Which African ruler is known for being one of the most prolific builders of the ancient world?
We’ve all heard of the wonders of the ancient world; the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Library of Alexandria, or the Great Pyramids of Egypt. At least that one’s still with us. And some of us have heard of historic African rulers like King Tut or Pharaoh Ramses the Great. But do you know who was actually the most prolific builder in ancient Africa?
Welcome to Not Trivial! A podcast that takes a deeper dive into the stories behind the trivia questions you may or may not have heard at the pub. My name is Liz, and I’ve been a trivia nerd since I was young. My parents and I would play Trivial Pursuit very often. I’ve hosted and played pub trivia, and I’m a collector of random history, language, and world culture facts. One of my greatest passions is sharing what I’ve collected with others. I’m hopeful this podcast makes the trivia questions feel less trivial, and more important to understanding how the past creates the present, and subsequently the future. Let’s get started…
When we think of ancient Egypt, we think of the pyramids. One of the wonders of the world, and they are a marvel to experience. It should be on your bucket list, they are worth it, I promise. But the pyramids, even the Sphinx, are not the whole of ancient Egyptian structures. Not even close. They’re just the easiest to get to from Cairo and the biggest visual you can imagine. Kind of like going to the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower. It is representative of a culture, but by no means does it encapsulate the culture. There’s so much more.
Ancient Egypt is centuries - let me say that again - CENTURIES of culture, writing, rituals, religion, and famous people. And the famous person you’re thinking of right now is only one of hundreds of people you can find out about due to the sheer volume of historical records left to us by the Egyptian scribes. Thank goodness for papyrus and stone, right? You’re probably thinking of King Tut. Or perhaps Nefertiti. Maybe even Cleopatra - who by the way, was not ethnically Egyptian, she was ethnically Greek. And all those people are great entry points to learning more about ancient Egypt.
Today we’re going to dive deep into one specific person from ancient Egypt. Someone who was a prolific builder. Someone who was also controversial. Someone who, after their death, caused a very specific reaction in their descendants. A reaction that caused their image to be struck from the record. Which is what happened when someone was allegedly deemed unworthy of history, unworthy of legacy. And yet, their legacy is unavoidable. And you may know this name, but you may not know more about them.
We’re talking today about Hatshepsut, the Egyptian ruler who took on both the female and male roles of a ruler during her time. And we’ll get into all that as we go. But that’s one of the things to be aware of for today: when there are prescribed male and female roles to a society, it can be a tale as old as time to be considered controversial when you embody both, instead of simply excelling at the one you were born into. The other thing to be aware of about Hatshepsut is that she built things. Great, big, important things that were not demolished after her death. We can still see and visit the sites where she made her legacy known.
Hatshepsut was born to a father who reigned as pharaoh during the Eighteenth Dynasty. And yes, we have to get into a brief history of Ancient Egypt to understand the relevance of when she existed. The Eighteenth Dynasty is commonly referred to as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom. This is a time when Egypt reached the peak of its reach and power and lands. This dynasty lasted from approximately 1550 BC to 1292 BC, about 260 years. That’s longer than the Tudors in England, but not as long as the Capetians in France.
The Eighteenth Dynasty is a well-studied period of time due to the amount of activity, records, structures built, and some very recognizable names. Hatshepsut’s father, Thutmose I is only the third pharaoh of the dynasty. But later rulers include Thutmose III AKA Thutmose the Great, Amenhotep III or Amenhotep the Magnificent, Amenhotep IV or as he was later known Akhenaten. Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti, and Akhenaten’s son was Tutankhamen. That’s a pretty stacked dynasty.
Hatshepsut’s father, Thutmose I, is known for his military campaigns into Nubia and the Levant. Upon his coronation, Nubia rebelled against Egyptian rule. Nubia is to the south of what we think of as Egypt, also along the Nile River. According to a tomb inscription not his own, the story goes that Thutmose traveled up the Nile into Nubia, fought in battle, and personally killed the king of Nubia to quell the rebellion. With this victory, Thutmose brought the Nubian king’s body to the prow of his ship and hung it there as he travelled back to Thebes. His later campaign into Syria was the farthest north that any Egyptian pharaoh had ever gone.
Hatshepsut probably understood why her father was going on campaign, but she also probably heard her father discuss the importance of the expansion of the temple at Karnak, which he did to great effect. Before Thutmose, Karnak was perhaps one long road with several shrines. But Thutmose began the efforts to build pylons, enclosure walls, and halls made of multiple thick cedar wood columns. He erected statues in various locations across his kingdom, as well as obelisks and various other temple expansions. Thutmose I was definitely the first known pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, having built his own burial chamber there.
