Head of Queen Hatshepsut

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Hatshepsut:

Is just a small part of her name which was Xnmt imn hAt Sp swt that means who is created by god Amen and favorite upon all mistresses. Upon the death of her father Thutmosis I she became the sole legitimate heir. Tradition demanded however that only a male heir could ascend the throne. Thus she got married to her half brother Thutmosis II who died prematurely leaving the queen with only one daughter and a step son. According to the conventional form of Thutmosis II Hatshepsut was just a regent for the young king Thutmosis III. This lasted for four years. When Hatshepsut felt powerful enough she kept the young king in the wings and declared herself the supreme ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. As we mentioned before tradition demanded that only a male could ascend the throne of Egypt. Thus, she invented a story better known as the divine birth. In which she claimed that she is not the daughter of Thutmosis I but the daughter of the king of gods Amen-Re. we shouldn’t ignore also that she was supported by four powerful men:

<!--snnmwt: he was her favorite architect and some how her lover.

<!--snmn: Sennmut’s brother and the royal physician.

<!--PAnHsy: the arm leader and also the leader of Punt’s expedition.

<!--HApw snb: the high priest of god Amen and who confirmed the story of the divine birth

In most of the royal scenes she represented herself in a male figure like the king wearing the royal headdress, the false beard and the royal kilt. She also used the masculine pronoun. After she consolidated her position in ruling the country she moved her direction to rebuild the country as she began to restore all the monuments of her predecessors that had been destroyed by the Hyksos. She even offered her architect Sennmut to build her magnificent funerary temple at Deir El Bahari. It seems quite clear that the conditions were stable in Asia that encouraged her to have a commercial foreign relation with the most of her neighbors. She recorded the details of her expedition to Punt Probably Somalia land nowadays upon the walls of her funerary temple.

The head of Hatshepsut:

This wonderful head is made out of painted lime stone inb HD which was quarried from Turah Maasara and Mokattam hills. It was found in her mortuary temple at Deir El Bahari. It was excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of fine Art in 1926-1927. Actually this head derives from one of the Osirian statues in the Upper most terrace. She was represented here wearing the Red crown of Lower Egypt dSrt but unfortunately it is damaged. The queen is represented with most signs of royalty such as the red Crown and the false beard which is attached to the face by means of straps. Despite she was represented in a male figure the artist didn’t forget that she is a lady. We can realize that from her distinctive feminine features such as the gently curving eyebrows, wide eyes extended by cosmetic lines, delicate aquiline nose, full cheeks and gracious mouth. We can also notice that the head is painted in reddish brown as a sign of men and king.         

Ruling regime in Ancient Egypt

There are five ways to ascend the throne of Egypt:

<!--Legitimate heir of the throne: The son of the king from the royal wife like king Chephren the son of Cheops.

<!--Marrying a royal princess like Hormehb who was the army leader and by marrying a royal princess he ascended the throne

<!--Divine birth: like hatshepsut ho claimed that she is not the daughter of Thutmosis I but the daughter of god Amen-Re

<!--Oracle: like king Thutmosis IV and his dream stela

<!--Wars and revolution

We should also notice that:

This wonderful head derives from one of the Osirian statues which once adorned the pillared façade of the portico of the upper most terrace of the queen’s temple at Deir El Bahari. Additional statues on a smaller scale occupied the niches at the back of the terrace. The red crown of which one can just make out the beginning suggests that our statue corresponds to a pillar on the terrace’s northern side where all statues had the double crown. On the southern side, they wear the white crown.