QUEEN HATCHEPSUT "THE WOMAN PHARAOH"
This is one of the few known true portraits of
Queen
Hatchepsut.
She was a powerful woman who ruled Egypt
for over 20
years. During her reign, she managed to
stabalize
the
Egyptian Government, ran successful
trade missions
and
commissioned the building of many
structures that
were
superior in their architectural
advancements, even
by
todays' standards. The greatest of these
being the
Deir el
Bahri temple on the west bank of the
Nile at Luxor.
This
unique building is still considered one
of the
worlds'
most
beautiful.
Had she been a man, Hatchepsut would
surely be
remembered
for all of these great accomplishments,
instead a
ruthless
campaign was launched to erase her name
from
History. Most
of her monuments were either destroyed
or unsurped,
her
portraits were defaced and her name was
even omitted
from
the official "Kings List".
Because of this, piecing together her
life has not
been an
easy task for
Egyptologists..
We do know that she was one of 2
daughters born to
the
Pharoah Tuthmosis I and his Consort,
Queen Ahmose
(the
second daughter died in infancy). It has
also been
established that upon the death of her
father, at
approx.12 years old, she herself became
a Queen
Consort by
marrying her half brother, Tuthmosis II.
During her
husbands' reign, Hatchepsut bore him one
child, a
daughter
(Princess Neferure) and by all accounts
seems to
have
kept her proper place in the shadows of
both
Tuthmosis II
and the Great Mother, "Ahmose". However,
Tuthmosis
II was
a very frail and sickly man who died
within five
years of
his reign.
Upon his death, Hatchepsut was then
appointed
Co-Regent with her stepson,
Tuthmosis III,
who may at this time had been a mere
infant. This
put
her in a
very powerful position and was the
begining of her
reign as a ruler of Egypt. However, she
was not
content with being known as a Queen or a
Co-Regent,
and went to great lengths to be
acknowledged as a
true "Pharoah" of Egypt.
In order to be accepted
by her people as their ruler, she
ordered the story
of her divine birth to be carved inside
the mortuary
temple at Deir el-Bahri. This was a very
clever
move on her part as the carving shows
how her mother
(Queen Ahmose) was visited by the God,
Amen and told
that she was to bear a daughter that was
destined to
become the future ruler of Egypt. The
interesting
aspect of this carving, is that it shows
Hatchepsut
being born and presented to the God as a
male
infant.
During her reign she somehow managed to
maintain
Egypts'
stability, power and wealth without
launching any
military
campaigns and went on to make notable
contributions
to
society. Hatchepsut continued to rule
for more than
20
years until she suddenly vanished from
history...
Tuthmosis III by now a grown man, took
his rightful
place
as Ruler, and for some reason went to
great lengths
to try
and remove all traces of Hatchepsuts'
years on the
throne.
Gangs of workmen were ordered to hack
out her images
from
monuments, her statues were destroyed
and her
obelisks
were walled up.
There is no evidence of a royal funeral
and her
sarcophagus, although since found, shows
no traces
of a
body having been inside..What then
happened to her
and
where is she buried????
There are many unanswered questions
surrounding this
unique woman, some of which may never be
answered.
But what is known is that she was truly
one of the
worlds'
most powerful and beautiful woman and
in spite of
all the
attempts made to forget her,her name
will continue
to live
on in history....... .
AKHENATON THE HERETIC KING
He tried to change Egypts' entire being
with his
devotion
to one God, Re-Harakhte "The Sun Disc"
and in doing
so,
almost
destroyed its' land.
He began his reign towards the end of
the Eigteenth
Dynasty as Amenhotep IV and for a few
years ruled in
the
traditional ways. But as time went on
and he settled
into
his new position, he slowly began to
incorporate the
God
Re-Harakhte as the one and only True
God, denouncing
all
the other deities that were worshiped
throughout the
land
for ages. He created a new image of his
God, that of
the "sun Disc" and even went so far as
to have the
image of Amun
(the
former Supreme God) erased from Egypts'
monuments
and
temples and replaced with this "Sun Disc
of Aten".
He
changed
his name to reflect his devotion, to:
Akhenaten
("Effective
for the Aten") and went on to build a
new city
devoted to
Aten. at what is now known as el-Amarna.
These radical changes affected not only
Egypts'
religious
culture, but its entire society.
