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Hatshepsut
In what ways did Hatshepsut's gender affect her role as Pharaoh and her legacy?

Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh of Egypt in the 18th dynasty. Debatable whether her gender had any affect upon her role as pharaoh and her legacy. When exploring through Hatshepsut’s life before, after and during her time as pharaoh, we are able to decipher some truth behind whether or not her gender had any effect upon her career as king. Looking through her titles and images can give us some indication of how her gender limited her right to the throne. However her success as pharaoh can be measured through her building program, religious contributions, military expeditions and Egypt’s financial stability. Though other negative impacts due to her gender can be seen with in the legacy she left behind.
Hatshepsut was the daughter of the Pharaoh Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose. Around the age of twelve she was married to her half-brother Thutmose II, who became king when Thutmose I died around 1518 BC. Thutmose II reigned for around 14 years before he died in 1504 BC. Hatshepsut then became co-regent alongside Thutmose III who was Thutmose II’s and concubine Isis’s nine year old son. This was considered an ‘unprecedented’ situation as Hatshepsut was acting as regent for a child who was not biologically her own (Tyldesley, J, 1998). During this time Hatshepsut performed as the traditional princess, queen, wife and regent. She used the titles of King’s Daughter, King’s Sister, God’s Wife of Amun and King’s Great Wife (Tyldesley, J, 1998). However at some point Hatshepsut became the dominant pharaoh in the co-regency between herself and Thutmose III. There have been many assumed reasons why Hatshepsut wanted to claim the right as Pharaoh. The most common theory is that she simply desired to be king. Scholar Robins (1993) suggest she may have believed that she had more right to the throne than Thutmose III. A more recent theory suggests that Hatshepsut became pharaoh to help legitimise Thutmose III’s reign. While there are many theories as to why Hatshepsut decided to become a king, the truth will probably never be uncovered. The most captivating aspect of Hatshepsut’s rise to power is not the reason why she desired it but how she, a female was able to claim it. Women in Egypt achieved parity with Egyptian men, many other civilizations did not have such equality. Women had the same legal and economic rights, at least in theory, which can be found in Egyptian art and contemporary manuscripts. People's legal rights in Egypt were based on differences in social class rather than gender. Though Egyptian women were viewed as equal the question is was a female pharaoh accepted and did being a female affect Hatshepsut’s role as king (Tyldesley, 2015).
We are able to decipher this question through exploring Hatshepsut’s raise to power.

When Hatshepsut claimed the throne Thutmose III was only 12 years of age. It has been debated that Hatshepsut therefore had time to win over the support of important political officials, including Hapusoneb and Senenmut. This would ensure her steady rise to power. Tyldesley (1998) states ‘hers was a gradual evolution’. However the main reason why Hatshepsut was able to become pharaoh was through a large amount of propaganda. The propagandas’ main emphasis was on her relationship with her heavenly father Amun and her biological father Thutmose I. The Pharaoh of Egypt would usually proclaim themselves as being the physical son of the predominant god in Egypt (Bradley, P, 1999). Hatshepsut depicted this in her Devine Conception and Birth scenes on the Middle Colonnade at her mortuary temple, Deir el Bahri. However these accounts were different in that it involved, for the first time, the birth of a female ruler. The reliefs depict how Amun foretold the gods about the birth of the female Hatshepsut. It also portrays Amun taking on Thutmose I’s form and placing his ankh to queen Ahmose’s nose, where she breathes in his essence and conceive Hatshepsut. The god Khnum was instructed by Amun to make the khet and its ka on his potter’s wheel, where the royal baby Hatshepsut and her ka are shown as being male (Bradley, P, 1999). In these scenes she is promised all the land and people of Egypt by Anubis. Her coronation reliefs depict both Amun and Thutmose I claiming Hatshepsut as the next ruler of Egypt. The first scene shows Hatshepsut represented as a boy being purified and presented by Amun, before the gods. She then is shown visiting the shrines of the gods alongside Thutmose I, there the gods welcome her as the future king. Then is crowned by the gods and depicted in Thutmose I’s court where she is declared his successor. However these scenes are false, the dates of these events do not

correspond with the dates on her obelisks and it also completely ignore Thutmose II’s reign, but also the text had been stolen from the coronation of an earlier pharaoh Amenemhet III (Bradley, P, 1999). Due to the fact Hatshepsut was female who was not the rightful successor, it was probably considered a necessity in order to obtain the throne to depict the gods and the past Pharaoh claiming her as the rightful king of Egypt. Though the main concern here is why Hatshepsut was portrayed as male rather than female in her certain areas of her reliefs. It is possible Hatshepsut portrayed herself as a male to help her further ensure her role as pharaoh. This portrayal of a male image can be seen throughout Hatshepsut’s reign.