Head of Queen Hatshepsut
Head of Queen Hatshepsut
Introduction:
-
This limestone head belongs toqueenHatshepsut
who was an extraordinary lady with ambitious and powerful personality which
enabled her to rule Egypt for about 20 years full of peace and prosperity.
Brief Notes concerning the
Ascension of Hatshepsut to the Throne:
1-
For the story of Hatshepsut, she
was the daughter of Thutmose I the great king who founded an Egyptian empire in
western Asia and Nubia. Her mother was a principal royal wife [1].
2-
After the death of her father
Thutmose I, she married her half-brother named Thutmose II to give him the
right for the throne because he was a son of a secondary wife [2].
3-
During six years of marriage
Hatshepsut got a daughter named Neferure and in the same time her husband Thutmose
II got a son called Thutmose III from a secondary wife [3].
4-
After the death of Thutmose II, his
son Thutmose III ascended the throne but since he was a child he was placed
under the regency of queen Hatshepsut. Then Hatshepsut dominated the throne of
Egypt.
5-
Hatshepsut in order to possess the
right for the throne she invented a story with the help of the priests that she
was the divine daughter of god Amun. According to the story Amun took the form
of her father Thutmose I and entered the room of her mother queen Ahmos and
made her pregnant of his divine daughter Hatshepsut who would inherit the
throne of Egypt [4].
The Head:
6-
Concerning the head it was a part of
a complete statue for the Queen which was attached with a pillar in hertemple [5].
7-
The artist represented the facial
features in fine way clearly shown in the remarkable eye brows, wide eyes with
the cosmetic line of kohl, high full cheek bones, delicate nose and thin mouth
with gracious smile [6].
8-
The queen is having curved false [7]
beard as if she was identified with god Osiris lord of the netherworld.
9-
She is painted with the male
reddish color. But the artist succeeded in adding the feminine touch to the
face.
*********
[1]
The name of the mother of Hatshepsut was Ahmose.
[2]
The secondary wife of Thutmose I and the mother of Thutmose II was named Mutnefert.
[3]
The secondary wife of Thutmose II and the mother of Thutmose III was named Isis.
There is a statue for her in the hall of the New Kingdom.
[4]
The divine birth of Hatshepsut is displayed on the mortuary temple of the queen
at Deit Al- Bahari.
[5]
The statue represented the queen in the Osirid form while placing the arms upon
the chest. The head was discovered by the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in
the Mortuary Temple of the queen at Deir Al- Bahari.
[6]The
ears of the head are exposed but one of them is slightly damaged.
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