Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself - Think Questions

Read the following excerpt from the book, "Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself", and answer the following questions.

Hatshepsut, royal daughter of Pharaoh Tuthmosis and his Great Wife Ahmose, grew up in an Egypt that was peaceful, prosperous, and respected throughout the known world. Despite this prosperity, all but one of Hatshepsut’s siblings died. Fatal diseases were common, deadly creatures such as scorpions flourished in the Egyptian desert, accidents happened, and a doctor’s treatment was often more superstitious than scientific. When the time came for Pharaoh Tuthmosis to name an heir to his throne, only one son remained: Tuthmosis, son of Mutnofret, a woman of the pharaoh’s harem. When he became pharaoh, young Tuthmosis would have little choice but to marry a woman of the royal blood. Marriages between close relatives were customary within ancient Egypt’s royal family, so Hatshepsut was destined to become her half brother’s wife. As the sole child of the pharaoh and the God’s Wife, Hatshepsut was her dynasty’s last hope to keep the royal bloodlines of Egypt intact. Hatshepsut’s father, Pharaoh Tuthmosis I, died at the relatively old age of fifty. His secret tomb, the first underground chamber to be hidden in the towering cliffs of the Valley of the Kings, just northwest of Thebes, had been excavated years in advance. The fine sarcophagus (sar-KOFF-ah-guss), or stone coffin, which would hold his body was also ready. The pharaoh's mummy was carefully prepared, as befitted a great and beloved king. After seventy days, with solemn ceremony, Tuthmosis was laid in a tomb filled with all the choice food and drink, games and furniture, clothing and jewelry, and the little clay servant figures, called shawabtis (shah-WAHB-tees), that he could possibly need in the afterlife. Following her father’s death, Hatshepsut married her half brother, and the young man was crowned Pharaoh Tuthmosis II. Hatshepsut may have been only about twelve years old. As queen, she received a variety of new titles. Her favorite was God’s Wife. Tuthmosis II and Hatshepsut had one child, a daughter named Neferure (neh-feh-Roo-ray). The reign of Tuthmosis II was unremarkable. It was also brief, for he was a sickly young man. Within a few years of his coronation, Hatshepsut’s husband had died. With the death of Tuthmosis II, Egypt was left without a king to ensure that the many gods would look kindly upon the fragile desert land. Maat was a delicate thing, and without a pharaoh to tend to its preservation, it was in danger of collapsing. Although Hatshepsut had been Tuthmosis II’s Great Wife, he’d had other wives in his harem, including one named Isis. Isis had borne the pharaoh a baby boy, who was also named Tuthmosis. Since Isis was not royal, neither was her baby. But like his father, he could grow up to be pharaoh if he married a princess of the royal blood: his half sister, Neferure. Until Tuthmosis III was mature enough to be crowned pharaoh what Egypt needed was a regent, an adult who could take control of the country. The regent would have to be someone familiar with palace life and protocol. He would need to conduct himself with the proper authority around the royal advisors. He should be prepared to wield power if it became necessary, and he should feel comfortable around visiting dignitaries from other lands. He needed to know his place among the priests of the various gods. It was a job Hatshepsut, perhaps just fifteen years old, had been training for since her earliest days by her father’s side. Women had acted as regents for infants at other times in Egypt’s history, and the gods had not frowned upon them. So until Tuthmosis III was ready to be crowned as pharaoh, the acting ruler of Egypt would be his aunt, the royal widow of the king, Hatshepsut. At first, little Tuthmosis III was considered the pharaoh, with Hatshepsut just his second-in-command. But a small child could not be an effective ruler. As Hatshepsut settled into her role as regent, she gradually took on more and more of the royal decision-making. She appointed officials and advisors; dealt with the priests; appeared in public ceremonies first behind, then beside, and eventually in front of her nephew. Gradually, over seven years, her power and influence grew. In the end, Hatshepsut was ruling Egypt in all but name. There is no reliable record of exactly when or how it happened, but at some point, Hatshepsut took a bold and unprecedented step: She had herself crowned pharaoh with the large, heavy, red-and-white double crown of the two Egypts, north and south. Since all pharaohs took a throne name, a sort of symbolic name, upon their coronation, Hatshepsut chose Maatkare (maht-KAH-ray). Maat, that crucial cosmic