Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut is the most famous female pharaoh of ancient Egypt.

Sherri, our tour guide, gave us a mnemonic pronunciation guide to Hatshepsut:
hat = like you wear on your head
sheep = like the animal (rhymes with cheap -- why she looked at me when she said that, I'll never know)
suit = like a men's clothing suit
So, if you can remember hat+sheep+suit then you've got Hatshepsut.

Hope this helps.

Several other queens were famous (Nefertiti and Nefertari, for example) and several other queens acted as regent-pharaohs while their husbands or sons were children and couldn't actually rule yet. But Hatshepsut did one better: she actually took the crown during her regency and declared herself pharaoh.

Ancient Egypt by Oakes and Gahlin describes Hatshepsut's history:
"Hatshepsut's father was Tuthmosis I, and she was married to her half-brother, Tuthmosis II. On his untimely death, his heir was his son by a secondary wife. But, as the young Tuthmosis III was still a child, Hatshepsut became regent and ruled on his behalf for seven years. At that time, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and ruled for another 14 years."

For a time-line reference:
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt about 200 years prior to Ramses II.


Women in ancient Egypt were better educated, had more freedom, and had more power than in almost any other ancient civilization; however, it still was a patriarchy during the pharaonic age. Hatshepsut broke that mold, but still had to model herself in the traditional role of pharaoh. You can see in the picture I took above, at Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple = she had statues of herself modeled in the traditional pharaonic image: the crossed arms holding the crook and flail mimic the icons of Osiris, father of the gods -- very important symbol of pharaonic power, those crossed arms holding the crook and flail; she is also wearing the double-crown -- this symbolized she was pharaoh for upper and lower Egypt, a unifying and powerful pharaoh; and, she is wearing the false beard = another a symbol of power, plus it "masculinized" her and helped legitimize her as pharaoh. See how the false beard is straight -- that means the sculpture was done of Hatshepsut during her life. A false beard that curves at the tip means that the wearer has attained eternal wisdom; ie = they've passed onto the next life.

Hatshepsut is famous not only for being a female pharaoh, but also for what she did during her reign: she built upon and expanded Karnak just like her pharaonic predecessors, and her obelisk is still at Karnak today; she had an immense mortuary temple built -- this is the temple built specifically for the mummification of the pharaoh; and she had a great foreign policy in her governing. 
One of the most famous things about Hatshepsut is that she made an expedition deep into the heart of Africa, to the mythic land of Punt (speculated to be modern-day Somalia) -- something her male pharaonic peers before her (and many after) were unable to do in an amicable manner. She brought back rare trees, incenses, spices, and animals. Carvings of this famous trip adorn her mortuary temple even today.
Also on the walls of her mortuary temple is the story of her creation: in order to legitimize her claim to be pharaoh (a living god on earth) she created a myth where the god Amun possessed her father Thuthmosis I and impregnated her mother, Queen Ahmose. Thus, as the child of a god, she was a god on earth: a pharaoh.

Like her male peers, she was buried in a tomb in the Valley Of The Kings. Her successor, her step-son Tuthmosis III is often portrayed as hating his step-mother the Pharaoh Hatshepsut. However, recent interpretations of his actions (defacing many of her statues after he ascended to the throne) are more along the lines of restoring the balance of power to a patriarchy rather than specific dislike of Hatshepsut. Either way, the peaceful reign of Hatshepsut ended, and a period of military action and turmoil began, expanding the Egyptian Empire across the middle east and into much of northern Africa.

A lasting monument to Hatshepsut, her Mortuary Temple, is one of the true amazing sites of modern Egypt. One of the most re-constructed of the ancient ruins, details upon its walls -- like her creation myth and her expedition to Punt -- can still be seen, 3,400 years after her reign as Egypt's most famous female pharaoh.