Queen
Hatshepsut (c. 1498 - 1483) was able to usurp her stepson due to support from
some royal officials, notably her future steward Senenmut. She presented herself as having
been chosen directly by Amun, the chief of the gods, and played on the supposed support of
her revered father, Tuthmosis I. She dedicated her mortuary temple, which was built next
to that of Mentuhotep I at Deir el-Bahari, to Amun.
Her burial was in the Valley of the Kings, in a tomb (KV20) that had initially been
designed to go right under her mortuary temple, but was forced to do a u-turn after hard
rock was encountered. Her mummy has never been identified, but it has been suggested that
it is the female one found in KV21 (the tomb of Hatshepsut's nurse) in 1991.A debate has raged for a long time as to the fate of
Hatshepsut. Was she murdered on the orders of Tuthmosis III? It is certainly possible, as
he destroyed many of her monuments and ensured that her reign was never chronicled on the
various king lists that exist, but we shall probably never really know.
Tuthmosis III (c. 1504 - 1450) was allowed to succeed his hated
stepmother because most of her most powerful supporters (including Senenmut) were dead.
Tuthmosis had been married to his half-sister (the daughter of Tuthmosis II and
Hatshepsut), but she was dead by the time he acceded, so he came to the throne a widower.
During his stepmother's reign, Tuthmosis had probably spent most of his time in the army,
which Hatshepsut had failed to use effectively, as she had lost control over Syria and
Lebanon.
Understandably, Tuthmosis hated Hatshepsut,
and sought to remove her name from any monuments she had built. One example of this
occurred at Karnak, where he walled up her obelisks (thus unwittingly preserving the
inscriptions for future generations).
He built his mortuary temple between those of Hatshepsut and Mentuhotep. It was recently
excavated, and the freshness of the reliefs found there suggests that it was destroyed by
a rock fall soon after its completion.
Tuthmosis III has been called "The
Napoleon of Ancient Egypt", as his reign was characterised by a series of devastating
military campaigns. In year 2 of his independent reign (year 23 after his initial
accession), he launched an attack on the Near East. He marched his army to Gaza in only 10
days, then took Yehem, and headed towards Megiddo (under the control of the rebellious
prince of Kadesh). He routed his enemies on the battlefield before settling down to
besiege Megiddo, which fell after 7 months. Every summer for the next 18 years, he
campaigned in Syria, seeking to re-establish Egypt's control over the area which had been
lost by Hatshepsut. There were also punitive attacks on Nubia. Peace ensued for the last
dozen or so years of his reign.
As always, the beneficiaries of his
campaigns were the temples to the gods - the temple of Amun at Karnak was especially well
off in this respect.
He was buried in KV34, which was robbed despite having been situated half way up a cliff.
In c. 934BC, his mummy was removed from there and placed with Amenhotep II in KV35, where
it was discovered in 1898.
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