Pharaoh Hatshepsut, female ruler about 1500 BCE of the New Kingdom

Pharaoh Hatshepsut, female ruler about 1500 BCE
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Hatshepsut, meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies,[4] (1508 BC - 1458 BC), is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty, says Wikipedia.

Although it was uncommon for Egypt to be ruled by a woman, the situation was not unprecedented.

In comparison with other female pharaohs, Hatshepsut's reign was long and prosperous. She was successful in warfare early in her reign, but generally is considered to be a pharaoh who inaugurated a long peaceful era.

She re-established trading relationships lost during a foreign occupation and brought great wealth to Egypt. That wealth enabled Hatshepsut to initiate building projects that raised the calibre of Ancient Egyptian architecture to a standard, comparable to classical architecture, that would not be rivaled by any other culture for a thousand years.

She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt. Most notably the Egyptians returned from the voyage bearing live frankincense trees, the roots of which were carefully kept in baskets for the duration of the voyage. This was the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees.

Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, that were grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors. Later pharaohs attempted to claim some of her projects as theirs.

She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple at Karnak.

Following the tradition of many pharaohs, the masterpiece of Hatshepsut's building projects was her mortuary temple. She built hers in a complex at Deir el-Bahri.

Women had a high status in ancient Egypt and enjoyed the legal right to own, inherit, or will property. A woman becoming pharaoh was rare, however.

Hatshepsut assumed all of the regalia and symbols of the pharaonic office in official representations: the Khat head cloth, topped with the uraeus, the traditional false beard, and shendyt kilt.[17] Many existing statues alternatively show her in typically feminine attire as well as those that depict her in the royal ceremonial attire.

If the recent identification of her mummy is correct, computed tomography would indicate that she died of blood infection while she was in her fifties.[2][28] It also would suggest that she had arthritis, bad teeth, and probably had diabetes.[2]

Toward the end of the reign of Thutmose III and into the reign of his son, an attempt was made to remove Hatshepsut from certain historical and pharaonic records. This elimination was carried out in the most literal way possible. Her cartouches and images were chiselled off some stone walls, leaving very obvious Hatshepsut-shaped gaps in the artwork.