to her demise. The mummy also showed that
[33:44] Speaker 1: she was overweight, had poor dental health, as one tooth
[33:49] Speaker 1: was lost, causing an abscess, and also had arthritis. And
[33:55] Speaker 1: this paints a humanising picture. Hatshepsut in her last years,
[33:59] Speaker 1: perhaps plagued by diabetes or discomfort, trying to ease her
[34:04] Speaker 1: ailments while still running an empire. Well, ultimately she succumbed,
[34:10] Speaker 1: and the throne passed without upheaval to Tatmose III, the
[34:14] Speaker 1: junior co-king, who'd waited for decades. A chipset was likely
[34:20] Speaker 1: buried in the royal tomb she had prepared. Initially, she
[34:24] Speaker 1: had a grand tomb, that being KV 20, where she
[34:27] Speaker 1: reinterred her beloved father Tatmosei to lie beside her. But
[34:32] Speaker 1: sometime after her death, her mummy was moved for safekeeping
[34:36] Speaker 1: to a cache with other royal mummies, which preserved it
[34:40] Speaker 1: until modern times. After her death, Something interesting occurred. Later
[34:51] Speaker 1: rulers tried to erase her from history. For a pharaoh
[34:56] Speaker 1: who had glorified her achievements in stone, the backlash came
[35:00] Speaker 1: in stone chisels as well. Sometime in the late reign
[35:05] Speaker 1: of Thutmose III, and especially under his son Amenhotep II,
[35:10] Speaker 1: they began a systematic campaign to remove her name and
[35:13] Speaker 1: images from monuments. Her royal cartouches, were chiseled off walls,
[35:19] Speaker 1: her status dragged down and smashed, and her monuments usurped
[35:22] Speaker 1: or hidden. Oh, and by the way, cartouche is a
[35:27] Speaker 1: French word, the old word for bullet. Not sure if
[35:30] Speaker 1: they still use it, but you will see inscriptions in
[35:34] Speaker 1: Egyptian monuments that are kind of encased in these bullet-shaped frames.
[35:40] Speaker 1: So the French archaeologists dubbed them cartouches, just so you know. Well,
[35:48] Speaker 1: back to it. For example, at Deir el-Bahri, many of
[35:52] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut's statues were torn down and buried in a pit.
[35:57] Speaker 1: They remained hidden until they were finally excavated in the
[36:00] Speaker 1: 20th century. What a find that was. And on the walls,
[36:05] Speaker 1: the carved figure of Hatshepsut was often deliberately scratched out
[36:09] Speaker 1: or replaced by figures of Thutmose II or III. In
[36:14] Speaker 1: one scene, you can see two cartouches side by side,
[36:17] Speaker 1: where her name was erased while Thutmose III was left
[36:20] Speaker 1: completely intact. At Karnak, one of her obelisks was literally
[36:27] Speaker 1: encased inside a high wall of masonry, concealing its inscriptions,
[36:33] Speaker 1: and incidentally, and ironically, protecting it through the ages. In
[36:39] Speaker 1: other places, her names were overwritten by male pronouns, or
[36:44] Speaker 1: even the names of her father It was as if
[36:48] Speaker 1: her reign was an aberration that later kings felt compelled
[36:51] Speaker 1: to blot out. Now this has a Latin term, damnatio memoriae,
[36:59] Speaker 1: which is the condemnation of memory. It was highly unusual
[37:03] Speaker 1: for a pharaoh who had not been a tyrant or
[37:05] Speaker 1: a usurper from outside the royal family. I mean, you
[37:09] Speaker 1: would accept it for something like Akhenaten, or typically for
[37:14] Speaker 1: hated figures or those deemed illegitimate. Akhenaten was about a
[37:19] Speaker 1: century later. So why exactly was Hatshepsut targeted? Well, ancient
[37:26] Speaker 1: Egyptians never wrote down the reasons for the erasures directly,
[37:30] Speaker 1: but there's a few modern theories. The most straightforward one
[37:36] Speaker 1: is political expediency. The existence of a successful female king
[37:41] Speaker 1: didn't really fit the narrative that the Thutmoseid men wanted
[37:45] Speaker 1: to portray. That's a little bit too simplistic, I think.
