Friday, August 21, 2015

Who Am I?


My name is Hatshepsut, and my location is Ancient Thebes with its Neocropolis.
 My husband proclaimed his only son as successor to the throne, but due to the boy's young age, I acted as regent, and then Pharaoh. Most people find it peculiar that I dressed as a man and was often pictured as one with a beard and muscular limbs; this not only strengthened my rule as King, but created a new-found respect and authority over my reign.
And when I ruled (for twenty years I might add), the Egyptian economy flourished! Trade routes expanded, and I also partook in much of the rehabilitation of damage caused by the invading Hyksos that occured in my grandfather's time. My favourite is the construction of my temple, Deir el Bahri. My "Most Sacred of Sacred Places." It's beauty is incomparable, a great feat as a woman King.
But even the greatest rulers fall. Eventually I was usurped by my returned nephew, Thutmose III, and passed into the Afterlife, and even now the reasons of my death are unsure. From there my memory seemed to disappear from all recollection by my nephew, who, threatened by my most recent rule, had me defaced from most monuments and eradicated. But even so, in the ages to come, Hatshepsut, the woman who was King, who was Pharaoh, still rules.

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