Hatshepsut as a Successful Ruler in Ancient Egypt

Hatshepsut was most definitely a successful ruler whose reign (1508-1458BC) marked an extended period of peace, trade, prolific buildings projects and security. Her policies were more focused on the internal development of Egypt, as opposed to external expansion and military campaigns. She strengthened Egyptian religion by introducing oracles and developing the ideology of kingship with Amun-Re. Her trading expeditions provided Egypt with essential raw materials and increased wealth. She also had success in her extensive building programs which were both grand and innovative. Hatshepsut set the foundation of a strong, prosperous and united Egypt through which, after she died, Thutmose III was able to embark on his risky campaign of conquest. Thus, Hatshepsut was a successful ruler whose goal was to maintain security and peace.

Since Hatshepsut’s reign as a female pharaoh was highly controversial, she had to constantly justify her position through enforcing kingship. A key concern of kingship was the pharaoh’s connection with the gods. Hatshepsut formed a strong link with the god Amun by introducing the idea of divine oracles and reinforcing her own divine birth. A stela has been found that says “Amun took the form of the noble King... found the queen sleeping... she wept for joy at his strength and beauty and he gave his love”, illustrating that Amun himself physically fathered Hatshepsut. More evidence of her divine birth is depicted a series of reliefs on the Middle Colonnade at Deir el Bahri. One such relief describes a statement from the god Amun-Re: ‘My soul is hers, my bounty is heres, my crown is hers, that she may rule the Two Lands.” While some scholars dismiss this as mere propaganda to legitimise Hatshepsut’s reign, there is no doubt that it strengthened the importance of religion throughout Egypt and gave new meaning to the nature of Amun-Re and his worship. This would influence later pharaohs such as Amenhotep III and Ramesses II who adopted her religious innovations of oracles and divine births either very closely, or to suit their own beliefs.

While Hatshepsut certainly strengthened religion, she placed even more emphasis on her ambitious building projects. She was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, which was possibly her way of communicating both her traditional and revolutionary ideas to the people. Her projects include the Red Chapel, two obelisks at the temple of Karnak, and the temple of Pakhet at Beni Hasen. However, a particularly noteworthy building was her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri which represented the utmost innovative architecture of her time. It was carved from living rock, and had ascending ramps that led the eye towards the third terrace, the most sacred part of the temple which also included a hypostyle hall. Modern historian Sir Alan Gardiner mentions “even now there is no nobler architectural achievement to be seen in the whole of Egypt”. Hatshepsut also initiated the construction of many statues that were so creative and abundant that almost every major museum in the world has one amongst their collections. Her building projects definitely signify that she was running a successful country well able to afford such expenditure, while also instilling confidence and provided employment for her people, and inspiring future pharaohs to adopt more innovative building programs.

Another important aspect of a pharaoh’s reign is trade; a successful king is one who can afford to trade with outside countries to bring in necessary products and expensive luxuries. Hatshepsut also succeeded in this area through her expedition to Punt in around year 9, which is considered to be one of her greatest achievements. Punt provided Egypt with exotic products such as ivory, incense resins, ebony and also live animals and animal skins. Not only did the expedition provide essential materials for Egypt, it also increased wealth and broadened Egypt’s trading partners. This demonstrates the position of Hatshepsut as a successful and powerful leader.

While Hatshepsut was successful in many other areas, she had very few military campaigns and the existing ones were undertaken on a limited scale. One of her more well-known campaigns was when she overthrew a small rebellion in Nubia. However some modern scholars believe this was an “unimportant raid”, as quoted by Alan Gardiner, who also says her reign was “barren of any military enterprise”. Although there is very limited success in Hatshepsut’s military campaigns, one could also argue that this was simply not part of her plan. She focused more on maintaining internal stability and peace, perhaps to set up the foundations of a strong and united Egypt before her adventurous stepson Thutmose III, who was learning how to be a soldier, would eventually take on the militaristic roles of external expansion. If this is true then it was a very clever tactic on Hatshepsut’s part as this is indeed how it worked out in the end.

Ultimately, Hatshepsut had a very successful reign over the 22 years. She made vast developments in areas of religion and building projects, and also performed strongly in trade. She was not however, heavily affiliated with military campaigns and did not initiate any external expansion for Egypt. Despite this, she did create and maintain a stable, united country that allowed future pharaohs to undertake military campaigns with more ease and security. Thus, Hatshepsut’s reign was successful as she made significant internal developments to allow Egypt’s to prosper, which is especially commendable in her controversial position as a female pharaoh.