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ANCIENT SOAP OPERA REFUTED
by
Kathy Medbery
Hatshepsut was one of the most remarkable rulers in the history of Ancient Egypt. For anyone who values peace, she stands out as unique in the Eighteenth Dynasty full of warriors. Her reign offers evidence of great prosperity in its numerous and extensive building projects. This was the prosperity of peaceful trade, not conquest and the booty of war. She used this wealth for the renewal and renovation of sacred architectures through out the land, from the fortress at Buhen in Nubia to the Hathor temple at the turquoise mines of Serabit on Sinai. There was a particular concentration of her genius at the capital of Luxor where we find her marvelous accomplishments of the her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari, her four giant obelisks and the beautiful Chapelle Rouge, the Hatshepsut suite, the seventh pylon gate, a chapel at Medinet Habu and her two tombs in the Valley of the Kings. There is also evidence of her interest and activities in the field of healing. Deir el Bahari was known as a healing temple of Hathor during and after her reign and the temple of Ptah and Sekhmet at Karnak bears evidence of her cartouche and has a relief of the healing greats, Ptah, Hathor and Imhotep as well as instruments for grinding herbs and performing surgeries. All of this was accomplished in a short a twenty-two years.
However both Egyptologist and historical fiction writers underplay these facts and instead weave a soap opera story of ambition, intrigue, and revenge.
Egyptologists have presented a very pejorative view of Hatshepsut. Most of this is because her cartouches were destroyed and replaced by her stepson Thutmose III. It has therefore been assumed there was conflict between them because she must have usurped the throne from him and developed a systematic program of propaganda to support her claim. This propaganda included the temple relief of her having been fathered by the god Amen and having been chosen as his heir by pharaoh, Thutmose I. Her depiction of herself in male dress and pharaoh's beard was interpreted to be a cultural violation of a woman taking a traditionally male role. Recent history, therefore has perceived her as an "ambitious and unscrupulous woman" bringing on her stepson's "hatred which beggars description" as written by William C. Hayes. James Breasted sees it as a partisan movement behind Hatshepsut caused Thutmose III to "suffer too much" to not retaliate by his destruction of her images. A. Gardener calls her a scheming woman 'of most virile character' stealing the throne from a defenseless child.' Barbara Mertz assumes Hatshepsut hated her stepson. She cheers on his revenge and saying "Egypt trembled under the fury of Thutmose's wrath". Joyce Tyldesley disbelieves the things Hatshepsut says about herself on her temple walls and calls it all "Propaganda in Stone".
Archeological information, interpretations and insight, changes over time. New information is uncovered and perspectives broaden. Egyptologists have more recently presented alternatives to the view of such a family feud. Their information supports that she was a legitimate heir to the throne of Egypt through Sekenenre, the Taosid line through her mother. Her claims that the oracle predicted her rule and that her father chose her as his heir are feasible in the context of the time. Her wearing male clothing and beard had precedence in other female rulers. It is even possible that she took the throne to protect it for Thutmose III whose claim was through the Thutmosid line, a less legitimate claim. If these things are true it became necessary for Thutmose III to destroy her cartouches and the evidence of the Sekenenre ruling line in order to preserve the throne for his own son.
There are four aspects that have supported idea of a family feud and the soap opera view of ambition, intrigue and revenge. Each of these now have contradicting evidence.
1. Thutmose III erased her cartouches and replaced them with his own in about the 20th year of his reign. These erasures are viewed as the primary proof that there was animosity between them, pointing to the possibility she seized the throne from him illegally.
2. She had accepted the role of queen under Thutmose II and then regent with Thutmose III. It was only after 2 or 7 years that she took on the names and role of pharaoh.
3. She based her claims to the throne on her divine birth being a child of the god Amun, on the claim that the oracle predicted and blessed her rule, and her father's appointment of her as coregent when she was a child. Since the only records of this are after she was already pharaoh, it is seen as a fabrication to justify her ambition.
