Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He would have had a motive because his position in the royal lineage was not so strong as to assure his elevation to pharaoh.

While it is clear that much of this rewriting of Hatshepsut’s history occurred only during the close of Thutmose III’s reign, it is not clear why it happened, other than the typical pattern of self-promotion that existed among the pharaohs and their administrators, or perhaps saving money by not building new monuments for the burial of Thutmose III and instead, using the grand structures built by Hatshepsut.Īmenhotep II, the son of Thutmose III, who became a co-regent toward the end of his father’s reign, is suspected by some as being the defacer during the end of the reign of a very old pharaoh. At Karnak, there even was an attempt to wall up her obelisks. Sarcophagus of Queen Hatshepsut recut for her father, Thutmose I.Īt the Deir el-Bahari temple, Hatshepsut’s numerous statues were torn down and in many cases, smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. It was designed and implemented by Senemut at a site on the West Bank of the Nile River near the entrance to what now is called the Valley of the Kings because of all the pharaohs who later chose to associate their complexes with the grandeur of hers. She built hers in a complex at Deir el-Bahri. It was lined with carved stones that depicted significant events in Hatshepsut’s life.įollowing the tradition of many pharaohs, the masterpiece of Hatshepsut’s building projects was a mortuary temple. She employed the great architect Ineni, who also had worked for her father, her husband, and for the royal steward Senemut.įollowing the tradition of most pharaohs, Hatshepsut had monuments constructed at the Temple of Karnak. Another project, Karnak’s Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally, may have stood between her two obelisks. Later pharaohs attempted to claim some of her projects as theirs. Arguably, her buildings were grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors’.

Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Statue of Hatshepsut on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hatshepsut was given a reign of about twenty-two years by ancient authors, assuming power as early as 1512 BC, or, as late as 1479 BC.

Part II: Read The Pharoah’s Secret by Marissa Moss for ages 8 and up.

Until I ran into her at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts…Īnd so I have a lesson plan around The Phaoah’s Secret in three parts: Sure, Hatshepsut is a real person but she’s from so long ago that she seems like a mythical person. When I read an action adventure fantasy that has time travel, it’s easy to believe that it’s just a made up story.

The Pharaoh's Secret by Marissa Moss