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Egyptian Monuments > Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri

The History

Maatkare Hatshepsut or Hatchepsut (late 16th century BC – c. 1482 BC) was the fifth Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by modern Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, ruling longer than any female ruler of an indigenous dynasty.

Hatshepsut was the daughter of Pharoah Tuthmosis I and the wife of his successor Tuthmosis II, who died before she bore a son. Rather than step aside for a secondary wife who had borne him an heir, the plucky queen made herself co-regent of the young Tuthmosis III. Soon she assumed absolute power. To legitmize her powerful position, Hatshepsut was depicted with a pharaoh's kilt and beard.

Hatshepsut was a prolific builder, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper and Lower Egypt. Under her reign, Egypt's trade networks began to be rebuilt, after their disruption during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.

She is believed to have ruled from 1503 BC to 1482 BC. Josephus writes that she reigned 21 years and 9 months. Hatshepsut is regarded variously as the earliest known queen regnant in history, as the first known female to take the title Pharaoh, and the first great woman in history, although all of these claims have been contested.

When Tuthmosis III became pharaoh after Hatshepsut's death, he defaced all her images and cartouches, consigning her reign and deeds to oblivion until they were rediscovered by modern archaeologists.

The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is situated beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Designed by the architect Senemut, the mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun god Amon-Ra and resides beside the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep, which served both as an inspiration, and later, a quarry. It is considered one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt."

While Hatshepsut used Mentuhotep’s temple as a model, the two structures are significantly different. Hatshepsut employed a lengthy colonnaded terrace that deviated from the centralized massing of Mentuhotep’s model – an anomaly that may be caused by the decentralized location of her burial chamber. There are three layered terraces reaching 97 feet tall. Each 'storey' is articulated by a double colonnade of square piers, with the exception of the northwest corner of the central terrace, which employs Proto Doric columns to house the chapel. These terraces are connected by long ramps which were once surrounded by gardens. The layering of Hatshepsut’s temple corresponds with the classical Theban form, employing Pylon, courts, hypostyle hall, sun court, chapel and sanctuary.

The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut’s temple recites the tale of the divine birth of a female pharaoh- the first of its kind. The text and pictorial cycle also tell of an expedition to the Land of Punt, an exotic country on the Red Sea coast. While the statues and ornamentation have since been stolen or destroyed, the temple once was home to two statues of Osiris, a sphinx avenue as well as many sculptures of the Queen in different attitudes – standing, sitting, or kneeling.

Hatshepsut’s temple is considered the closest Egypt came to the Classical Architecture. It marks a turning point in the architecture of Ancient Egypt, which forsook the megalithic geometry of the Old Kingdom for a temple which allowed for active worship, requiring the presence of participants to create the majesty. The linear axiality of Hatshepsut’s temple is mirrored in the later New Kingdom temples. The architecture of the original temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in the early twentieth century AD.



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