Clearly, there is a template that Hatshepsut was to eventually follow. As per usual in ancient Egypt, Hatshepsut was not an only child. Pharaohs often had children with more than one wife. She had a half-brother named Thutmose II. Who was also her husband. Egyptians definitely kept it in the family as often as they could back then. Thutmose I died and Egypt was handed to Thutmose II. But Thutmose II didn’t rule for very long. Long enough to have a child with Hatshepsut and offer up a couple military campaigns of his own. But nothing near what his father achieved.
When her husband died, Hatshepsut was now the mother of one daughter and the stepmother of the next pharaoh. But her stepson, Thutmose III, was only two years old. Far too young and vulnerable to rule on his own. He needed a regent; someone to make decisions on his behalf until he was of age. This is what Hatshepsut did initially. For the first seven years or so of his reign, Hatshepsut was a regent. But after age 9 or 10, Hatshepsut became a co-ruler, effectively queen regnant. No longer a regent, but a fully fledged ruler in her own right. Equal in rank, title, and position to a king. Becoming a queen regnant means she became a pharaoh. Because the title of pharaoh is not gendered. It simply means ruler. And until Thutmose III turned roughly 24 or 25, Hatshepsut was a co-pharaoh. Essentially, she was the ruler of Egypt, even though her stepson was rightfully pharaoh also. I know, it can be a bit confusing.
During her time as pharaoh, Hatshepsut re-established a number of trade routes. She funded a mission to the Land of Punt, which is basically the coastline along the Red Sea just before the Horn of Africa. As we’ve heard in a previous episode of Not Trivial, trade routes are vital to any kingdom’s existence because that’s how you grow your wealth. And the coastline of the Red Sea and essentially the Horn of Africa beyond that, is a literal goldmine. This area often traded gold, ivory, ebony, blackwood, wild animals, and resins like myrrh and incense. Hatshepsut is the first recorded pharaoh to char incense and break it down into kohl that she used as eyeliner.
But it’s her building projects that are legendary. She was big into temples, which isn’t a shock, as religion was a tried and true pathway to governing your subjects and providing them with order in a chaotic world. But not only building temples, Hatshepsut would perform rituals at these temples. A right that only male pharoahs had assumed until that point. But that said, Hatshepsut was the first female pharoah who actually held power during a highly prosperous time in Egyptian history. So it’s not as if she was bucking a trend that already existed. Two other female pharaohs existed before her, but not much is known of them due to lack of records.
Many statues of Hatshepsut were erected in temples in both Upper and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt is in the South, Lower Egypt is in the North. This is due to the northerly flow of the Nile. Statues that depict her have masculine traits and male pharaoh accompaniments like the false beard and ram’s horns. I’ll be clear at this point though and say that this kind of depiction simply conveys the fact that she was pharaoh, not that she was androgynous or, in reality, embodied any masculine traits. Her big remaining contributions are at the Temple of Karnak, the Temple of Pakhet at Beni Hasan, and the Mortuary Complex at Deir al-Bahari.
As we’ve already learned, the Temple of Karnak had been expanded by her father. Karnak is located in Luxor, which is about 400 miles south from Cairo. The temple complex there is much older than Hatshepsut. The history of Karnak is a history of Thebes and its cultural relevance throughout history. Thebes is Luxor. Luxor is Thebes. For the sake of our time today. Thebes became important as a site in the Eleventh Dynasty - that’s a good 600 years before Hatshepsut! But Thebes was the capital city for Hatshepsut’s kingdom. All rulers in the Eighteenth Dynasty contributed to Karnak due to its importance.
Hatshepsut restored the Precinct of Mut within the temple complex. It had been destroyed by foreign rulers who had gone to war with earlier dynasties, but Hatshepsut’s restoration began its expansion. It currently encompasses almost 1 million square feet of space along the Nile. The goddess Mut is the wife and consort of Amun-Ra, the sun god. She represents creation and her son Khonsu is the god of the moon. The three of them make up the Theban Triad - almost like the Holy Trinity in Catholicism. So we can understand how important it is to devote time and space and money to this area of the temple. Hatshepsut had two twin obelisks erected at the entrance to the Precinct, two of the tallest structures of the time. One of them still stands today and is the second-tallest obelisk in the world.