[37:50] Speaker 1: Either way, Thutmose III had become a mighty conqueror in
[37:53] Speaker 1: his own right after Hatshepsut's death, and his son, Amenhotep II,
[37:59] Speaker 1: was keen to secure his succession. To these male rulers,
[38:03] Speaker 1: perhaps acknowledging Hatshepsut as a full pharaoh might diminish the
[38:07] Speaker 1: strictly patriarchal tradition of kingship by erasing her. They could
[38:14] Speaker 1: claim a direct line of male descent from Tatmese I, II,
[38:18] Speaker 1: III to Amenhotep, without the interlude of a female co-regent. Indeed,
[38:25] Speaker 1: Amenhotep II went further. He not only usurped many of
[38:29] Speaker 1: Hatshepsut's accomplishments, carving his own name on her works, which
[38:33] Speaker 1: is pretty cheeky, but he also deliberately downplayed powerful women
[38:38] Speaker 1: in his reign. He omitted the names of his own
[38:42] Speaker 1: royal mothers and wives from official records, and temporarily abolished
[38:47] Speaker 1: titles like God's Wife of Amun, titles that had given
[38:52] Speaker 1: women like Hatshepsut influence. Now, this suggests that Hatshepsut's example
[38:58] Speaker 1: was troubling enough that a course correction was needed in
[39:02] Speaker 1: the ideology of kingship, but it certainly sounds like more
[39:06] Speaker 1: of an Amenhotep problem than anything else. There is another angle,
[39:14] Speaker 1: personal grudge, long theorized as Datma Sey III's revenge. For
[39:20] Speaker 1: many years the dominant story was that once Hatshepsut died,
[39:24] Speaker 1: Thutmose III, waiting in the wings, finally unleashed decades of
[39:30] Speaker 1: pent-up resentment. He allegedly ordered her memory wiped out in
[39:35] Speaker 1: a fit of anger to show who was the true
[39:39] Speaker 1: king at last. Years of living in the shadow didn't
[39:44] Speaker 1: do him very well. Early twentieth-century Egyptologists dramatize this as
[39:50] Speaker 1: an almost Shakespearean revenge tale, with Dutmose depicted as the
[39:55] Speaker 1: wronged stepson. One scholar in 1950 described Hatshepsut as the
[40:01] Speaker 1: vilest type of usurper, and imagined Dutmose III harboring a
[40:08] Speaker 1: loathing for her, her name, and her very memory. However,
[40:16] Speaker 1: modern research has cast a bit of doubt on this,
[40:19] Speaker 1: admittedly simplistic view. Notably, the erasures did not begin immediately
[40:24] Speaker 1: upon Hatshepsut's death, but about twenty years later, and that
[40:29] Speaker 1: was pretty much the end of Thutmose III's reign. So
[40:33] Speaker 1: if revenge was the motive, it seems, oddly delayed. Why
[40:38] Speaker 1: wait twenty years? It doesn't make sense. Moreover, Thutmose III
[40:44] Speaker 1: had worked closely with Hatshepsut for years, and benefited from
[40:47] Speaker 1: the stable kingdom she maintained. During her life he showed
[40:51] Speaker 1: no open hostility, but on the contrary, he actually named
[40:56] Speaker 1: one of his daughters Hatshepsut. That added indicates some respect,
[41:01] Speaker 1: or at least normal relations. When Hatshepsut died, he gave
[41:07] Speaker 1: her a king's burial rites. Now those facts certainly suggest
[41:12] Speaker 1: that the erasure was less about a personal vendetta, about
[41:16] Speaker 1: calculated cold political decision perhaps made when Amenhotep II became
[41:21] Speaker 1: co-regent toward the end of Thutmose III's life. In other words,
[41:27] Speaker 1: those in power decided to reinforce the more conventional narrative
[41:32] Speaker 1: that Egypt had male rulers. Hatshepsut's images, in her unique
[41:38] Speaker 1: combination of queenly and kingly form, didn't really fit that narrative,
[41:42] Speaker 1: so they had to go. But the erasure was thorough,
[41:48] Speaker 1: not total. Importantly, Hatshepsut was left out of all of
[41:52] Speaker 1: the later kings' lists. Kings' lists were official chronologies carved
[41:57] Speaker 1: in places like Abydos and Saqqara under later pharaohs. They
[42:01] Speaker 1: listed legitimate kings from the past. Hatshepsut's name is nowhere
[42:07] Speaker 1: to be found. The list jumps from Thutmose I to
[42:10] Speaker 1: II to III, as if she never existed. Later Egyptian
[42:18] Speaker 1: historians in the Greco-Roman period had only faint recollections of her.
