Who was Queen Hatshepsut?

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut, also called Maatkare, was one of the three female pharaohs that ruled in ancient Egypt. Her name means "foremost of noblewomen." She began her reign as a regent to his stepson Thutmose III then took the full power of the Pharaoh as she claimed to be divine birth, the result of a union between her mother and the god Amun. She also claimed that ThutmoseI had named her as his successor before his death. Being the second historically-confirmed female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut was the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. She was the daughter of King Thutmose I and became the queen of Egypt when she married half-brother, Thutmose II, around the age of 12. After his death, she became regent for her stepson, the infant Thutmose III, but then she had the full powers of a pharaoh, becoming co-ruler of Egypt.

Her Major accomplishments

Hatshepsut undertook hundreds of ambitious construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. She built her mortuary temple in a complex at Deir el-Bahri, which considered one of the architectural wonders of ancient Egypt, on the West Bank of the Nile River in the ancient Thebes near the entrance of the Valley of the Kings. It was designed and implemented by Senenmut, her chief minister. Another one of her magnificent building is the Hatshepsut needle. Another great achievement of her reign was re-establishing the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos, and the trading expedition she sent, and that brought back vast riches, including ivory, ebony, gold, and leopard skins, to Egypt from a distant land known as Punt.

Why queen Hatshepsut was being unknown at first?

Queen Hatshepsut ordered to be depicted as a male in many contemporary images and sculptures. Thus, she remained unknown to scholars until the 19th century. Another reason is that Thutmose III had eradicated almost all of the evidence of Hatshepsut's rule–including the images of her as king on the temples and monuments she had built. Consequently, she remained unknown to scholars until they decoded and read the hieroglyphics on the walls of Deir el-Bahri in 1822.

The discovery of Her Mummy

In 1903, the British archeologist Howard Carter discovered Hatshepsut's sarcophagus, but it was empty, like most of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In June 2007, there was a discovery of a mummy in the tomb of Hatshepsut's royal nurse, Setre-In. A tooth fragment founded in a jar of organs led to identifying the body to be Hatshepsut's.

When and how did Hatshepsut die?

Hatshepsut died, in the twenty-second year of her reign, on January 16, 1458 BC, as recorded on a single stela erected at Armant. The cause of her death was a matter of speculation; some think that her stepson Thutmose III might have killed her because he erased all signs of her rule. Assuming the identification of her mummy is correct, another cause could be shown; those who examined the mummy concluded that it is most likely that the metastasized cancer killed her. The mummy shows signs of arthritis, many dental cavities and root inflammation and pockets, diabetes, and bone cancer.
Another theory derives from the dental root inflammation and pockets assumed an abscess, which in her weakened condition from cancer, was what killed her. In 2011, researchers in Germany identified a carcinogenic substance in a vial founded with Hatshepsut, which led to the notion that she may have used a lotion or cream for cosmetic reasons or to treat a skin condition that led to cancer.

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