4. She was a woman and it was believed to be unprecedented for a woman to be pharaoh. This was backed up by the perception that there is no female word for pharaoh and she donned male clothes and male beard.
Thutmose III 'Erasures
The questions concerning the relationship between Hatshepsut and her stepson were addressed in the premiere issue of "KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt", Spring 1990. There Emily Teeter in the article called "Hatshepsut", examines the nature of the effacements on her tomb and monuments and points out the flaws in the traditional scenario of the enmity between Thutmose III and Hatshepsut.
The erasures are most inconsistent on the Chapelle Rouge. In this barque shrine Peter Dorman reports "the name of the queen was untouched on blocks which had originally been located adjacent to those on which her name was removed. Charles Van Siclen has further noted that small cartouches of the queen, roughly incised on the ends of the blocks as "ownership marks, were irregularly erased. These cartouches would have been inaccessible when the Chapelle Rouge was still standing. The erasures indicate that the Chapelle Rouge was not defaced while it was still standing, but rather after it had been taken apart." Teeter goes on to point out. "Not only did Thutmose complete the chapel's eighth register, where he alone is shown, but the two rulers appear jointly on blocks in the lower registers which had been completed by Hatshepsut before her death. This indicates that she acknowledged young Thutmose III; and that, following his aunt's demise, he, at least initially, honored the structure, completing the work begun by his coregent. Such evidence, along with the pattern of damage inflicted on the blocks demonstrates that the Chapelle Rouge stood as a functioning cult station well into the sole reign of Thutmose.
Thutmose is reported to have walled up her obelisks. Teeter calls into question the hostile nature of that construction, too. She says, "A more reasonable solution, and one that can be supported by the architectural history of the Amen complex, is that, rather than trying to "hide" the obelisks, the lower part of each shaft was enclosed in order to incorporate it into a new vestibule built in front of the Fifth Pylon."
The next challenge to the theory of Thutmose's destructive hatred is the placement of his own mortuary temple just south of Hatshepsut's at Deir el Bahari. As Teeter says, "This is hardly a suitable placement, if one party wished to distance himself from another for eternity." While she does not mention this it is also true that he continued and added to her building projects in other places also. The temple of Khnum and Satet at Elephantine Island and the healing temple of Ptah and Sekhmet at Karnak and additions to the Hathor temple at Serabit on Sinai Peninsula are examples of buildings constructed by Hatshepsut and Thutmose. Each has Hatshepsut's cartouches erased and replaced by Thutmose III's. Each has evidence of his completion of building projects she initiated.
The next question raised by Teeter was the concept that she was discredited in history by future pharaohs by leaving her name off the king's list. She suggests its because she was perceived as a regent only and therefore not eligible to be included in a formal kings list. She goes on to say, "There is no evidence . . . to support the view that the Ramesisides harbored any dislike for Hatshepsut. Ramesses II, in fact, restored her temple at Deir el Bahari. His act of piety was motivated, no doubt, by damage done to images of the god Amen during the Amarna period." Her cartouches were still visible though mutilated but this did not deter the Ramesside restoration efforts. This, along with the structures of Thutmose and Montuhotep were honored at this time. Even after the later two fell into ruin, due to a landslide onto them, Hatshepsut's temple remained the focal point of the annually celebrated, Beautiful Feast of the Valley.
While Teeter concludes, "The physical evidence no longer supports the colorful story of an unscrupulous and wicked stepmother who, in league with her canny and ambitious courtier, Senenmut, wrested the Double Crown of Egypt from its rightful heir." Teeter's comments continue and note the still unexplained problems of the defacement of her images in the Hatshepsut suit and at her mortuary temple and the smashing of her Osiride statues at Deir el Bahari. This ancient vandalism does suggest something more personal than 'remodeling' of the structure for the king's reuse.
In Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt, John Anthony West addresses the problem at Deir el Bahari in particular. He points out; "Images and names are sometimes hammered out in obscure and invisible places, sometimes left intact in visible and accessible places. At Deir el Bahari, two images of Hatshepsut are left intact: in the Hathor sanctuary on the south wall, one is left intact at the bottom of the vestibule in the solar court: in the Punt portico the ka of the queen is left untouched. On a block at Karnak, the name and image are hammered out on the left and remain untouched on the right." This is his conclusion. "Leaving the ka of the queen intact in the Punt portico may provide the clue. Perhaps the queen as a woman and as an individual grievously offended protocol and tradition, but the royal principle was nevertheless adhered to (which was not the case with Akhenaten)." This of course assumes that her position as pharaoh was legitimate.
It is very odd that any of her images were left untouched as it is odd that even the ones erased are clearly the outline of her intended image.
Taosid vs. Thutmosid Lines
Why did Hatshepsut wait until year 2 or 7 of her stepsons reign to claim the throne? Could this give us a clue as to why the erratic nature of the erasures? In the Spring 1997 issue of KMT, William Petty offers a possible answer to the question in his article "Hatshepsut and Thutmose II Reconsidered". He suggests the possibility that the politics and conflicts in the early eighteenth dynasty were not, war and peace, male and female, stepmother and stepson but the royal bloodlines. The original pharaohs of that dynasty were descendants of Sekenenre Tao and were of the Taosids line. Thutmose I was not of that line but was entitled to rule though his marriage to Ahmose who was of that line. Thutmose III was not the child of Ahmose but of another wife of Thutmose I, Mutnofret. Thus his claim was though the Thutmosid line. This made Hatshepsut's claim more legitimate, she being Ahmose's granddaughter, Sekenenre's great granddaughter. Thus Thutmose III's claim was rather iffy. Petty proposes that Hatshepsut was in truth protecting her stepson and securing the place for him when his time came to take the throne. There may have been any number of Taosids more qualified with divine blood. As Ruth Shilling pointed out, it very likely was planned that Thutmose III would marry Hatshepsut's daughter, Neferure, thus reinforcing his legitimacy along the Taosid lines but her early death made it necessary to seek other means to assure his position.
This may also be a reason for the erasures for once he acquired the throne it was necessary for him to erase the evidence that Hatshepsut with her Taosid linage had ever been important as he prepared to see his own son, Amenhotep II on the throne. This would have grown in importance towards the end of his reign, the twentieth year or so, about the time that the erasures happened.
Petty quotes William Hayes, a man who was earlier quoted for his view of the hatred between Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, now says, "With the exception of one childish outburst directed against Hatshepsut his (Thutmose III) reign was free from acts of brutality, bad taste and vainglorious bombast". Petty himself says, "The third Thutmosid did what he had to do, and he waited to do it until after Hatshepsut's death, out of her persona respect for her. His record is consistent."
He also points out that there is no record of her treating him with animosity, no exiling him to foreign shores or attempts to do away with him. Instead he is placed along side of her on her monuments, gradually gaining stature, appearing as her equal. Rather than being guarded as a threat he is actually given training and eventually control of the army, an army that at her death was powerful enough to defeat the Asians.
Divine Birth, Oracle Pronouncements
and Father's Co-regent
In KMT Winter 1995-96 Gae Callender, in the article, 'Problems in the reign of Hatshepsut', addresses the question of her personal claims based on her divinity, the oracle pronouncement and her father naming her his coregent. The oracle was an integral part of the Egyptian belief system. Most of the ancient world shared this way of thinking. It held great validity for them. The oracle and the co-regency are mentioned both on Deir el Bahari and on the Chapelle Rouge. In the matter of her divine birth, fathered by the great god Amun, Hatshepsut was just the first one to depict it on her temple walls. The divinity of the pharaoh was also a basic part of the Egyptian belief system. As Gae Callender says in a footnote to her article, "It [divinity] was the establishment of the legitimacy of Pharaoh, who was the sole link between the mundane and cosmic worlds, and the stabilizing factor between order and chaos."