For centuries, a number of Gods had been
worshiped
throughout the land as local deities
which greatly
influenced the every day lives of
egyptians. When
Akhenaten took these away, he disrupted
their
traditions
and their beliefs. As temples were
closed, and
monuments were defaced, it must have
caused
tremendous turmoil for Egypts'
population.
Although a number of religious changes
were taking
place during Akhenatens reign, Egypt
itself, was
ignored. The most powerful society of
its day began
to show signs of weakness under his
rule. He ran no
military or political campaigns to
ensure Egypts
domain, nor did he do anything to
strengthen its'
allies.
Aside from his religious "revolution",he
also went
against the traditional depiction of
himself as
Pharoah. Until his reign, all of Egypts'
rulers were
looked upon as powerful beings, with a
direct link
to the Gods, often displaying acts of
bravery in
carved reliefs. He chose instead, to
show himself in
a somewhat grotesgue form (elongated
body and head)
and often had his children and Royal
Wife, Nefertiti
displayed in various scenes of
affection. This form
of art has become known as the "Armarna
Style", and
has produced some of the most beautiful
pieces of
known artwork. The most famous being a
beautiful
unfinished bust of Nefertiti.
Upon his death, Egypt slowly began to
convert back
to its' old traditions and with the
help of future
rulers, restored some of its'glory.
Akhenaten became known by his country as
a traitor,
a "heretic" and weak man. Yet, in some
ways, he is
also to be admired for his fearless
persuit of his
own idealistic dreams...
RAMSES II
AKA:RAMSES THE GREAT
Suprisingly, the Pharoah considered to
be the most
powerful and influential ruler of
Egypts' history,
was not born of a royal family, but
rather from a
new blood line that began with his
grandfather,
Pa-ramessu, who was the Vizier and
military
colleague of Horemheb ( the last Pharoah
of the 18th
Dynasty). Horemheb did not have any
linear heirs to
succeed him and thus, chose to leave his
throne to
Pa-ramessu.
Pa-ramessu and his wife Stive had a son
named Sety
(Ramses' father) who not only became a
mighty and
powerful ruler himself, but is credited
with
restoring Egypts' glory and dominance in
the ancient
world after a period of unrest and
instability.
From the study of Ramses' mummy, he
appears to have
been well into his 90's at the time of
his death,
which was very rare in his day. This, in
itself may
have made him seem invincible to his
people.
Although he was officially appointed to
the throne
upon his father Setys' death, when he
was approx. 16
years ol,he had already been at Setys'
side as his
Co-Regent.
He is said to have been a handsome
"ladies man" and
his exploits with woman have even been
depicted in
ancient grafitti. He fathered over 100
children, of
which 50 of his sons and 38 of his
daughters are
even known by name. This was
accomplished through
his large number of incubines and a
number of "Great
Wives" (4 of which were his own
daughters).
Ramses is also credited for his
accomplishments in a
number of military campaigns. His
greatest being the
"Battle of Kadesh". Although he barely
escaped with
his life during this battle, and did not
immediately
gain anything after the initial
conflict, he is
acknowledged for his bravery going into
battle to
smyte his enemy. Eventually a peace
treaty was
agreed upon between himself and the
Hittite King,
Hattusil, ending over 3 generations of
conflict.
Later, he even married one of the kings'
daughters.
Perhaps to strengthen this alliance.
Throughout Nubia and Egypt, Ramses built
great
temples and sculptures commemorating
both his
military exploits and his presence as a
"God". He
even encouraged his people to honor him
as the
"Divine Pharoah". This is evident at his
beautiful
temple dedicated to himself at
Abu-Simbel. It
contains enormous statues of himself
alongside the
Gods of Egypt as their equal, for all to
see. At the
same site, perhaps to show his love to
her, he also
erected a smaller temple that was
dedicated to his
Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari and the
Goddess, Hathor.
He also built a great city that
contained his royal
palace, Pi-Ramessu. Although it is
described in
ancient descriptions as being one of
supreme
splendor and granduer, very little of
this site
remains today. This is due to it being
constructed
out of mud brick.
Ramses seems to have been a very proud
and
egotistical man
who went to great lengths to preserve a
place in
history.
Besides his obvious statues, temples and
city
dedicated to himself, he went one step
further. He
often diguised his name in crytographic
writing.