Also within Karnak, is the Red Chapel. This structure was likely meant to be a shrine and possibly stood between her two obelisks originally. It was destroyed over time and its parts used for other works, but in 1997 it was restored to its original footprint. Ancient Egyptians believed that a sacred barque or masted ship was used by the sun deity on his nightly journey. How else could he get from the sunset in the west to the sunrise in the east overnight, right? Rituals in temples would include the carrying of the representation of a deity. Again, very similar to the carrying of saintly statues in Catholic Spain. Think of Holy Week and the processions they involve.
Barques also transported the dead to their afterlife, so this is a very sacred object. A shrine like the Red Chapel would have housed a barque used by Amun-Ra on festival days. The barque would have been wooden but covered in gold. And it would have been carried in processions on holy days. But the Red Chapel is also a deeply interesting structure, in order to understand the story of Hatshepsut and her stepson Thutmose III. Much of the chapel was covered in relief and inscriptions describing the events that occurred during the reign of Hatshepsut. Some of the relief on the shrine depicts priests carrying the barque of Amun through the temples and streets of Thebes during religious festivals. Other inscriptions and reliefs reveal more of the timeline of Hatshepsut herself. It’s partly how we know when she was named regent and then pharaoh.
One scene shows a pharaoh offering incense before two pavilions, each of which holds a sacred barque and shrine. On each side of the three shrines pictured, stand two statues of Hatshepsut in the form of Osiris (god of the afterlife). Later in the scene, the pharaoh steers a boat toward Deir al-Bahari. The inscription bears the words “The Good God, Lady of the Two Lands, Daughter of Re, Hatshepsut,” and the pharaoh is pictured making offerings to Amun. One relief carved in the blocks on the exterior sides of the chapel tells the story of an expedition to Aswan. Men were sent out by Hatshepsut to collect stone from the quarry there to bring back to Karnak. Reliefs depict the cutting out, moving, and erecting of obelisks. Archeologists have learned how obelisks were transported in Egypt from these carvings. So here she is providing us all proof of what a builder she is.
Along with these reliefs, the exterior façade of the Chapel was decorated with the parallel scenes of receiving the crowns of Hatshepsut and of Thutmose III. Shown with the same pointed nose that was characteristic of depictions of Hatshepsut. Thutmose III also is pictured participating in the processions, but on the interior, Hatshepsut is the only ruler depicted. Representations of Thutmose III sometimes are accompanied by feminine pronouns and he is shown twice walking alongside Hatshepsut's soul. Clearly the two are intertwined in rule, but it is Hatshepsut who is depicted as pharaoh, not her stepson, Thutmose III. And the usage of feminine pronouns for Thutmose likely refers to Egypt needing both a male and female at the helm. Very much like Amun-Ra and Mut. It’s very unlikely that it has any personal connotations outside of this context, because building images of yourself is meant for the good of the kingdom and its history. This is not a diary, or other private insight, it’s all for the public good of Egypt.
The Temple of Pakhet at Beni Hasan is also known as Speos Artemidos. Those pesky Greeks have renamed it because the depictions of a goddess at the site reminded them of Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt. This temple is about halfway between Luxor, or Thebes, and Cairo north along the Nile. It’s a rock cut temple, hewn into the face of a rough cliffside. The temple being dedicated to the goddess of Pakhet aligns with Hatshepsut’s propaganda campaign to endear herself to her people. Pakhet is the goddess of war, the lioness. If the goddess Pakhet was being given tribute via this temple, and Hatshepsut inscribes a declaration there denouncing foreign rule, then her people have been given a clear sign that Hatshepsut is of Egypt, for Egypt, and nothing else.
Hatshepsut's temple is composed of two chambers connected by a short passageway. The outer portico is rectangular and originally had eight stone columns arranged in two rows. Only three of the four columns forming the façade are still relatively intact and none of the internal pillars remain. The rock face above the external pillars of the portico is dressed and inscribed with text bearing Hatshesput's name.
Finally, we can talk about the Mortuary Complex at Deir al-Bahari. Which is massive. We’re back in the vicinity of Luxor again and this complex did exist prior to Hatshepsut, but she was one of the first to extensively expand it. The focal point of the Deir el-Bahari complex is the Djeser-Djeseru meaning "the Holy of Holies", the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. It is a colonnaded structure and is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it, and is largely considered to be one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt".
