Author’s Note
Evidence of Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s reign was not discovered
until the 19th century, when archaeologists found broken and defaced
statues of Hatshepsut. In the great mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, across
the Nile from the ancient sites of Thebes and Karnak, statues had been
desecrated and broken into bits. Royal symbols had been hacked off, eyes and
faces gouged, and heads separated from bodies.
Hatshepsut’s
stepson, Thutmosis III, had done a thorough job of destroying all indications
of her life. Her mummy was originally discovered in 1903 in the Valley of the
Kings, but it wasn’t until many years later that it was brought to the Cairo
Museum for testing.
In 2007, Egyptian archaeologists
confirmed they had found the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut. The mummy shows an
obese woman who died in her 50s and was believed to have diabetes and liver
cancer.
Hatshepsut is legendary for having stolen the throne from
her young stepson, Thutmosis III, and going on to rule for twenty-one years. Pharaoh
Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders of Ancient Egypt, with
hundreds of projects, including buildings, temples, and statuary, credited to
her name.
After
her death, it’s believed, her stepson obliterated her name from all records and
her image from all monuments in a mass effort of revenge, replacing her images
with his own and further securing his throne and that of his heirs. Pharaoh
Hatshepsut may have brought Egypt to a wealthy and prevailing state, but when
she died, all traces of her disappeared.
Some of
the liberties taken with this manuscript include featuring Senenmut as a
military man. Historically, he was known as a scribe and bureaucrat, and it’s
also believed that he remained a bachelor. Also, the inclusion of Hatshepsut’s
addition to the Book of the Dead by declaring that the people could only
worship in the temples, and using the seventh day of the week as a rest day, are
entirely fictitious.
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