[42:23] Speaker 1: For example, Manetho, an Egyptian priest writing in the 3rd
[42:27] Speaker 1: century BC, mentions a queen, Amesis or Amensis, who ruled
[42:33] Speaker 1: about 21 years, and identifies her as the sister of
[42:38] Speaker 1: Thutmose II. Well, of course, there's really no doubt that
[42:42] Speaker 1: this is Hatshepsut, surviving in fragmentary memory under a different name.
[42:50] Speaker 1: And then Josephus, the 1st century CE Jewish historian, likewise
[42:56] Speaker 1: records a female pharaoh from Manetho's history. But none of
[43:01] Speaker 1: these later writers really knew details. They didn't celebrate her
[43:05] Speaker 1: achievements either. The ancient erasers had largely succeeded within a
[43:10] Speaker 1: few generations. A Jephthah was forgotten. by the general populace
[43:15] Speaker 1: of Egypt. The great obelisks and temples she built were
[43:20] Speaker 1: either attributed to others or simply left to ruin. Of course,
[43:29] Speaker 1: her life and reign have fueled debates among scholars for
[43:32] Speaker 1: over a century. Ever since her story re-emerged from the ruins,
[43:37] Speaker 1: early Egyptologists, influenced by the attitudes of their own era,
[43:42] Speaker 1: often judged harshly or treated her reign as an anomaly
[43:46] Speaker 1: to be explained away. They cast her in this kind
[43:49] Speaker 1: of wicked stepmother role, I suppose, suggesting that she usurped
[43:55] Speaker 1: the throne for the rightful heir, Tatmase III. And so
[43:58] Speaker 1: in this view, she was power-hungry and scheming, and Tatmase's
[44:03] Speaker 1: later destruction of her legacy was seen as a justified revenge.
[44:09] Speaker 1: But more evidence came to light, and the narrative changed.
[44:15] Speaker 1: Recent research portrays Hatshepsut as not a wicked stepmother, but
[44:19] Speaker 1: almost like a Joan of Arc kind of figure, a
[44:23] Speaker 1: capable leader who stepped in to save Egypt's stability, and
[44:28] Speaker 1: then was later maligned by tradition. One discussion point is
[44:34] Speaker 1: whether Hatshepsut can truly be considered a usurper. It is
[44:39] Speaker 1: true that she assumed a role that traditionally would have
[44:42] Speaker 1: gone to Thutmose III once he came of age, but
[44:46] Speaker 1: consider the context. Egypt had seen female rulers before, like
[44:51] Speaker 1: Sobekneferu at the end of the 12th dynasty, when no
[44:55] Speaker 1: male heir was available. But in Hatshepsut's case, there was
[44:59] Speaker 1: a male heir, albeit a toddler, not going to get
[45:03] Speaker 1: much out of him, and so her actions can be
[45:07] Speaker 1: seen as an extension of her regency. Rather than abruptly
[45:10] Speaker 1: handling full control to Thutmose as a child, she gradually
[45:14] Speaker 1: transitioned from regent to co-king, likely because the elite of
[45:20] Speaker 1: Egypt were comfortable with her leadership, and the kingdom faced
[45:24] Speaker 1: no urgent need for a warrior king at that moment.
