Fancy a female Pharaoh? Well, this episode is about a powerful female pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt. First let us get to know more about this lady, and then we shall visit the temple she built for herself.
Pharaoh Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I and during her teenage years was married to her half brother Thutmose II . After his death, the two year old Thutmose III inherited the throne and she ruled as regent for a son who was not her own.
The lady pharaoh went against the traditional patriarchal systems and cleverly established female kingship. In order to establish herself as the pharaoh, she started depicting herself as a male pharaoh. Like most pharaohs, she recorded her accomplishments and assumed all symbols of pharaonic position including the traditional false beard. Her rule was one of the most prosperous times of the Egyptian civilization. She was the second female pharaoh in Egyptian history but more powerful than her female predecessors.
One of the most prolific builders of ancient Egypt, she constructed several temples and the masterpiece was her mortuary temple that we call the temple of Hatshepsut today. Building Osirian statues of themselves was common to most pharaohs and she was no exception.
Towards the end of the reign of Thutmose III, an attempt to remove her from historical records was made and many of her statues were removed or defaced.
Our trip
From the Valley of Kings, located in the Theban hills, we proceeded to this temple located close by. This is a mortuary temple built by Hatshepsut facing the Karnak temple across the Nile. The specialty of this temple are it’s three terraces at different levels with porticoes lined by columns.
Reaching the Temple
The foreground has statues of Hatshepsut as a sphinx. This was part of her attempts to establish her kingship by portraying herself as powerful.
Sphinx of Hatshepsut
The three levels of terraces with porticoes lined by columns and statues at the ends.
The balustrade along the passage to the main temple has the falcon headed God Horus.
The falcon headed God Horus at the balustrade
The lower terrace has 22 columns and features reliefs on the walls. These reliefs depict the part played by her in putting up obelisks at the Karnak temple, offerings to various Gods and Hatshepsut as a sphinx defeating the enemies .
Reliefs showing offerings to Horus by Hatshepsut
The middle terrace also has porticoes lined by columns and decorated with reliefs mainly relating her to God Amun Ra, thus legitimizing herself as a ruler. A shrine dedicated to the cow headed God Hathor is also located here.
Offerings to the jackal headed God Anubis
The cow headed God Hathor
The upper terrace also has porticoes lined by columns but the highlight are the massive statues of Hatshepsut.
Hatshepsut statues on the upper terrace
Moving down from the terraces, we walked on to the foreground where there are still a lot of ruins and extensive restoration work was going on.
Ruins surrounding the temple
Another monument we visited near the Valley of Kings was the Colossi Of Memnon.
These are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stand at the front of the ruined Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the largest temple in the Theban Necropolis. Both statues are quite damaged, with the features above the waist virtually unrecognizable. Earthquake and floods have ensured that with the exception of the Colossi, nothing remains today of Amenhotep’s temple.
Colossi of Memnon with the ruins of Amenhotep’s temple in the backdrop
After the exhausting visit to the Valley of Kings and Hatshepsut’s temple, we were all tired and hungry and so we proceeded to an Indian restaurant in Luxor for lunch.
A taste of India at Luxor….
Post lunch we explored Luxor market .
A riot of colors at the Luxor market
Making few quick purchases, we headed to the airport to fly back to Cairo.
Next week, we explore Cairo. Till then, do subscribe, give your comments and feedback.
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