This is one of the most famous pharaohs from Ancient Egypt: Hatshepsut (d. 1458 BCE). She was highly effective in all arenas — economic, foreign policy, religious affairs — but although those who lived under her rule recognized her authority, having a female ruler (even a super talented one) jarred too much with expectations about power. In the first image she wears the ritual beard, which male rulers also wore prosthetically. In the second image, you see a lintel from one of her temples. In the lower right and left were originally oval designs called “cartouches,” which could act as a ruler’s signature. Only the lower right cartouche remains, though: it belonged to Hatshepsut’s son, with whom she co-governed for a time. The female pharaoh’s sign, though, has been scratched out. After Hatshepsut’s death, the reactionaries who didn’t want to acknowledge her legacy tried to demolish her physical legacy and thereby to obliterate her memory.
Source(s): First image copywriter Miguel Cabezon, Shutterstock. Second is personal photo from the Penn Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology.
