Daughter of Ra, SHE-Pharaoh

There was an interesting historical personality I became aware of after my little trip to Egypt. Let me introduce to you Hatshepsut, a successful female pharaoh whose reign in Egyptian history of about 3,500 years ago proved that a woman was just as capable at governing a country as a traditional male king. During the reign of Hatshepsut, under her foreign policy, aggressive war campaigns stopped and her land experienced unprecedented prosperity.

She was one of the most prolific builders of Ancient Egypt. I was lucky to visit the Temple of Karnak where she constructed the tallest in the world obelisk, erected at the entrance of the temple. I could almost feel how she would stand there in her temple in a flowing light gown observing the glory she created.

Another breathtaking moment was to see her colonnaded temple – Djeser-Djeseru or “the Holy of Holies” that, from distance, looks carved from a majestic rock cliff. It was her mortuary temple and, according to the legend her loved one, Senenmut wishing to be close to her in the afterlife, constructed his tomb chapel in the hills overlooking the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and his sarcophagus was of a matching pair with Hatshepsut’s. What a love story to put on screen in one of those Hollywood movies.

Unfortunately, I have never heard about a film about this great lady-pharaoh Hatshepsut even though she deserves no less attention than beautiful Nefertiti. Many historians also believe the last became a pharaoh named later in records as Neferneferuaten.

So, these are among the great untold stories I would definitely like to know much more about. These lady pharaohs who ruled thousands years ago are just more evidence supporting the contention that having women in power is actually a very good idea for a country to blossom. To me, it is particularly impressive given the greed for power of male representatives who felt threatened by rising female ambition and attempted to erase their achievements from history.

The successor of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, did everything for her name to be erased and forgotten but the heritage of that extraordinary queen was too majestic for him to succeed. He was afraid Hatshepsut’s life would persuade future generations of potentially strong royal females to not remain content with their traditional lot as wife, sister and eventual mother of a king and assume their crown as deserved one. If not for the attempts of Thutmose III, who knows?

Maybe there were more she-pharaohs and definitely the reign of Hatshepsut had bigger historical impact. If she were a man, her reign would remain one of the most glorious pages in the history of the ancient Egypt and her name would be included in the official lists of kings of those times.

Coming back to our days, in my opinion, the balance of gender energies in the governments shall be restored.

We simply might not survive another 2,000 years of testosterone and suppression of female strength.