With Hatshepsut, or Hatsu, some 1600 B. C., we come to the most celebrated of all the Egyptian queens, not perhaps excluding the world-renowned Cleopatra, and her reign bears also a noteworthy feature, an especial ornament to a woman’s brow—it was a reign of peace. Her father and brothers, especially the younger, were warriors, but she was not. To the male of all species the fighting instinct more particularly and rightfully belongs. No wars of defence, none of aggression and conquest, disturbed the peaceful course of her rule. The arts flourished, and friendly expeditions sought distant shores to gain fresh knowledge of the outer world, to extend the hand of fellowship, and to exchange in the ordinary channels of commerce the products and manufactures of one land for those of the other.
Hatasu.
No such lengthened gap exists between Hatshepsut and the previous kings as we have noted earlier in our study. She was in direct descent, being the great-grand-daughter of Aahmes and Nefertari-Aahmes, and the grand-daughter of Amenhotep or Amenophis I. Her father was Tutmes or Tahutmes I, “Thut’s child,” and her mother, probably his sister, Aahmes, A’mose or[111] Amensi, of whom there is a profile portrait in one of Maspero’s books. Some things suggest that the mother of Queen Amensi was of different and higher birth than the mother of Tahutmes, and this may account for the position which seemed at once accorded to Hatshepsut. Another legend states that the god Amen was Hatshepsut’s father, and being of divine origin, a sort of Minerva sprung from the brain of Jupiter, she took unquestioned the first place; but she was evidently of the blood royal and the arrangement which gave her precedence of her brothers and claim to the crown did not seem to be disputed. Every princess at her birth received the title of “royal consort.” A son and daughter of Tahutmes, probably older than Hatshepsut, died in childhood, the former named Uatmes (who by some is believed to be brother rather than son of Tahutmes) and a daughter Kheb-no-fru-ra or Nefer’kebt. Tahutmes himself is considered the son of Amenhotep I and Queen Sen-semb.
Tahutmes I, like his predecessors, was a warrior. He fought in the north, made conquests in Palestine and Syria and penetrated into Mesopotamia. A stele, erected east of the Euphrates, bore record of his victories, but his daughter adopted a different policy. She and her brother regarded many of these conquests as empty possessions, difficult to retain and of no real value to the kingdom, so preferred to abandon them.
Hatshepsut rejoiced in the usual wealth of names, in addition to or instead of that by which she is most generally known, Hatasu, each[112] writer selecting a different one for his own reasons. These were Hatshopsitou, Hasheps, Hatshepsut, which seems to be generally used by Petrie, Khnumt-Amen, Chuemtamun, the throne name Ra-ma-ka, Maat-ka-ra, etc., as derived from different languages and given by different authorities.
The Egyptian’s awe of and respect for his monarch was usually so great that he hesitated to speak of him directly, but used some circumlocution or descriptive phrase. The name of the god Ra seems to have been frequently, though not invariably, introduced. This was the principal solar deity of Egypt, the “sun-god,” the “father of gods and men,” the chief seat of this very ancient worship being Heliopolis. The sun’s disk was his emblem, and he was pictured as hawk-headed.
The tie between Tahutmes I and his daughter, admirable wherever seen, was one of close affection, and the former doubtless recognized and took pride in the ability of his gifted child. The male historians, with one or two exceptions, seem rather grudgingly to admit Hatasu’s claims, pass somewhat slightingly over her achievements and attribute to her successors what may really be her due. Miss Edwards, on the contrary, is fired with enthusiasm, encircles this queenly figure with the halo of her own poetic imagination and claims for her certain engineering works which others believe to be the performance of her successors.
There is one familiar portrait bust, a copy of which is in the Metropolitan Museum in New[113] York and in other places, which has been appropriated by different authorities to different queens. It is a smiling, womanly face, with well-rounded lips and a dimpled chin. Mariette calls it Queen Ti, Maspero believes it to be the wife of Horemheb, and Miss Edwards claims it as Hatasu. The original, in limestone and of colossal size, is at Gizeh. It is a masterpiece of Egyptian art and was found in a chamber back of the obelisk of Hatasu at Karnak, which perhaps gives color to Miss Edwards’ theory. She says of it, “the eyes laugh, the lips all but speak, and every feature is alive with a vivacious charm which is the rarest achievement in sculpture.” Certainly, if it be this queen, beauty and charm were added to mental capacity. A half-mocking smile wreathes the lips and seems to suggest a keen sense of humor.