There are three layered terraces reaching 97 feet in height. Each 'story' is articulated by a double colonnade of square piers. These terraces are connected by long ramps which were once surrounded by gardens. The layering of Hatshepsut's temple corresponds with the classical Theban form, employing pylon, courts, hypostyle hall, sun court, chapel, and sanctuary. The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut's temple recites the tale of the divine birth of the pharaoh. The text and pictorial cycle also tell of the expedition to the Land of Punt.
Pylons are those monumental gates, two pyramidal towers, tapered at the top and mounted with a cornice. A hypostyle hall is one made of multiple tall columns very close to each other, but nothing connecting them. The temple includes an image of Hatshepsut depicted as male pharaoh giving offerings to Horus, and to their left, an animal skin wound around a tall staff that is a symbol of the god Osiris. Horus usually has a bird head and represents kingship and the sky. Here, she is owning the role of pharaoh and making sure her legacy is known well after her death. This is what every great ruler of Egypt would do - build great things as a memorial to their name.
This complex is situated in the Valley of the Kings, where her father Thutmose I was buried. And this same valley would be the burial place for the next 500 years of pharaohs. Well into the Twentieth Dynasty. Hatshepsut is known to historians as the most accomplished pharaoh at promoting her own accomplishments. She created a masculine version of herself in statues and monuments, so that she could establish herself in the Egyptian patriarchy. She even goes so far as to depict her divine origin story, as the daughter of Amun, the sun god. Who according to her own mythology, came to her mother in the form of Thutmose I. Other deities then ensure that Hatshepsut will be born both safely and divinely.
And it seems as though Hatshepsut died in a relatively calm manner by the time her stepson was about 24 years old. DNA from mummies found in the mortuary complex have shown that the mummy likely to be Hatshepsut suffered from bone cancer. It’s highly probable that Hatshepsut also had eczema, which is irritating. And she likely used a lotion or ointment that slowly poisoned her and gave her cancer. She would have been maybe 48 or 50 at the time of her death. Immediately after her death, Thutmose III was proclaimed pharaoh. And he ruled for another 33 years or so, also dying in his fifties. It’s important for us to know what happened during her stepson’s reign, so that we can see how her rule as pharaoh was perceived.
Thutmose III, as I said earlier, is also known as Thutmose the Great. He was clearly not just hanging about watching Hatshepsut do the pharaoh things on her own. He commanded her armies initially, then he went into battles and helped expand the kingdom’s borders. He is, in fact, known as one of the greatest military strategists of all time. All of his 17 campaigns were victories. He never lost a battle. He created an ancient Egyptian navy, the first combat navy of the ancient world. One historian has called him the “Napoleon of Egypt”. But I think it’s maybe apt to name Napoleon, the “Thutmose of France”.
He won at the Battle of Megiddo over the king of Kadesh, which should sound familiar if you listened to the previous episode. This battle was Thutmose’s largest. In marching towards battle, there were multiple routes available. The northern and southern routes went around a mountain range and were considered very safe. But Thutmose called his advisors cowards for suggesting these two routes, and instead chose a dangerous route through the Aruna mountains. This route brilliantly led him to the rear of the enemy’s forces and the city of Megiddo. Bit of a surprise moment for the king of Kadesh. Roughly 10,000 men were present in this battle. Large numbers for two ancient armies.
Thutmose the Great toured Canaan and Syria. And several subsequent campaigns were again against Kadesh in Syria. His navy helped him cross the Euphrates and attempt to conquer Aleppo, which he basically did. They paid him tribute until his death. During his reign, he also built temples and advances in artistry helped glassware become an industry. He really was a Great pharaoh.
So why was Hatshepsut so controversial? Why were her images defaced after her death? She was great at self-promotion. Her stepson became a great ruler. They both embodied the idea of a strong pharoah, bringing prosperity and relative abundance to the kingdom. Regular folks probably loved her. Would her stepson have resented her maybe? That was the original theory by historians and Egyptologists. But this has since been debunked.
Evidence tells us that Thutmose III trusted Hatshepsut. She had him command armies and showed him how to build a legacy by building great monuments and temples. He did not replace any of her advisors or council or architects. He even built his own mortuary temple directly next to hers. So who was it then? The defacing is clearly coordinated, rock and stone chipped away only over her image.
Erasure methods ranged from full destruction of any instance of her name or image to replacement, inserting Thutmose I or II where Hatshepsut once stood. There were also instances of smoothing, patchwork jobs that covered Hatshepsut's cartouche; examples of this can be seen on the walls of the Deir al-Bahari temple. Simpler methods also included covering, where new stone was added to fully cover reliefs or sacred stone work. At the Deir al-Bahari temple, Hatshepsut's many statues were torn down and in many cases, smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. At Karnak, an attempt was made to wall up her monuments.