order, was important to Hatshepsut. Egypt required a strong pharaoh to ensure maat. Hatshepsut could be that pharaoh—even if she did happen to be a woman. A few women had tried to rule Egypt before, but never with such a valid claim to the throne or at such a time of peace and prosperity. When Queens Nitocris and Sobekneferu had come to the throne in earlier dynasties, Egypt had been suffering from political problems, and there had been no male heirs. These women had not ruled long or well, and neither had had the audacity to proclaim herself pharaoh. Hatshepsut would be different. There was no word in the language of ancient Egypt for a female ruler; a queen was simply the wife of a king. Hatshepsut had no choice: she had to call herself pharaoh, or king—a male title. She was concerned with preserving and continuing traditional order as much as possible, so to the people of Egypt she made herself look like a man in her role as pharaoh. In ceremonies, she wore a man’s short kilt instead of a woman’s long dress, much as she had as a child. Around her neck she wore a king’s broad collar. She even fastened a false golden beard to her chin. When she wrote about herself as pharaoh, sometimes she referred to herself as he, other times as she. This would be very confusing for historians trying to uncover her identity thousands of years later. Since Hatshepsut could not marry a queen, her daughter Neferure acted as God’s Wife in public rituals. It was good training for Neferure, who would in time be expected to marry her half brother, Tuthmosis III, and be his royal consort. But Hatshepsut never seems to have considered that her daughter could succeed her as pharaoh. Hatshepsut might have had to look and act like a man in public, but she never gave up feminine pleasures. Archaeologists have uncovered bracelets and alabaster cosmetic pots with Hatshepsut’s cartouche (kar-TOOSH), or hieroglyphic name symbol, inscribed on each. Both men and women in Egypt used cosmetics. They needed creams and oils to keep their skin and hair from drying out under the brutal desert sun. And the kohl, a kind of makeup made from powdered lead that people applied around their eyes, did more than make them attractive; it also helped block out the sun’s glare. But Hatshepsut was especially particular about her appearance. One inscription describes her as “more beautiful than anything.” With the exception of one military campaign against Nubia, Hatshepsut’s reign was peaceful. Instead of expanding Egypt’s borders through war and conquest, Hatshepsut built monuments within her country to proclaim its power. Her masterpiece was the magnificent temple at the site known today as Deir el-Bahri. The temple was dedicated to Amen, the god who was supposed to be the divine father of every pharaoh, the god to whom Hatshepsut felt she owed her good fortune. The temple at Deir el-Bahri was said to be Hatshepsut’s own mortuary temple. The building is set into the side of a mountain and rises gracefully in three beautifully proportioned tiers, each supported by columns like those to be seen centuries later in Greek temples. Its design was far ahead of its time. Hatshepsut called it Djeser-Djeseru (JEH-sir jeh-SEH-roo)—“Holy of Holies.” On the walls of this temple, Hatshepsut had artists carve and paint her biography. According to the story told on the walls of Djeser-Djeseru, she had been chosen as pharaoh by the gods themselves, even before her birth. Perhaps, even after years on the throne, she still felt a need to justify a woman’s right to rule. The gods in the pictures on the temple walls do not seem to care whether Hatshepsut is a man or a woman—in fact, some of the paintings show her as a boy. 

Before Hatshepsut became pharaoh, what practice does the text say she had for the job? Include evidence from the text to support your answer.

How was Hatshepsut’s reign different from the reigns of the two earlier queens who had ruled Egypt? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

What evidence does the text give to support the idea that Hatshepsut cared about her appearance?

Use context to determine the meaning of the word cosmetics as it is used in Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself. Write your definition of “cosmetics” here and tell how you got it. How are the words “creams,” “oils,” and “kohl” in the following sentences related to the vocabulary word? How does this relationship help you better understand the meaning of “cosmetics”?

Remembering that the Latin suffix -ous means “having, characterized by,” use the context clues provided in the passage to determine the meaning of prosperous. Write your definition of “prosperous” here and tell how you got it. In your answer, identify any relationships between words that helped you understand the meaning of “prosperous.”