[45:28] Speaker 1: The fact that there was no recorded opposition to her
[45:32] Speaker 1: taking the throne suggests that her rule was accepted, and
[45:37] Speaker 1: perhaps even welcomed. The support of the Amun priesthood was
[45:42] Speaker 1: critical too. By backing her through oracles and public ceremonies,
[45:46] Speaker 1: they gave her religious legitimacy. And in return, she lavished
[45:51] Speaker 1: the temples with gifts and buildings. And so her reign
[45:56] Speaker 1: can be seen as a collaborative arrangement among the Egyptian establishment.
[46:01] Speaker 1: The alternative might have been a power struggle, dominance of
[46:04] Speaker 1: a clique around the boy king. Instead, Hatshepsut provided a
[46:10] Speaker 1: strong central leadership that ensured that Thutmose III was safe
[46:15] Speaker 1: and received proper training. Thutmose's later brilliant career as a conqueror,
[46:22] Speaker 1: sometimes even called the Napoleon of ancient Egypt, might not
[46:26] Speaker 1: have been possible without Hatshepsut's stewardship in his youth. During
[46:31] Speaker 1: her time, he likely led her armies on a few
[46:35] Speaker 1: minor campaigns and, certainly learned statecraft, and there is even
[46:40] Speaker 1: evidence that Hatshepsut allowed him to assume some visible roles.
[46:45] Speaker 1: For example, his name appears alongside hers on some monuments
[46:49] Speaker 1: from her later years, and he may have built up
[46:51] Speaker 1: a loyal military following, ready for his sole rule. It
[46:57] Speaker 1: undermines the idea that she tried to permanently supplant him,
[47:01] Speaker 1: that's for sure. Instead, it appears that she intended a
[47:05] Speaker 1: joint rule, where eventually Thutmose III would seamlessly continue after her.
[47:12] Speaker 1: And in the end, that is exactly what happened. When
[47:17] Speaker 1: she passed away, Egypt carried on without missing a beat
[47:22] Speaker 1: under the leadership of Thutmose III. If she had been
[47:27] Speaker 1: a tyrant or a usurper against the general will, one
[47:32] Speaker 1: might have expected some kind of civil conflict at the
[47:35] Speaker 1: transfer of power, but There was none. And another debate
[47:41] Speaker 1: centers on Hatshepsut's gender and how she presented herself. Did
[47:45] Speaker 1: she become a man to rule? Well, the evidence suggests
[47:51] Speaker 1: that while she adopted male symbolism, she never really hid
[47:55] Speaker 1: her female identity. It was all for show. Statues exist
[48:01] Speaker 1: with Hatshepsut in a feminine form. Breasts visible. wearing a
[48:06] Speaker 1: woman's dress and a king's crown, a visually jarring combination
[48:13] Speaker 1: that artisans tried to reconcile. In other reliefs, she is
[48:17] Speaker 1: flat-chested and depicted as an idealized male king. This duality
[48:23] Speaker 1: was likely understood by her subjects, who knew she was
[48:27] Speaker 1: a woman but, well, had to portray her as a pharaoh.
[48:32] Speaker 1: So they weren't really portraying her as a man, so
[48:34] Speaker 1: to speak, They were just portraying her as exactly that,
[48:38] Speaker 1: a pharaoh. And the pharaoh has to take a few
[48:42] Speaker 1: boxes aesthetically. Egyptian art was formulaic and symbolic. It was
[48:50] Speaker 1: not a literal portrait. And so by donning the symbols
[48:55] Speaker 1: of kingship, she was lining herself with the concept of
[48:59] Speaker 1: a pharaoh, which really had not much to do with gender,
[49:04] Speaker 1: I suppose. And she even emphasized her unique position as
[49:09] Speaker 1: a female king by sometimes using titles like Mistress of
[49:13] Speaker 1: the Two Lands, parallel to the Lord of the Two Lands.
[49:18] Speaker 1: I suppose the approach could be seen as a classic.
[49:20] Speaker 1: blend of innovation and tradition. She innovated by being a
[49:24] Speaker 1: female king, but she adhered to the tradition by performing
[49:28] Speaker 1: the role exactly how a male king would, so that
[49:33] Speaker 1: that divine order would not be disturbed by her overt femininity.