So let’s have a think. Thutmose III eventually grew older and while he was mentally very astute, likely needed assistance. And as we’ve heard already, having a regent isn’t out of the ordinary. Thutmose III had a son, Amenhotep II. But Hatshepsut and Thutmose III weren’t the only people in his family line. Ancient Egyptian families were not only incestuous but prolific. Family members of Hatshepsut, like the sons of her daughter’s, would have a stronger claim to the throne. And why wouldn’t they want to lay claim, especially with a proud and strong pharaoh for a grandmother. So the idea of her stepson being envious or resentful is more of a European notion, based in its own patriarchal ideas. Perhaps Hatshepsut wasn’t as controversial during her time as we think.
Hatshepsut’s images were likely partially defaced before Thutmose III died, so that Amenhotep II would have a smooth transition to become pharaoh. Amenhotep II, after he became pharaoh, did eventually claim that he built the structures where Hatshepsut was defaced. Which is a roundabout way of saying he approved of the defacing. And taking credit for her building prowess. His reign is marked with attempts to break the royal lineage as well, not recording the names of his queens and eliminating the powerful titles and official roles of royal women. It seems Amenhotep II’s tantrums and habits were not carried over into the next pharaoh’s reign. But Amenhotep II maybe had a chip on his shoulder and continually wanted to show himself as the main guy. A weak, pathetic attempt at the type of self-promotion Hatshepsut was known for.
And that’s the deep dive into a bit of ancient female Egyptian history. The answer to the trivia question: Which African ruler is known for being one of the most prolific builders of the ancient world? Stay tuned for how Europe eventually became enamored with ancient Egypt and the invention of Egyptology.
The modern world would not know of someone like Hatshepsut, unless archaeological digs were funded and executed. How did that happen? By the early modern period of the 18th century, Europe is going through its revolutions. Napoleon is one of the most voracious empire-builders in the world. In 1798, Napoleon led his army into Ottoman territories, including Syria and Egypt. The French were looking to disrupt the trade routes of Great Britain. Napoleon did think that occupying areas like Egypt may help him establish a way to march into India. And disrupt even more of Britain’s worldly goods.
Before the British defeated Napoleon in Egypt and Syria, he got to tour around, see the sights. Scientifically minded men were part of this Egyptian expedition. This side of the “invasion” was successful, because a couple years later a book was published: Description de l’Egypte. They also discovered the Rosetta Stone, helping us to unlock the linguistics of ancient texts. And this group of men effectively established the field of Egyptology.
After his defeats in the region, Napoleon returned to France. And proceeded to overthrow the government. But back to Egyptology! It’s not as if ancient Egypt was lost to the world. The Greeks influenced the region, i.e. Cleopatra, and Egyptian religious figures were transplanted to other parts of the Mediterranean. Once the Arab sultans conquered the region, it was only the Coptic Egyptians that kept the records alive. Remember them from last episode? Coptic Christians. You can imagine then, that Christian Europe on Crusade with Muslim Arabia would cherish and protect any Christians in the area.
During the Renaissance, Coptic texts were given to European language nerds who desired to study the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. By the time the French were with Napoleon in Egypt, Europe was eager to know more. Jean-Francois Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini led a combined French and Italian expedition in 1828 and published their research. A Prussian expedition followed in 1842. Englishman Sir John Gardner spent 12 years in Egypt collecting and copying material. Adventurers during the early 19th century came to Egypt and went home with priceless antiquities.
This was due to the Egyptian government of the time being open to all, especially the West. The famous discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 was a global headline that fueled even further interest in ancient Egypt. Museums in the West were ravenous for artefacts, manuscripts, and items taken from tombs. It has only been recently that the Egyptian government has restricted or regimented the archaeological excavations in its country.
Despite 200 years of excavation and research, many little-explored sites remain in Egypt. A site near Al-Bawiti uncovered one of the largest necropolises ever found. Burials there date back to the Roman era roughly 2000 years ago. Excavators in the mid 90’s uncovered some 100 mummies, ranging from the remains of wealthy individuals buried with golden masks to those buried in less costly terra-cotta or plaster; workers dubbed the area “Valley of the Golden Mummies.”
I hope you enjoyed this little tale of a woman doing a man’s job exceedingly well! Another episode of Not Trivial is coming soon, so please subscribe - available wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you!