Maspero describes her, probably in later life, and says her portraits have “refined features and a proud and energetic expression. The oval of the face is elongated, cheeks a little hollow, eyes deep set under arch of brows, lips thin and tightly closed.” Many little statuettes, headless statues, etc., exist in various places. The temple of Deir el Bahri was approached by an avenue of sphinxes, each figure head being a portrait of the queen, two of which are preserved at Berlin. One, brought from Thebes and thought to be done in comparatively recent years with brows and eyes inlaid, is in the Metropolitan Museum. Her Ka statue was in her temple in the shape of a small bearded man, which was probably taken at the period when she wore male attire. It has[114] the Ka arms and the Ka name of the queen, grasps the ankh and feather of Ma in its right hand, and a human headed staff, also like the queen, in its left. Her cartouch is on the shoulder of the previously mentioned statue and the father and daughter are often united in a double cartouch.
Hatshepsut has been called the Semiramis, the Catharine, and the Elizabeth of Egyptian history. Bold and clever, no ideal womanly soul was this, but the masculine grasp, the masculine intellect was hers. Strong but centered on a few her love was probably not given to the many; her attachment to her father cannot be doubted. Her ambition and determination to keep the royal power is evident, but it was not the ambition of the soldier and the conqueror. She loved power, she wished to rule, but the belongings of others did not excite her cupidity. Her desire was to build up her own kingdom, and the way to that was not, in her eyes, through annexation and conquest. No claims of posterity, no pleas for “the cause of humanity” stained her pathway with blood. One of her boasts was that she had imported and caused to grow a great variety of trees. Some philosopher has said that he who can make two blades of grass grow where one grew before is the greatest benefactor of his race, and some such credit as this seems rightfully to belong to Queen Hatshepsut.
The early historians, whose mistakes later discoveries have corrected, combined Hatshepsut and Nitocris, calling this composite figure Amen-Nitocris, and said that she was the last of the[115] Memphite sovereigns and by a marriage with Thothmes united the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. That she was handsome among women and brave among men, that she governed with splendor, added to the temple of Karnak and built the smallest of the pyramids. But the patient research of scholars has disentangled the two stories and given to each her own meed of fame.
The mummy of Tahutmes I was among those found at Deir el Bahri and the body showed him to have been a man of vigor, with a fine form. His coffin and other relics, bricks with his name, etc., were also found. Of his mother Sensenb there was a picture on the walls of the temple at Deir el Bahri as of Hatshepsut’s mother, Queen Aahmes, wearing the royal asp and head-dress. In these the conventional form is of course strictly preserved and yet there is a certain individuality. Pictures (reproductions of them) may be seen in Petrie’s and Mahaffy’s history of Egypt, as in other places. An ivory wand of Queen Aahmes, scarabs, etc., remain. Queen Mut’nefert appears to have been another wife of Tahutmes I and mother of Tahutmes II. She was said to have been a daughter of Amenhotep and appears on the statue of her son Tahutmes II at Karnak as “royal daughter, royal wife.” “A fine statue of her,” says Petrie, “made of sandstone, was found in the chapel of Uazmes and bears the inscription ‘The good god, lord of both lands, Aa’kheperren’ra (Tahutmes II) made by him his monuments of his mother; royal wife, royal mother, Mut’nefert, makheru.’”[116] These relics seem to give proof of the respect and affection of the children for their parents, but beyond our limited knowledge of the bare facts of their relationships the two queens are but mere names and we turn to the more clearly defined and striking figure of the great queen Hatshepsut.
In the latter part of his reign Tahutmes I associated his daughter with him in the imperial power, as he had probably taken her into his counsel previously in matters of state policy and shared with her all the pleasures of his daily life. Their mutual devotion and his high appreciation of her great abilities is evident, even after the lapse of centuries.
The two half-brothers of Hatshepsut were Tahutmes II and Tahutmes III, or as later authorities say Tahutmes III was son of Tahutmes II, the latter proved to be a ruler of great ability, but neither seemed to hold the place in the father’s regard that she did, and being much younger were naturally not equally companionable to him. The limestone statue of Queen Mut-nefert, mother of Tahutmes II, before referred to, was found at Thebes in 1886 and is now at Gizeh. Her son had it carved and it was in the ruins of a little temple. She is seated, in a long white robe, which shows the form and the flesh is colored yellow. The whole is refined and well proportioned, and despite the mutilation of the nose one notices the sweetness of expression, lightened by large eyes. To this day one sees the type near Thebes. The mother of Tahutmes III was more truly a concubine and was called[117] the Lady As’t, she was a royal mother but not a royal wife.
Shortly before her father’s death, according to the Egyptian custom, Hatshepsut married her brother Tahutmes II, who shared the throne with her or she with him, but it is evident she was the ruling spirit. There is little doubt that she was the elder of the two; it is estimated that at this time she was about twenty-four and Tahutmes seventeen. A somewhat similar instance to this ............