Ancient blocks linked to Egypt’s first female pharaoh

In a rare find, ancient blocks of stone have been discovered that depict images of the first female Egyptian pharaoh in history, Queen Hatshepsut, as a woman.

While the previous sentence may raise some eyebrows, there is a simple explanation: Hatshepsut depicted herself as both a woman and a man, with her sex generally depending on where she was in her reign.

The First Female Pharaoh

Around 1500 BCE, Queen Hatshepsut’s husband and half-brother, Thutmose II, died, passing the Egyptian throne to his son, Thutmose III—his child with one of his lesser wives, Isis. However, Thutmose III was only an infant at the time, leaving Hatshepsut to rule as regent. She was, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica, extremely conventional in this capacity, and her depictions were of her as a woman in female clothing—or at least for about seven years.

At that point, she crowned herself king, taking on the full role and regalia of a pharaoh in real life. Her statues and imagery shifted to a female body with male regalia (kilt, crown, and a false beard), to eventually a male body with the regalia. Such a move does not appear to be an attempt to fool people into believing she was a man, but rather to cement her power as an authority figure.

And this seems to have served its purpose well, as Hatshepsut went on to rule for more than two decades—and is now viewed as one of the most successful pharaohs in history.

However, when Thutmose III took over, he attempted to erase her reign from history, destroying monuments, statues, and writings containing her name or image. Thankfully, this action was not completely successful. In 1822, she was rediscovered, and several images of her—both as a man and a woman—have been found since, including the latest discovery of 30 carved blocks on Elephantine Island in Egypt.

Finding enlightening blocks

The find was made by a German-Egyptian team, according to Ahram Online. The blocks in question were originally part of a building dating to Hatshepsut’s reign. They constituted a way station for a festival barque (ship) dedicated to the god Khnum—the Egyptian god of rebirth and creation. However, the blocks were later coopted for use in a temple of Pharaoh Nectanebo II, whose ruled starting 360 BCE.

“This is one of very few buildings discovered from the early period of Queen Hatshepsut,” Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department Mahmoud Afifi told Ahram Online. In fact, only one other has been discovered—in Karnak.

The blocks are carved with images of Khnum and images depicting Hatshepsut as a woman, indicating they were created early in her reign—although the cartouches in which her name was written were effaced on the stone.

Moreover, the archaeologists believe that the blocks indicate the shape of the original building they were in. It likely had a chamber lined on four sides with pillars, on which the barque of Khnum rested.

“The building thus not only adds to our knowledge of the history of Queen Hatshepsut but also to our understanding of the religious beliefs current on the Island of Elephantine during her reign,” wrote the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

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Image credit: German Institute

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