Divine Birth and Coronation Inscriptions of Hatshepsut (1473 BCE) Commentary by T. Musacchio, John Jay College, CUNY

The Divine Birth and Coronation Inscriptions of Hatshepsut are a narrative commissioned by Hatshepsut in order to justify her rulership as pharaoh of Egypt. In about 1473 bce, a woman named Hatshepsut was crowned pharaoh, although she was not the true heir to the throne. Her father was King Thutmose I, and she married her half-brother, Thutmose II; however, her nephew/stepson, Thutmose III, was the next in line for the kingship after Hatshepsut's husband died. Thutmose III was quite young when his father died, so Hatshepsut began to reign as his regent in about 1479 bce. The two shared the throne until Hatshepsut's death.

Queens—typically mothers or wives of the king—were common in ancient Egypt, and there is strong evidence to suggest that women had ruled as sole pharaoh earlier in Egyptian history. Unlike previous female pharaohs, however, Hatshepsut was an effective king who ruled over Egypt for more than twenty years. She ruled powerfully during a time when the country...