Standing Statue of Queen Hatshepsut

Standing Statue of Queen Hatshepsut [1]
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e_qu7xKQaHU/T3Nj7Lu8DKI/AAAAAAAABew/SGqDjqJ_k08/s400/The+Standing+Statue+of+Hatshepsut.jpg
Introduction:
1-     When someone looks to this statue he will say that it belongs to a king for having a male body and he is wearing the royal nemes headdress, false beard and the kilt of the kings.
2-     But actually the statue belongs to Queen Hatshepsut who wanted to assure that she was not less than men and she was having the same abilities of the mighty kings in ruling Egypt.
The Statue:
3-     Like the kings, the statue represents queen Hatshepsut while stepping her left leg forward as if she was following her heart in all of her actions.
4-     On the frontal part of the nemes headdress, there is the cobra goddess Wadjet sign of the royal power and protection.
5-     The queen is placing her hands upon her kilt as if paying respect to god Amun while making prayers.
6-     The kilt is ornamented with two cobras to assure the kingship of Hatshepsut over the two lands of Egypt.
7-     The queen is shown with calm facial features clearly shown in her light smile. She is represented in full round face, long eye brows, wide eyes with the cosmetic line of kohl, and the fine smile on the mouth. But the nose is being destroyed. Probably it was destroyed by the followers of Thutmose III who disliked her.
8-     On the belt of the kilt there is inscription having the name of the queen MAat-kA-Ra or Justice is the Ka (Companion) of Re.
-   The inscription is :
 NTr nfr Nb irt The good god, Lord of action.
- It is noticed that the queen gave herself the epithet Nb or lord not the feminine epithet Nbt or Lady.
 MAat-kA-Ra or Justice is the Ka (Companion) of Re
 Di anx Dt : give life forever

Story of Hatshepsut and her ascension over the throne
((Note this story can be told to the tourists while talking about the head of the queen outside the hall)) :
9-     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 [2].
10- 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 [3].
11- 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 [4].
12- 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.
13- Hatshepsut in order to possess the right for the throne she invented a story with the help of the priests. She claimed 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 [5].
14- Therefore Hatshepsut used to call herself king not a queen and in the texts she was described as lord of two lands not lady of the two lands.





[1] The statueis made out of pink granite. It was found in the mortuary temple of the queen at Deir Al-Bahari.
[2] The name of the mother of Hatshepsut was Ahmose.
[3] The secondary wife of Thutmose I and the mother of Thutmose II was named Mutnefert.
[4] 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.
[5] The divine birth of Hatshepsut is displayed on the mortuary temple of the queen at Deit Al- Bahari.

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