1. Egyptian History
20 November 2015
More Early 18th Dynasty

2. Early New Kingdom Chronology
18th Dynasty:
Early 18th Dynasty
Ahmose-Hatshepsut/Thutmose III
reunification of Egypt, reconquest of Nubia, establishment of Asitatic Empire
Mid-18th Dynasty
Amenhotep II-Amenhotep III
peace, prosperity, monumental building projects in Egypt and Nubia
Amarna Period
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten-Smenkhare
religious “revolution”, establishment of new political capital, shifting balance of power in Asia
Late 18th Dynasty/Post Amarna Period
Tutankhamun-Horemheb
return to religious orthodoxy, end of the 18th Dynasty royal family, reemphasis on militarism
Early and mid together are often called “Thutmoside” period – kings named Thutmose and Amenhotep largely

3. Legitimization (?): building program, ancestry, oracular decrees
Hatshepsut
Legitimization (?): building program, ancestry, oracular decrees
Ceremonial landscape of Thebes
Karnak
Beautiful Feast of the Valley: Deir el-Bahri
Divine Birth Myth
Opet Festival: Luxor Temple
Medinet Habu
Was legitimization even necessary?
Is she behaving as a weird female king – over compensating?
Or just as the most successful and prolific early 18th Dynasty king?
Mixture – many of the ways she “legitimizes” herself are the same as any other king
Emphasis somewhat different in some cases

4. Karnak in the reign of Hatshepsut
Not just that she built at Karnak, also expanded ranks of temple priesthood.

5. Hatshepsut’s Red Chapel at Karnak
khnumt-Amun Hatshepsut = Joined with Amun, foremost of Noble Ladies
She gets two cartouches here and T III doesn’t

6. From a block in the Red Chapel, Karnak
“Year 2, Peret, the third day of the festival of Amun, being the ordination of the Two Lands for me in the broad hall of the Southern Opet, while his majesty (Amun) delivered an oracle in the presence of this good god. My father appeared in his beautiful festival: Amun, chief of the gods. Then he seized my majesty [at the sta]tions of the beneficent king, multiplying the oracles for me in the face of the entire land.”
Probably not year 2 of TIII or herself, but rather set in the reign of an earlier king, foretelling her accession.
Lots of backdating going on, though. She probably took kingly titles sometime between year 2 and year 7. Backdated to T III accession.

7. S N

8. Apart from interesting issues of woman on the throne and dynastic succession, Hatshepsut played a pivotal role in the 18th Dynasty. In some ways she is the first really NK king, the first to really develop the ideological aspects of NK kingship and of monumental Thebes.

14. The Divine Birth of Hatshepsut from Deir el-Bahri
Lower left is A III from Luxor
Conception as a result of the union of Ahmose with Amun re “in the incarnation of her husband, the Dual King Thutmose I”, record god’s decree that Hatshepsut “will excercize the function of kingship in this entire land…rule the Two Lands and lead all the living”.

15. Expedition to Punt in Year 9:
Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri

21. Luxor Temple in the reign of Hatshepsut

22. Hatshepsut’s Speos Artemidos façade inscription (excerpt):
Hear you, all people and folk as many as they may be, I have done these things through the counsel of my heart. I have not slept forgetfully, (but) I have restored that which had been ruined. I have raised up that which had gone to pieces formerly, since the Asiatics were in the midst of Avaris of the Northland, and vagabonds were in the midst of them, overthrowing that which had been made.

23. Hatshepsut’s temple to Horus of Buhen in Nubia.
A relief from Hatshepsut’s temple at Buhen, showing her figure (left) carved initially in female clothing and later altered to be typical king’s clothing.
There are also reliefs she added to the Hathor temple at Serabit el Khadim in Sinai.
Hatshepsut’s temple to Horus of Buhen in Nubia.

24. The tomb(s?) of Hatshepsut
Boston sarc recarved for Thutmose I
The tomb(s?) of Hatshepsut

25. Scant (but sufficient) evidence for military campaigns in the reign of Hatshepsut:
depictions at Deir el Bahri of campaign against Nubians.
“a slaughter was made among them, the number being unknown; their hands were cut off…”
Private texts (fragmentary):
Ty graffito near Aswan: Hatshepsut was there in person “overthrowing the Nubian nomads…destroying the land of Nubia”
Djehuty stele claims he saw Hatshepsut receiving captured booty on the battlefield
Graffito at Tangur, year 12, mentions Nubian campaign led by Thutmose III
Thutmose III captured Gaza during the joint reign

26. Officials in the reign of Hatshepsut:
Categories (not mutually exclusive):
Inherited and maintained
Newly installed while she was regent or king
Those who stayed in roles under TIII sole reign
Senenmut (category 2)
Chief steward of Amun
Steward of the God’s Wife
Steward of the King’s Daughter (Neferura)
architect of Deir el Bahri?
he was of humble middle Egyptian origins. Made a magnificient burial for his parents, which was found intact.
Overarching themes of officials: a few high officials in category one were apparently well rewarded for their loyalty. A large group of category two built up a powerful court who owed their power directly to her.
Her building projects and in particular her expansion of the personnel at Karnak created a large number of new official posts with real wealth and patronage attached. Creation of a more powerful Amun establishment was a result of her policies, not a feature that led to her own rise.
T III followed the pattern set by H: he retained some of her officials and even promoted them, but also built up a lot of new people around him. Suggests a) that her take on administration was just how it was done in the NK, not particular to her reign; and b) that he did not retaliate en masse against those who had been close to her. (Senenmut, whose tomb was destroyed violently, was perhaps one he did. Not clear if he lived past year 17 or so, though.)
Another well known official would be Useramun, vizier, dead before she became king probably, but his son was then appointed – maybe a deal to support her?