[49:40] Speaker 1: Modern observers have been pretty fascinated by Hatshepsut's choice to
[49:44] Speaker 1: wear a false beard. That ceremonial beard was a badge
[49:48] Speaker 1: of kingship, not specifically manhood. Interestingly, some statues of her
[49:54] Speaker 1: show the faint outline where the beard was attached separately,
[49:57] Speaker 1: meaning it was likely a removable accessory. In life, she
[50:03] Speaker 1: probably did not physically disguise herself. That beard was just
[50:09] Speaker 1: a part of ritual attire, much like the crown. And
[50:14] Speaker 1: we might compare it to a queen today, wearing a
[50:17] Speaker 1: crown or holding a scepter. It doesn't change her identity,
[50:20] Speaker 1: but it just signifies the office. Thus, Achebsut navigated her
[50:26] Speaker 1: role with what we might call symbolic androgyny. She was
[50:31] Speaker 1: both a king and a queen, daughter of Amun and
[50:34] Speaker 1: son of Amun. of course, is pretty unprecedented. Perhaps only
[50:40] Speaker 1: a culture as deeply conservative, yet symbolically rich as Egypt's,
[50:45] Speaker 1: could accommodate such a paradox. Well, it certainly gave later
[50:50] Speaker 1: chroniclers headaches. Some ancient scribes simply omitted mention to avoid
[50:56] Speaker 1: explaining the oddity. But now we view Hatshepsut's adaptation as
[51:03] Speaker 1: a testament to a political skill. Anecdotes and personal aspects
[51:08] Speaker 1: of her life also invite discussion. One popular topic is
[51:12] Speaker 1: her relationship with Senenmut. Senenmut was a commoner by birth,
[51:17] Speaker 1: and he rose to extraordinary heights under her chipset. He
[51:22] Speaker 1: held at least twenty titles, including Controller of All Works
[51:27] Speaker 1: of the King, basically Chief Architect, and was responsible for
[51:33] Speaker 1: educating her daughter Neferudeh granted him rare honours. He had
[51:39] Speaker 1: two tombs prepared for himself, one near hers, even beneath
[51:43] Speaker 1: the causeway of her temple, and statues depict him holding
[51:48] Speaker 1: Neferude in his arms, like a proud mentor or even
[51:52] Speaker 1: a surrogate parent. Such closeness between a pharaoh and a subject, well,
[51:58] Speaker 1: that inevitably leads to rumours. In a cave near Deir al-Bahri,
[52:03] Speaker 1: There is an old graffito that some have interpreted as
[52:07] Speaker 1: a crude sketch of a woman with pharaonic regalia being
[52:10] Speaker 1: intimate with a man, though it's not labelled. Speculation runs
[52:15] Speaker 1: wild that this was meant to lampoon Hatshepsut and Senenmut.
[52:21] Speaker 1: While we lack direct proof of a romance, the possibility
[52:24] Speaker 1: of love or partnership between them is a kind of
[52:27] Speaker 1: interesting subplot, a B-roll story in Hatshepsut's life. and even
[52:34] Speaker 1: if their relationship was purely professional, the trust and affection
[52:39] Speaker 1: she placed in this talented individual speaks once again to
[52:43] Speaker 1: her willingness to break norms at those rarely elevated non-royals
[52:48] Speaker 1: so high, and perhaps her need for a confidant in
[52:52] Speaker 1: a role that could be very lonely. Sinanmut mysteriously vanishes
[52:58] Speaker 1: from the record in Hatshepsut's late reign. Perhaps he died,
[53:03] Speaker 1: or fell out of favour shortly before she did. One
[53:08] Speaker 1: can imagine Hatshepsut in her final months, regardless of what
[53:13] Speaker 1: their relationship was, certainly might have missed his counsel. But
[53:19] Speaker 1: what of Neferude, her daughter? Well, she likely died before
[53:23] Speaker 1: reaching full adulthood, as she disappears from the records too,
[53:28] Speaker 1: possibly by Hatshepsut's sixteenth year or so. Hatshepsut had possibly
[53:34] Speaker 1: been grooming her as a future god's wife of Amun.