One such example is a beautiful statue
discovered
that groups the Sun God in the form of a
falcon,
Pharoah as a child, and a heraldic
plant. When you
put these elements together, they spell
out his King
Name: "ra-mes-su" (Ramesses).
Another great example of this, is the
sculpture of
the Sun God Re that is carved above the
entrance to
his temple at Abu-Simbel. One side of
the God, is a
staff in the shape of the hieroglyph,
wsr, on the
other side, the Goddess, Ma'at. Put
these elements
together, and they form his Personal
Name:
"User-ma'at-Re" (Powerful is the justice
of Re).
In doing this, he ensured that if any
attempt was
ever made to deface his name inside the
temple, the
disguised identity would still remain
intact, thus
continuing for eternity....
KING TUTANKHAMEN "THE BOY KING"
When King Tuts Tomb was discovered in
1922 by Howard
Carter, it brought to life the extent of
ancient Egypts'
great wealth. Here, was a virtually
"insignificant"
pharoah who posessed priceless treasures
beyond anything
ever before discovered or imagined in
all of Egypts
history. Every item in his tomb was
of superb
craftsmanship. Most were fashioned out
of gold and silver,
and many were adorned with precious
gems. The most well
known of these items is his funerary
mask, pictured here.
This is by far one of the most
magnificent pieces of art
ever created. It was hand sculptured out
of pure gold!
But what of the Boy-King himself? Who
was he and what
caused his reign to end so abruptly?
There is still
much debate about his true parentage,
and how he came to
inherit the throne. One possible theory
is that he and
Smenkhare were both the sons of
Akhenaten. This would
explain why, during the last few years
of his life, he
appointed Smenkhare as his co-regent and
the next heir
to the throne. Sadly though he died
before being able to
rule. Tutankhaten then became next in
line by his marriage
to
Akhanatens 3rd daughter, Ankhsenpoaten.
She was older than
Tut, possibly around 15, and Tut was
merely a boy of about
nine when he rose to power. During
his reign, his most
significant accomplishment was moving
the capital of Egypt back to Memphis
and
reinstating the cult of Amen at Thebes.
In returning Egypt
to its old ways and beliefs, he helped
to restore its'
stability and power. He also changed his
name at this time
to Tutankhamen and his wifes' to
Ankhesenamen. This
gesture indeed showed his true devotion
to the old
religion of Egypt.
This was a very intelligent move for
a child to have
made, therefore he may have been greatly
influenced by
someone else. It is widely speculated
that his chief
priest, Ay was the real power behind the
throne and may
have had motives to benefit his own
ambitions.
Tut continued to restore the old
religion throughout his
reign, built temples and by some
evidence, even carried
out military campaigns. Upon his
death, possiby by the
age of 18, he left no apparent heirs to
succeed him. There
were however, 2 infant mummies found
inside his tomb,
which shows that he and his young wife
suffered the loss
of two children. Ankhesenamen was so
desperate to remain
Queen and not marry one of her servants,
that she sent a
letter to a Hittite King, asking him to
send one of his
sons to her and she would make him the
King of Egypt. The
King, after initial suspicions, did send
one of his sons,
but he was mysteriously murdered enroute
to Egypt.
Ankhesenamen then married Ay who became
Tuts successor and
abruptly disappears from history. Ay,
who may have been
her grandfather, only ruled for 3 years
before he died and
the General Horemheb seized the throne.
There are a lot of
theories as to what happened to Tut, his
brother(Semenkhare) and the hittite
prince. One is that
they may have been part of a plot by
someone in the palace
who was hungry for power.
Examinations of Tuts mummy
does show evidence that he may have been
murdered. Upon
his left cheek, there is a dark colored
lesion (perhaps a
scab) and recent x ray technology has
revealed a fragment
of bone inside his skull, both of these
are consistent
with a hard blow to the head, which
could have indeed
caused his death. It is interesting
to note that one of
Horemhebs' first command was to have
Tuts name erased not
only from all his monuments, but also
from the official
List of Pharoahs. He almost succeeded
in erasing Tut
from history completely. If it had not
been for a tiny
faience cup found with Tutankhamens'
name on it thousands
of years later, the search for the "Boy
King" may never
have happened. Luckily, Horemheb was not
very thorough..
