PASTEXPERIENCE HISTORY

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Around 1473–1458 BCE

How Hatshepsut represented kingship

Study a female ruler through sculpture, temples and exchange.

Deir el-Bahri

From regency to kingship

A statue can wear masculine regalia while its inscription uses feminine grammar. Hatshepsut’s imagery was not simply concealment. Moving from regent for Thutmose III to royal co-ruler, she adopted established conventions of kingship.

Senenmut managed royal estates, tutored Neferure and became steward of Amun. Land, resources and personnel depended on offices around the co-rulers.

[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Exchange and temple building

Trade with places including Punt supplied royal temple projects. At Deir el-Bahri, seated figures in female dress and royal headcloths, colossal masculine kings and sphinxes served different locations. Offerings and processional routes helped determine their forms.

[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Damaging images and rewriting memory

Attacks on names and images are dated roughly twenty years after her death, with motives uncertain. A seated statue’s torso was found in 1869, other pieces in the twentieth century, and parts reunited in 1998. The present object records ancient creation and destruction as well as modern recovery.

[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Before and after

  1. Around 1473 BCE

    Approximate beginning of royal co-rule.

  2. Around 1458 BCE

    Approximate end of her reign.

  3. 1998

    The seated statue’s torso and dispersed fragments were reunited.

Key terms

Regent
Someone governing on behalf of a ruler.
Inscription
Names or text carved on an object.
Co-rule
More than one ruler holding royal authority together.

What supports the account?

Regency and royal accession were different positions. Following the change avoids reducing female rule to a simple exception.

Co-rule, exchange, the temple and later destruction of images. Royal conventions, feminine inscriptions and reassembly.

Limits of the evidence

Regency and kingship are distinct.

[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Read dress with inscriptions. Feminine wording on masculine images complicates claims that the ruler concealed her identity.

Co-rule, exchange, the temple and later destruction of images. Royal conventions, feminine inscriptions and reassembly.

Limits of the evidence

Images do not recover private thoughts or conversations.

[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Check your understanding

Choose an answer to reveal the explanation. Return to the article and sources when you are unsure.

1. A masculine royal statue has feminine inscriptions. Which reading is strongest?

Sources

  1. Hatshepsut: From Queen to PharaohThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Co-rule, exchange, the temple and later destruction of images.

  2. The Female Pharaoh HatshepsutThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Royal conventions, feminine inscriptions and reassembly.

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