The Queen Pharaoh

Ancient Mysteries examines the extraordinary reign of one of the most unusual and little-known rulers in history. Her name was Hatshepsut, and three thousand years ago she did the unthinkable in patriarchal Egypt—she crowned herself pharaoh. By any standard, it was a daring gamble. After her brief reign, Hatshepsut’s name was all but obliterated from history. The Queen Pharaoh would be useful for classes on World History, Ancient History, Western Civilization, Women’s History and Political Science. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• annals
• aspirations
• clandestine
• coax
• convention
• deity
• demise
• dowager
• emanate
• embodiment
• humility
• labyrinth
• loathing
• meritorious
• mutilate
• obelisk
• obliterate
• sanctums
• subdued
• zenith

1. Why is Hatshepsut called the “first great woman in history?”

2. Archeologists and Egyptologists have been searching for the truth about Hatshepsut for many years. Why is the pursuit of knowledge about this pharaoh a detective story?

3. Pharaohs lived lives of luxury and splendor. How did the lives of the royal families of Egypt differ from the lives of the peasants or common people? How do lives of royal families today differ from those of commoners?

4. Why was literacy a mark o privilege or power in ancient Egypt? What does literacy mean today? How might your life be different if you were illiterate?

5. Normally, women did not become pharaohs in ancient Egypt. How then did Hatshepsut ascend to the throne?

6. Most societies have a strong taboo against the practice of incest or intra-familial marriages. But in the royal families of ancient Egypt, brothers and sisters often married. Why did the royal families intermarry?

7. How did Hatshepsut defy the gender conventions of her time and place?

8. Many pharaohs built monuments to themselves in the forms of obelisks. Discuss the process of creating and erecting an obelisk.

9. Why did Hatshepsut represent herself as a male in the statues she commissioned?

10. Why is Hatshepsut’s death a mystery?

11. Why were Hatshepsut’s images defaced and her name obliterated form the records of ancient Egypt?

1. Design a monument for Hatshepsut that celebrates her breaking the gender conventions of her time.

2. Ancient Egyptians painted murals to tell the stories and accomplishments of their pharaohs. Create a mural that tells the story of your life.

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