Devyani’s Social Studies Blog

This is the URL to my homework:

http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/19/homework-block-d-april-19/

Queen Hatshepsut

By Devyani Gupta

18^th Dynasty queen pharaoh, one of the most successful female rulers, yes, I am the one and only, Queen Hatshepsut! After my son, Thutmose III took over as pharaoh, I was absolutely forgotten, completely taken out of history! With a blink of an eye, I WAS GONE! But before that horrible tragedy, I was married to King Thutmose II. During my marriage and even after, I battled many challenges, created a lot of extraordinary sights, and was known EVERYWHERE!

I’m the fourth female pharaoh of Egyptian history. Though that may not seem so spectacular, because I was merely the fourth female pharaoh, it was very tough to be a woman and get into that position. Especially in 1473 B.C. which was during the 18^th dynasty. I am the daughter of the great Thutmose I and his chief wife, the beautiful, Queen Ahmose. I married my half-brother, King Thutmose II since we were madly in love! My stepson, Thutmose III, inherited the throne when my dear husband, Thutmose II unexpectedly expired. Since my stepson was too young, I got to be the temporary ruler so in other words, I was the ruler.

As the queen and pharaoh, I was one of the best known female rulers. (Next to Cleopatra). Only the women in Egypt carried royal blood which is why I carried the royal blood and to become a pharaoh, a man had to marry a woman of royal blood. Usually it was the eldest daughter of the previous pharaoh. And as pharaohs constructed monuments, they show on the monuments that it was constructed by them. My symbol for monuments that I construct is me shown as a man since I had to act like a man to be accepted as a pharaoh. Also, I built a great memorial temple (for myself) known today as Deir-el-Bahri. I ruled longer than any other female ruler and I was also one of the most successful.

I, as a ruler, made a lot of difference in peoples’ lives back then and accomplished a lot of goals such as encouraging trade. I also sent an expedition to the land of Punt (which is in the north-east coast of Africa) for ivory. I sponsored many, many, vast building programs at home and I built a small but unfinished tomb behind the Valley of Queens. But unfortunately, it was abandoned when I got married to Thutmose II and became queen. After having the longest reign of about 20 years, I apparently “disappeared” from history, because when Thutmose III became pharaoh, nobody cared about me anymore. This was probably because he changed all my registers and statues that had my name on it to “Thutmose I”, “Thutmose II”, or “Thutmose III!”

As I thought that I was married to King Thutmose II, he wasn’t actually King Thutmose II but the god, Amun. All this time the god, Amun had just taken the form of King Thutmose II. One day, Amun came into my room and I was sound asleep. He told me that he was actually the god Amun and not King Thutmose II. I woke up so suddenly hearing this breaking news. I wept for joy at his strength and beauty and he gave me his love. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. That was how I found out that my husband was no other than, God Amun. Though, that is only one of the answers to the questions lurking out there, there are still more. But those are for me to know, and you to find out.

This is a picture of Queen Hatshepsut:

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/e/egyptian/thumb/hatshepsut.jpg