[53:38] Speaker 1: Or even as a royal heiress. There are, in fact,
[53:41] Speaker 1: depictions of Neferure in some kingly regalia as a child.
[53:46] Speaker 1: If Neferure had lived, might Hatshepsut have tried to establish
[53:51] Speaker 1: a female succession? Well, it's an interesting what-if scenario, I suppose.
[53:57] Speaker 1: But history had other plans. With Neferure gone, Hatshepsut's lineage
[54:03] Speaker 1: did not continue, and Thutmose III's line took over. Hatshepsut's
[54:09] Speaker 1: personal life thus had its share of sorrow, widowed early,
[54:15] Speaker 1: likely losing her only child, and ruling without a direct
[54:19] Speaker 1: heir of her own. Perhaps this, too, made it easier
[54:24] Speaker 1: for Thutmose III to later remove her name. There were
[54:29] Speaker 1: no descendants left to honour her memory or defend her legacy.
[54:36] Speaker 1: And so, that legacy experienced a grand resurrection in our
[54:39] Speaker 1: modern era. For over two millennia after her reign, she
[54:44] Speaker 1: was mostly forgotten. It wasn't until the 19th century, when
[54:49] Speaker 1: archaeologists and linguists deciphered hieroglyphs and began to study the
[54:54] Speaker 1: temples of Thebes, that clues to her existence finally emerged
[55:00] Speaker 1: Early scholars, like Jean-Francois Champollion, saw the name Marte Carré
[55:05] Speaker 1: in inscriptions and noted it referred to a female ruler.
[55:10] Speaker 1: In the 19th century, a temple at Deir el-Bahri was
[55:13] Speaker 1: cleared by explorers like Auguste Mariette and Édouard Naville, who
[55:17] Speaker 1: found reliefs with a female king. The realization slowly dawned
[55:24] Speaker 1: that this was the Amensis of Manetho. Hatshepsut had been rediscovered. However,
[55:34] Speaker 1: due to the victor's history, many statues of Hatshepsut were
[55:37] Speaker 1: found decapitated or buried, which made reconstructing her story kind
[55:43] Speaker 1: of like assembling a jigsaw puzzle that somebody's thrown on
[55:48] Speaker 1: the ground and stepped on a bunch of times. By
[55:53] Speaker 1: the early 20th century, Egyptologists like James Breasted, with William C. Hayes,
[55:59] Speaker 1: analyze the evidence and narratives, though sometimes with the biases
[56:03] Speaker 1: of their time, admittedly, hence Hay's harsh label of usurper.
[56:08] Speaker 1: But in recent decades, scholars have re-evaluated her with a
[56:12] Speaker 1: little bit more context, viewing her as a product of
[56:15] Speaker 1: her culture rather than an anomaly. Today, she's often celebrated
[56:22] Speaker 1: as a visionary leader, who sometimes held up as an
[56:25] Speaker 1: ancient example of a successful female ruler in a male-dominated society. Well,
[56:33] Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll find out much more about Hapshetsoot as
[56:37] Speaker 1: we continue to dig around in the dust. Hopefully, we'll
[56:41] Speaker 1: find something good soon. Now, let me thank my top
[56:46] Speaker 1: dear patrons and supporters. Dark, Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Ember, Susan, Cameron, Legitmus, Gary, Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edneer, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[57:05] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Shell, Wendy, Stark Factory, did I say Stark? Sorry, mate. Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin, HMSHH, Crystal,
[57:20] Speaker 1: and Talbury. Thank you so much. End with that. We
[57:25] Speaker 1: get to the end of our life. Of our chipsuit.
[57:29] Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed it. It was interesting, wasn't it? Well,
[57:35] Speaker 1: if you're out there, I hope you're nice and relaxed.
[57:37] Speaker 1: Perhaps you're already asleep. Perhaps you've finished your gardening. Perhaps you're,
[57:42] Speaker 1: I don't know, doing some other thing that is a
[57:46] Speaker 1: nice little relaxing activity to pair with this. Either way,
[57:53] Speaker 1: wherever you are, as always, Wish you good night. Lots
[57:56] Speaker 1: of love to you all. See you tomorrow.

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