[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was an Egyptian monarch, the daughter of Thutmose I. After the death of her half-brother and husband, Thutmose II, the young Thutmose III succeeded, but she soon replaced him as the effective ruler and reigned until her death 20 years later. As well as furthering her father's building programme at Karnak , she had a magnificent temple constructed at Deir al-Bahri. Hatshepsut of ancient Egypt is considered the greatest female ruler of all time. This black empress is the first woman in recorded history to challenge and destroy the theory of male supremacy. After fighting her way to power, she held the throne of the world's mightiest empire at that time for 34 years.
Since her father Thutmose I had conquered most of the known world, Hatshepsut was not faced with an external enemy. Her greatest nemeses were the priests of the God Amen who were determined not to end more than 3000 years of masculine tradition. When the priests demanded that she step aside and consent to her brother Thutmose II to rule as pharaoh, Hatshepsut tried to discredit her half brother by announcing that Thutmose II was the son of Mutnefert, a concubine, and therefore royal blood was only passed through to her. She knew that all black African societies including Egypt were matrilineal, which means that inheritance, including the power of the throne, was passed through the female line.
Hatshepsut could easily trace her female ancestry to her jet-black Ethiopian grandmother, Nefertari-Aahmes, but faced with the alternatives of possible civil war or compromise, she agreed to marry Thutmose II. By all accounts, however, Thutmose II was an overweight, sickly, weakling and allowed Hatshepsut to run the affairs of the monarchy unopposed during their 13 years of marriage.Upon the death of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut startled the nation by courageously......
