by She was one of the most successful rulers of Egypt, a rare female pharaoh that was preceded by Cleopatra at 1,500 years, but Queen Hatshepsut’s legacy was systematically deleted by her stepson successor after her death.
The question of why its impressive reigning time was so methodically scrubbed has led significant debates, but the University of Toronto scholar Jun Wong argues much too much in new research that was published on Monday.
“It is a rather romantic question: why was this pharaoh attacked after her death?” Wong told AFP and explained his interest in a monarch who controlled the old Egypt through a time of extraordinary prosperity.
Former scholars believed that the stepson of Queen Hatshepsut, Thutmosis III, a posthumous campaign of the stain against her from revenge and hatred, also because he wanted to clean an idea that a woman could successfully rule.
“The way (Hatshepsut’s) reign was always colored by her gender,” said Wong, describing the beliefs that Thutmosis III may have seen her as “a kind of bad stepmother”.
His research, which is based on other recent scholarships and published in the magazine Antiquity, argues that the motivations of Thutmosis III. Far nuanced and further doubts about the theory of the counter reaction against a responsible woman.
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt about 3,500 years ago and took over after the death of her husband Thutmose II.
She first served as the rainfood of her stepson, the King-in-Warding, but successfully consolidated the power itself and established herself as a female pharaoh.
Experts say they have expanded the trade routes and commissioned extraordinary structures, including an unprecedented corpse hall in the valley of the kings in the West Bank of the Nile.
Wong rated a number of materials from damaged statues that were uncovered during the excavations from 1922 to 1928.
He said there is no doubt that Thutmosis III, to eliminate evidence of Hatshepsut’s achievements, but his efforts are “perhaps more of a ritual necessity than driven by direct antipathy,” said Wong.
Thutmosis III may have tried to neutralize the power of its predecessor in a practical and common way, not out of malice.
He also found that some of the statues that were Hatshepsut were probably damaged because later generations wanted to reuse them as building materials.
“For a long time it was assumed that Hatshepsut’s statues had suffered a vengeful attack,” said Wong, arguing that a new look at the archives is “this is not the case.”
BS/ACB
