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| Her temple is in the back ground |
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Sculptors of her time created her big breasted, she is said to have charm, beauty, inteligence, cunning and dedacation to her people, restored peace to a warring Egypt, She remained in power for 20 years. The Egyptian economy flourished, she expanded trade, built magnificent statues and temples the finest monuments. Her temple at Deir el Bahri is one of the most unusual and beautiful in Egypt. She was an extraordinary personality of the ancient world. The first great woman in recorded history. |
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Egyptian society gave many remarkable freedoms and legal rights
to women--far more than the rest of the Near East. With a
leadership vacancies circumstances were ripe. She realized that
the pharaoh of Egypt was an icon and have any personality flaws
but he would still be pharaoh.
Her reign brought Egypt 22 years of peace and prosperity and some
of its finest monuments.
Her rise to power went against all the conventions of her time. She was the first wife and Queen of Thutmose II and on his death proclaimed herself Pharaoh, denying the old king's son, her nephew, his inheritance. To support her cause she claimed the God Amon-Ra spoke, saying "welcome my sweet daughter, my favourite, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare,Hatshepsut. Thou art the King, taking possession of the Two Lands." She ruled not as queen but as king, and even wore men's clothing and the king's false beard in public. Once having proclaimed herself king, Hatshepsut had a tomb excavated for herself in the Valley of the Kings.
Eventually her nephew grew into a man and took his rightful place as pharaoh. Her successor became the greatest of all Pharaohs, Thutmose III, "the Napoleon of ancient Egypt." He had her name cut away from the temple walls, he was not fond of his auntie. That she was able to contain the greatest of all Pharaohs for so many years, suggest great character. |
