Reading about ancient Egyptian dynasties is like watching drama that never gets old. It continues to impress no matter how much I learn. If you throw a few names like “Paris”, “Britney”, or “Hillary” in, you have yourself a Hollywood household in power of one of the greatest ancient empires.
Though, what I find particularly interesting are the female pharaohs. In ancient Egypt, having a woman as ruler was a good sign that there were some serious issues going in the palace. There is an especially ruthless one and her story that have always specifically fascinated me.
Tuthmosis I had no intention of passing the crown to just a trusted friend, and both of his sons by his primary wife died before him. He chose to appoint a son born to a secondary wife as heir. The next step was to strengthen the new dynastic power of his son; he married Tuthmosis II to a daughter, Hatshepsut, by the first wife.
Tuthmosis II was an unlucky guy. He’d suffered from bad health his entire life and then forced into marriage with his half-sister, who was the Hillary Clinton of the BC! She didn’t feel like letting her weak husband rule when she could exploit this vulnerability for her own ends. Needless to say, Tuthmosis II hardly enjoyed the time he spent with his wife, half-sister and co-ruler. Instead he enjoyed the company of a woman, Iset, who he never married but fathered a son by. What’s really juicy is that he named this illegitimate baby heir to the throne, which was a slap in the face to Hatshepsut.
As a result of his ill condition, Tuthmosis II died before turning thirty-five and had no other son besides the one by his mistress. However, Tuthmosis III was still a child, so the ever-ambitious Hatshepsut took the thrown. She claimed it was her right as the baby’s aunt (and stepmother) to rule as his regent.
Hatshepsut wasn’t exactly convincing the royal court with these pleas, so she cunningly built a second temple to Amun to earn a few brownie points with Senenmut, the Chief Steward of Amun and a very influential Egyptian. She then proceeded to order a relief carved in this new temple of Amun paying a visit to her mother, implying that the god conceived her. She also had an engraving etched of Tuthmosis II crowning her queen of Egypt before his death. It was all obviously a sham, but according to whispers and some antique graffiti, Senenmut was a lot more to Hatshepsut than just an advisor.
When Tuthmosis III came of age to inherit the kingdom, Hatshepsut conveniently sent him out on a few errands in foreign states to delay the coronation. Technically she never really deposed him, just presented herself as the senior leader. While he was out campaigning, Hatshepsut was busy carving her name into the sands of time. She was struck with monument-mania and made she her character was attached to it.
Tuthmosis III was now well into his twenties when the queen died. He returned and indulged in a savage clearing of his aunt’s name from the history books. He smashed the relief showing her divine appointment, scratched her name from the statues, and built walls hiding her obelisks. After he felt she had sufficiently felt his wrath, he went on to be a great campaigner in the Semitic lands of Canaan, and even earned the title “The Napoleon of Ancient Egypt”. There is tale from that epic of his life that appeals to me, but I’ll have to wait to share that another time.
