During the time of Ancient Egypt, having strong Pharaohs was essential to the maintenance and growth of the civilization, as the Pharaohs were believed to be living Gods. Although leadership of Ancient Egypt was often male dominated, there were admirable female Pharaohs who successfully gained power and left behind a positive legacy; one woman to achieve this was Hatshepsut, meaning ‘foremost of female nobles’. Her innovation and determination allowed her to maintain her position of Pharaoh for about twenty years (1479-1458 BCE). Hatshepsut was considered to be a very successful leader because of her confidence and ambition, magnificent building projects, and establishment of a strong trading network.
An essential characteristic for being a great leader, consistent within many, is confidence. A person may have ideas, but for them to be carried out takes confidence in themselves to bring those ideas to reality. Hatshepsut portrayed herself as a very confident woman by taking the initiative to do things that only Pharaoh’s would commonly do, such as performing certain religious rituals, making offerings directly to the gods, and commissioning various building projects. These actions made it evident that she saw herself as important and powerful, and others soon believed this as well; she was considered as God’s wife of Amen and became a priestess in temple rituals. Hatshepsut also depicted herself as a male—she dressed in a kilt, crown, and wore an artificial beard. This clearly shows that she had great ambition to be King, as she took on the daring task of creating a false persona just so that she could reach her goal. Despite the typical male dominating society, Hatshepsut displayed confidence in herself that she could become ...
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... that she took great pride in the trading network she had further established.
Hatshepsut was born into a wealthy, educated family; however, she displayed qualities that are innate among most great leaders. She was courageous, ambitious, confident, and innovative. This allowed her to become the female Pharaoh during the 18th dynasty, and in a male dominating society, this was seen as an accomplishment among historians analyzing women in power. Hatshepsut’s will to adopt the role as Pharaoh prior to her reign portrays her as a strong, independent female leader. Her building projects and further establishment of trade had a positive impact on Ancient Egypt socially, economically, and intellectually by creating opportunity and further expanding their knowledge. Ultimately, Hatshepsut is considered to be a very successful and influential leader within Ancient history.
Hatshepsut, declared herself king during the reign of her stepson and nephew, Thutmose III. She adopted the full titulary of a pharaoh, and since this was traditionally a man’s role, she wore the nemes-headcloth, the shendyt-kilt and a fake beard as part of the ceremonial attire of the Egyptian king. This is portrayed in her life-size statue “White Hatshepsut” at the MET.
Hatshepsut’s reign especially leaves much to the scholar’s speculation and interpretation since little evidence is left. The reader must acknowledge how an author’s views may be construed by sexism and other concepts prevalent in their time. What these five authors imply about Hatshepsut’s personality and attitude concerning her political ascent, her usage of propaganda, and her achievements during that time all differ from each other, some more drastically than others. This certainly shows that when one reads of history, their research should span as far as possible in order to most accurately inform themselves of what truly happened; it is from there that they can formulate the best
Before Hatshepsut, there were other woman who attempted to rule over Egypt. Every time a woman came to power, there was some sort of problem that was left for them to solve. Unlike Hatshepsut, the other woman did not have any confidence to name themselves pharaoh and they did not grow up in the royal family like Hatshepsut did. In paragraph 13, it states, “A few women had tried to rule Egypt before, but never would search valid claim to the throne,” and, “These women had not ruled long or well and neither had had the audacity to proclaim herself pharaoh.” These quotes explain that Hatshepsut was recognized for taking power at a good time and not stepping
Hatshepsut stands apart for her historical legacy as opposed to Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Cleopatra looms large more for her romantic exploits than her historical legacy. One Egyptian queen stands apart, however: Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt for some two decades at the beginning of the fifteenth century B.C. A strong and effective pharaoh, she oversaw a cultural renaissance that influenced the arts in Egypt for more than a millennium” (Roehrig and Dreyfus
Robins, Gay. "The Names of Hatshepsut as King." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 85 (1999): 103-12. Jstore. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. .
Ancient Egypt is home to one of the greatest female pharaoh. Queen Hatshepsut. She was the first female pharaoh and did great things.
Was she the archetypal wicked stepmother, an unnatural and scheming woman ?of the most virile character who would deliberately abuse a position of trust to steal the throne from a defenceless child? (Gardiner, 1961:184)? Or was she ?an experienced and well-meaning woman who ruled amicably alongside her stepson, steering her country through twenty peaceful, prosperous years who deserves to be commemorated among the great monarchs of Egypt? (Budge, 1902:I)? According to biographer and historian Joyce Tyldesley, Queen or as she would prefer to be remembered, King Hatchepsut became the female embodiment of a male role, whose reign was a carefully balanced period of internal peace, foreign exploration and monument building (Tyldesley, 1996:1). This study will show that it was Hatshepsut the Pharaoh?s devotion to the god Amen and her protection of the maat of 18th Dynasty Egypt that allowed her to forge her successful New Kingdom regime.
