S02E05 Hatshepsut

You can watch a video of this podcast here: https://youtu.be/Xz_x-QEli0Y Support the podcast and listen to bonus episodes: www.talklikeanegyptian.com/ Hatshepsut features in The Cursed Tomb, Iszi's historical fiction novel for 9+ https://amzn.eu/d/1g3QNOX In the 1820s scholars began to notice something strange in the inscriptions of the great temple of Deir el-Bahri - some of the royal names and titles appeared to be grammatically feminine. Eventually, it became clear that there had been a pharaoh, previously unknown, who was female. Her name was Hatshepsut. She was the mother-in-law of Thutmose III who came to the throne as a very young boy, and was later renowned as one of the great warriors of the 18th Dynasty. Hatshepsut had initially ruled the country on her son-in-law’s behalf as a regent but then she took the throne herself. For a long time this was seen as a dastardly power grab, but we now think Hatshepsut may have had no choice but to step up and become pharaoh as the country needed someone to play that role and she was best placed. In any case, not only has she become an icon of early female power, her reign was undoubtedly one of great achievements, in building, in particular her mortuary temple which is one of the greatest achievements of ancient Egyptian architecture, and in creating the myth of the divine birth of the pharaoh, which would endure for centuries.