Great Royal Lady

Who are the Great Queens of the world?

Catherine the Great maybe?

What about Cleopatra?

Or Queen Victoria?

Queen Elizabeth I perhaps?

If you said 'yes' to any of these ladies, you would be absolutely right. But there would still be one name missing from your list: the Horus, mighty by his Kas, the lord of East and West abounding in years, the good goddess, the pious lady, the golden falcon, divine in her rings, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Kamara, the daughter of Ra, Khnumit Amon, Hatshepsut.

This 18th Destiny Egyptian Queen was the daughter of Thuthmose I (1506 - 1493 BC) and Queen Ahmose. Her elder brother, Wadjmose, died before his father, so when Tuthmose I died, Hatshepsut married her younger half-brother/cousin, Tuthmose II. The reason for this was because the kingship was bestowed through the female line though no female could be pharaoh.

Tuthmose II (1492-1479 BC) was a weak man, physically and possibly mentally, which may be a result of too much inbreeding. May Egyptologists believe Hatshepsut was the true power behind his throne. Together, they had at least one child, a daughter named Neferure, and Tuthmose II had a son with a concubine. That boy was engaged to Neferure, and would one day become Tuthmose III.

When Tuthmose II died, his young son became Tuthmose III. The boy was far too young to rule on his own, so his step-mother/aunt, Hatshepsut stepped in as regent. After two years of pretending joint rule, Hatshepsut sent the boy away to a temple to study for the priesthood and put herself on the throne. Her reign brought 20 years of peace to Egypt.

Now free of that pretense, Hashepsut hired a scholar named Senmut to teach her daughter, and competently administered the affairs of state. Most importantly, she had the backing of the high priests. Without it, they could have destroyed her in an instant.

Hatshepsut' s rule is often looked at negatively or reduced to a few lines in older Egyptology books because she chose to expand Egypt's bordered without fighting anyone.

On an expadition to Punt, a country in Black Africa, though no-one is sure exactly where Punt is, many goods were brought back. Included in that list was an incense known as antyu, ivory, and ebony. There were also animal skins; giraffes, panthers and cheetahs which were worn by temple priests, and enough live animals to start a small zoo.

Hatshepsut built her morturary temple at Deir el-Bahri, though she was never buried there.

Then, Hatshepsut's reign abruptly ends and Tuthmose III comes back to the throne. The first thing he does is hop in a chariot and head off to start a war. During his reign, he captured over 350 cities and is some times called the Napoleon of his day.

Near the end of his bloody reign, in order to legitimize the succession of his son by a lesser wife, Tuthmose III went on a campaign to remove all traces of Hatshepsut. He took her name out of the Pheronic records, broke or removed the faces of her statues and chizled her name off of the buildings and temples.

In Ancient Egyptian culture, if someone remembered your name, you truely lived for ever. Your soul would die permanently if your name was forgotten, and he wanted her gone.

NEXT: HATSHEPSUT FOUND!