Callender points out, Hatshepsut is also not the only pharaoh whose father announced her expected role or whom an oracle was quoted as having spoken for that pharaoh's right to rule. Each of the pharaohs after her recorded some form of confirmation from an oracle. Hatshepsut's is the only one said to have fabricated this propaganda to legitimize claim to the throne. Thutmose III claimed Amen performed an act of oracle with his statue during a ceremony at Karnak when he was a young priest. Amenhotep II was chosen by his father Thutmose III, not actually by an oracle but by the announcement, "He is the one who shall act as the Lord of the Entire Land", after a report of his prowess with horses. Thutmose IV was the next pharaoh and the oracle spoke to him in the form of a prophetic dream as he slept beneath the head of the sphinx, naming him his father's heir. Amenhotep III was only a "weaned child" when he claimed Amen-Re assigned the Two Lands to him. Horemheb too makes claims. He says a collection of different gods nurtured him as a child and the courtiers and people recognized his majesty prior to the day he achieved office.
There was also the claim that her father named her as his successor before he died. Ramesses borrowed it almost word for word when 200 years later he tells of his father, Seti I, choosing him. It, like Hatshepsut's statement, was written many years after his father has died. Callender comments that the announcement of Hatshepsut and the announcement of Ramesses, though almost identical, were viewed in completely different ways. Ramesses was seen as legitimate and Hatshepsut as fabricated. Could there be some prejudice present here?
Women Pharaohs
In the same article in KMT Gae Callender also addresses the issue of Hatshepsut's being a woman and wearing the male beard. She says
"There is copious evidence for queens-regnant in ancient Egypt, both before and after Hatshepsut, so royal women both could and did on occasion reign in their own rights. Regarding their legitimate, the decree of King Netjeren (Binothris) of the Second Dynasty allowing women "to hold the kingly office" shows that this legitimacy had long been established. We may be justified, therefore, in accepting that (1) the accession of the queen was not "unconstitutional' and (2) queens before Hatshepsut had assumed that office."
The most notable of these queens is Khentkawes of the 4th dynasty, whose portrait is incised on the granite gate of her tomb. In The Complete Pyramid by Mark Lehner, this portrait of Khentkawes is shown wearing the uraeus and the false beard! Her title reads "The King of Upper and Lower Egypt and Mother of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt." She has a bedrock tomb and mastaba-like super structure on the Giza plateau in front of the pyramids of her pharaonic lineage, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.
A second example is Sobekneferu who ruled for four years at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Gae Callender tells us in Oxford History of Ancient Egypt that she used masculine as well as feminine titles. There are several damaged statues of her that contain elements of both male and female dress.
Thus women could and did rule Egypt. Whatever the reasons for the erasures, illegitimacy of women pharaohs within the Egyptian system was not on of them.
Conclusion
While the very obvious and visible erasures of Hatshepsut's figures remain a curiosity, it is unlikely it holds such malicious drama as currently presented. With this further research, it is entirely possible Hatshepsut acted in good faith with her stepson. It is also likely she was following established customs and was recognized as the legitimate ruler. Concerning her claims of divinity, she was expressing the age-old belief in the pharaoh's divinity when she claimed Amen as her father at Deir el Bahari. It is also possible it was common practice for a pharaoh to announce which of his children he saw suited to sit on the throne and thus Thutmose I did name Hatshepsut whether it was because she was descendent from the Taosid line, because she was oldest or Thutmose II wasn't born yet, because of some capacity he recognized in her or because an oracle had already made such a pronouncement. Judging by her accomplishments during her 22-year reign it could be said there is evidence she had the support of her people and that the wearing of the beard and male headdress had precedence that was acceptable. There is a considerable body of evidence that she had a good relationship with her stepson and may even have been protecting him and his right to rule by her claiming the co-regency.
There are still unanswered questions but perhaps they do have benign answers. Showing this alternative possibility, it frees us up to recognize her for the incredible accomplishment she achieved.
Contact the author, Kathleen Medbery at Medbery@BelovedEgypt.com |
