The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

The Temple Of Queen Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut, the daughter to both Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose, was unlike another daughter or son at that matter. Hatshepsut was the favorite of the children but also had two brothers, who had died prematurely, which left her as an only child. Unfortunately since both her brothers died, it left her to be the only one to take the throne when her father passed away. When her father passed away she eventually became pharaoh after realizing that she made more of the decisions that any of her step brothers. Queen Hatshepsut had now become the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty and also the first female to ever rule Egypt. Hatshepsut ruled for little over 21 years and obviously was the most remarkable woman that ever had influenced Egypt. Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, appointing hundreds of construction projects throughout both upper and lower Egypt. After becoming a pharaoh, Hatshepsut took on qualities that male pharaohs did as well, which was dressing and looking more masculine than women could. Eventually Queen Hatshepsut hired the architect, Senmut, who she wanted to have build and put together the temples which she had in mind. She wanted her temple to stand on the western bank of the Nile River also known as western Thebes. After many years it was noticed that Senmut had put together several excellent temples, so he was directed to have special focus on the next one, which would be the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Senmut build her one the best temples early Egypt has seen. He constructed an Obelisk, which is a tapering, four sided shaft of stone, usually monolithic and also having a pyramidal apex. This temple was the design of Hatshepsut herself, but she also had the intention to have it as a funerary temple. A funerary temple was typically a place for burial for a person like Queen Hatshepsut. This temple was said to be one of the largest temples of all time and was also made out of red granite.

The temple of Queen Hatshepsut reflected ideas about the conflict which occurred between Hatshepsut, her nephew and her son in law. Once you proceed to enter the first ramp, leading into Hatshepsuts’ temple, you’re then arriving to columns which have sphinx that are meant to represent the same head as Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was also depicted as a lion in some of the incisions in the temple. Some of the incisions also illustrated her clawing and fighting off enemies, although it was not apparent that Hatshepsut had any enemies. I also read that since Senmut was her lover and also her architect, he put more than expected into the construction of Hatshepsut’s temple. Because the temple took nearly 20 years to build, everything in which the Queen did during the time of her reign was depicted on the walls inside of the temple. Finally when you enter the temple you soon realize that there are low relief incisions on the walls depicting in great detail the maritime expedition of Queen Hatshepsut herself. The scenes describe the expedition which she took via the red sea to Punt. What is now Ethiopia or Northern Somalia was formerly called Punt during the time of 1480 B.C. The texts and drawings on the walls described the voyage and also the gifts which were offered to the King and the Queen of Punt. Some of which consisted of the products exported, cinnamon, trees, ebony, ivory, gold, incense and many other items. The Egyptians exchanged metal tools and weapons and beads. The people of Punt exchanged with them also rare plants, expensive wood, cosmetics, hunting dogs, slaves, and leopard skins. After this voyage, sea trade with East Africa spread and grew tremendously. It was the beginning for the over seas trade and voyages that the Queen came up with to make her land (Egypt) a better places. Since then Egyptians completed there promises and made their voyages longer, there is evidence that advocates that these Egyptian vessels may have also reached Crete, Asia Minor, and maybe even Spain, before 1000 B.C. Although, how far they traveled down the east coast of Africa is still not known. By the time that the New Kingdom came about, vessels were able to go almost anywhere. On the south side of the temple there is a shrine of the Goddess Hathor. Also, the court which leads to this chapel has columns, where Hathor, who is shown with a woman’s face and cow’s ears, is carrying a musical tool. Unfortunately, in this part of the Temple, King Tuthmosis III