Despite Tang empress of china, Wu Zetian, and Egypt’s Pharaoh Hatshepsut leadership being underrated and infamous, these two women had their similarities and differences during their reign, beginning from striving to achieve leadership and power and later ruling their respective empires. Wu Zetian, also known as Wu Zhao was a woman who strived to get what she desired and even used manipulation and violence for anyone who would cross her way. With stunning beauty and talent, Wu managed her way to the emperors’ side. Hatshepsut became emperor upon the death of her father claiming that her father wished for her to be the next pharaoh. These two notorious women brought out the best of their empires and provided a reign of gloriousness.
Hatshepsut was a queen at the age of 12, and became pharaoh after her husband died, and her son was too young to assume the throne. Her son, Thutmose III assumed the throne when he came of age. The queen died of bone cancer. She was most likely buried in mummification form. She was buried in KV60, Egypt, KV20, Egypt
Vanessa Davies’ “Hatshepsut’s Use of Tuthmosis III in Her Program of Legitimation,” discusses the relationship between Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III as co-regents. She explains how the study of subtle stylistic trends in the art of an era can give light to the political situation of that time. According to Davies, observance of these trends show that Hatshepsut respected Tuthmosis III as a co-regent, and showed this through the artworks she had commissioned. These include the Small Temple of Mediate Habu, the Chapelle Rouge at Karnak, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahiri, the Temple of Buhen,
Hatshepsut could be that pharaoh—even if she did happen to be a woman.” This evidence is from paragraph 12, and page 6. (Andronik) The lesson learned from that example is that although what Hatshepsut did was uncommon, it still brought Egypt wealth, meaning that if you take your chance it might be exceptional. Hatshepsut also showed her courageousness when she made herself look like a man to preserve and continue traditional order, and I think giving up her feminine side might’ve been hard for her.
This leads us to the structure of her body and how her body is depicted. As we know, King Hatshepsut is a female king who ruled during the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt. Though she was a female, she wears the regalia of a male. If you look at her chest she is depicted without female breasts. Since kingship was more known as a male office this could reason why the breast is not shown. Even though her portrait shows a lot of things a male king would be visualized as, her body is slightly different from male kings. The structure of her body is a lot smoother and feminine rather than the muscular young man body type that is depicted in many other portraits of other
She knew that in order to keep control of the crown, she had to have loyal followers and a strong relationship with her co-regent Thutmose III. To do this, many of her staff members were chosen from the lower middle classes instead of the upper class like they usually are in these situations. Making herself the cause of their wealth and happiness forged a strong allegiance between Hatshepsut and her subordinates. She often showered them with lavish gifts from faraway places like the previously mentioned Punt. When Thutmose III was seven or eight, Hatshepsut made the unusual move of crowning herself king. She shared that role with Thutmose III for the remainder of her life. Only two other women had previously served as pharaoh, and both for much briefer periods that Hatshepsut’s reign, which lasted some twenty-one years. Archaeological record has produced no evidence of strife between the co-regents and in fact, stone reliefs often portray them as twins, ruling in unison. She must have been incredibly diplomatic and an asset to the Crown to be kept on as co-king once Thutmose III came of
Around 69 B.C, one of the most famous female rulers ever known was born, she was Cleopatra. She was the descendent of the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy XII, and she would eventually become the queen of ancient Egypt herself. She was known for being extremely intelligent and very charming, and because of this many romans feared her and viewed her as a threat. When her father died the throne of Egypt was left to her and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, and rivalry formed between the two, making her even more determined to become the sole ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra had trained all her life to be the successor of Egypt, and she hungered for power.
In the sixth century B.C, the land that we now call Iran was the center of the largest empire in the world. The kings of Ancient Persia( such as Cyrus the Great) were the leaders of a great civilization that made amazing advances in laws, goverment and communication. Founded in 550 B.C by King Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire spanned from Egypt in the west to Turkey in the north, and through Mesopotamia to the Indus River in the east. Unlike most empires at that time, the Persian kings were benovelent rulers, and allowed a diverse variety of diffrent people with diffrent ethnic backgrounds. The Persian empire was split into three diffrent empires with three diffrent time periods but the first empire was called the Achaemenid Empire. It began with King Cyrus the Great and ended with King Darius III.