WEBVTT - The Female Pharaoh 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.080 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:15.200 and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. In nineteen 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:20.360 twenty two, Howard Carter had achieved what most archaeologists can 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:26.240 only dream of. After over two decades of methodically exploring 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.520 and excavating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, a region in 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:35.320 Thebes where pharaohs of ancient Egypt built their tombs, he 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:40.080 made a discovery that would change the field of archaeology forever. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:47.320 Carter happened upon a pharaoh's tomb virtually untouched for millennia. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:53.040 Pharaoh tutin common was relatively inconsequential as a ruler, but 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.600 thousands of years later, as King Tut, he became the 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.640 most famous ancient Egyptian pharaoh of modern times thanks to 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:06.000 the fact that, unlike the tombs of many other pharaohs, 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.360 it hadn't already been ransacked by robbers, which meant it 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:16.080 was filled with dazzling artifacts. King Tut and Howard Carter 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:22.560 both shot to stardom, but twenty years before Carter's career 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.840 defining discovery. Back in his very first season in the 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:32.080 Valley of the Kings, Carter had actually com tantalizingly close 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:38.320 to making another spectacular find. Only three days into his expedition, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.160 while exploring the southeast wall of the basin, he discovered 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.440 steps the stone staircase led to the tomb of Tutmos 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.840 the Fourth, a pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. The tomb 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:57.800 itself was almost entirely empty, having been ransacked by ancient 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:03.280 tomb raiders, but didn't walk away completely empty handed. He 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:08.960 found two artifacts, an alabaster cup and a blue scarab 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:15.120 beetle carving, both bearing the name Hot Chipsoot. Later that 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:19.680 same season, Carter found another tomb, one that was relatively 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:24.200 simple compared to the ornate burial chambers of the valley. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.760 After climbing down the rough steps and creeping down a passageway, 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.639 he came to a chamber which looked to be ransacked. 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:39.239 All that remained were two mummified women and some mummified geese. 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.680 Carter was unimpressed. He took the geese, resealed the tomb, 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.079 and moved on to his next find. Another archaeologist came 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.920 upon that tomb just three years later, Edward Arton. He 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.280 removed one of the two mummies, the one in an 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:01.359 actual coffin, and he resealed the tomb again. Neither Carter 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.280 nor Arton thought that the tomb was important enough to 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:11.600 warrant even cataloging. Until the tomb's rediscovery in nineteen eighty nine, 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.960 the remaining female mummy had lain alone on the cold 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.720 floor of the dark tomb for over three thousand years. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:25.400 If only Howard Carter had known that this unimportant looking 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:30.040 female mummy, which he came upon decades before King Tut 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.760 and left behind in favor of mummified geese, was likely 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:41.280 one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs. I'm Dana Schwartz, and 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:48.800 this is noble blood from the beginning of Hotschips That's reign. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.880 She was exceptional, both in the sense of her rulership 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.080 and in the sense that she was in almost every 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:01.040 way an anomaly. Before we get into hutch Its life, 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.400 I think it'll be a little helpful first to understand 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:09.880 ancient Egyptian royal families and their systems of inheritance. Like 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:15.240 many monarchies throughout history, the Egyptian monarchy was organized around 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:21.120 male preferen primogeniture. In other words, firstborn sons and their 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:25.560 offspring took privilege over their siblings in matters of succession. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:31.760 Speaking of siblings, ancient Egyptian royal families also practiced incest 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.919 that might count as this episode's Lord Byron cameo. In 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:42.160 ancient Egypt, brothers and sisters regularly married each other and 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.400 had children, who would then often go on to marry 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:50.520 their siblings. Ancient Egyptians believed that pharaohs were the physical 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:55.279 embodiment of gods, and since incest was integral to the 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.720 ancient Egyptian creation myth, this practice within the royal family 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:05.920 seen as divinely inspired. Another marital tradition that ancient Egyptian 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:10.800 royals practiced was polygamy. While polygamy was not the norm 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.800 in everyday life in ancient Egypt, pharaohs were able to 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.320 have multiple wives. Their primary wife was ideally a sibling, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.320 but they were not necessarily related to their lesser wives. 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.760 If a pharaoh didn't have any male offspring by their 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.719 primary wife, the sons of lesser wives could ascend to 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:37.520 the throne. Importantly, Egyptian succession almost never included women, and 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.919 few women were pharaohs in their own right. That being said, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.679 royal women were not shut out of power entirely Within 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:51.120 their system of government, there was an institutional structure set 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.320 up to bestow power upon select women. Given the many 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:00.240 health problems royalty faced due to their family's incest, as 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.000 well as the decadent lifestyles they led, it was common 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.799 for pharaohs to die young, with only a young child 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:12.280 to succeed them. When that happened, the new pharaoh's mother, 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.880 usually the primary wife of the former pharaoh, acted as 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.839 her son's regent. The phenomenon of mother as regent was 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:26.279 so common that king's mother was an official title that 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:29.359 one could hold. In fact, there was no term in 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.600 their language that translates to regent, but king's mother appears 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:39.680 to have functioned as the equivalent term. Exercising power as 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:44.880 king's mother was entirely accepted, even celebrated, and if you 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.440 think about it, it makes sense why in a strict 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:52.480 system of patriarchal rule, if an adult man was acting 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.680 as regent to a younger pharaoh, he might be tempted 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.760 to usurp power for himself, But women who had no 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.920 way to take the throne would act in their son's 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.159 best interests and gladly step aside once their sons came 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.320 of age. A monument erected by Amos the First, the 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:16.280 first pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, offers just one example 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:20.680 of the celebration of king mothers. Almost the First had 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:25.800 a stella, or stone similar to a tombstone engraved at Karnak, 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:30.400 which honored his mother, his former regent, Ajotep the First. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:35.960 The engravings describe her as quote one who pulled Egypt together, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.120 having cared for its army, having guarded it, having brought 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.000 back those who fled it, gathering up its deserters, having 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:48.600 quieted the south, subduing those who defy her end quote. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.360 I don't know about you, but just reading that, it 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.120 definitely doesn't sound like she was a toothless regent. For 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.280 a woman's power to be celebrated in such a way 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:04.200 so early is kind of remarkable. Notable, too, is just 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:08.760 how many king's mothers there were in the few generations 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:15.080 before Hotchipsut during the Otset of the eighteenth dynasty, And importantly, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.320 these women were not exclusively the mothers of the pharaohs 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.480 for whom they were acting as regent. Excuse all of 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.480 the names that I am about to throw your way, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.240 no need to remember them, and I will do my 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.000 best not to mispronounce them, but just to get the 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:36.240 point across. For example, Hotchepsut's grandmother, amis Nefertari, had been 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.600 the king's mother and ruled as regent for her daughter's husband. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:46.000 Because amis Nefertari's husband, Pharaoh Almost the First, hadn't had 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.400 any male heirs, the throne passed to their daughter's husband, 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:55.000 a distant relative, But that husband was young when he 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.640 ascended the throne, so amus Nefertari, despite not being her 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:04.160 son in law's biological mother, shepherded the country while he 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:09.800 learned the ropes. This tradition of female regency later helped 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.959 hot Chipsut legitimize her reign, but more on that later. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:20.120 Like his predecessor, that son in law, I'menhotep the I 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.960 didn't have any male heirs, so the throne passed to 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:29.280 his sister's husband, Tutmost the First. And finally we get 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.760 to hot Chipsut. She was the daughter of Futmost the 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.560 First and his primary wife, Ahms. Thutmos and Alms did 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.720 not have any sons, but that Moost had a son 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.640 by his secondary wife, so Thutmost the second That son 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:51.280 was his father's successor. Following tradition, half siblings, that Most 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.440 the Second and hot Chipsut wed, thus making hot Chipsut 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.960 the daughter of the pharaoh, the sister of the pharaoh, 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.520 and the wife life of the pharaoh. Quite the collection 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:07.640 of titles. At this point, Hotschipsut's life and trajectory was 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.800 pretty standard for someone of her background. What her everyday 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:16.000 life looked like we can't exactly know, but her general 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:21.400 responsibilities were to perform religious rituals and, like many queens 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.960 before and after her, to provide the pharaoh with a 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:30.400 male heir. But everything changed when her husband, slash half 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.840 brother that Most the Second died in fourteen seventy nine 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.920 b C. Okay, this is the last of the very 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.840 very confusing family tree, I promise. Hotschipsut and Thutmost the 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.600 Second hadn't had any sons, and so when Thutmost the 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.320 Second died, the throne passed to his son by his 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:56.960 secondary wife, Isis a son named Thutmost the Third, but 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.200 like many of the pharaohs before him, the Third was 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.760 a young boy when he ascended to the throne. Instead 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.880 of his mother, Isis, who had been a secondary wife, 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:12.240 acting as his regent, Hot Chipsut, as the closest person 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:17.199 of royal blood, assumed the role of king mother. This 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.559 transition was the stepping stone for Hotschipsut between life as 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:27.120 a royal wife and life as a pharaoh. As king's mother, 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.560 Hotschipsut basically ruled Egypt with little to no input from 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:36.480 Futmost the Third. However, instead of stepping aside ont Thatutmost 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:41.920 the Third came of age, Hotschipsut took another quite unusual path. 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:48.960 Seven years into young Thutmos's reign, Hotschipsut crowned herself along 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.080 with her step son, co Pharaoh of Egypt. She was 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.840 no longer ruler on behalf of someone else, but now 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.240 acted in her own name. And even though she was 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.000 technically of equal power to Most the Third, and even 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.720 though both of their courts got along, hot Chipsut became 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:14.960 the primary leader of Egypt. In becoming pharaoh, hot Chipsut 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.160 went from king's mother to daughter of Ray, Lady of 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.040 the Two Lands, king of Upper and Lower Egypt. Hot 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.520 Chipsut united with Ammun as pharaoh. She was successful in 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.600 maintaining peace and order within the state. Even better, she 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:37.359 helped Egypt prosper financially and artistically. It's clear that Hotchepsut's 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.600 rise to the throne was a positive force in ancient Egypt. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:47.000 Will never know why exactly Hotchepsut chose to elevate herself 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:52.079 to becoming pharaoh. Unfortunately, the kinds of records or stories 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.840 needed to know that information have been lost to history. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.959 Perhaps she felt she needed to become co pharaoh in 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.400 order to secure the sun for Thutmost, her stepson, or 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.920 perhaps she believed this promotion would be the best way 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.680 for her to maintain her own legitimacy as a ruler. 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.679 Maybe Thutmost was unqualified as a pharaoh and she thought 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:20.640 she was doing what was best for Egypt. We can't know. Luckily, However, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.840 there is quite a lot that we can know about 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.920 how hotships That legitimized herself as a pharaoh to the public, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.040 and we can thank hot ships At herself for that. 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:36.280 During her reign, she sponsored an impressive number of artistic 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:42.480 and architectural projects. Many of these commissions featured engravings, paintings, 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.000 and sculptures that tell her story, or at least the 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:51.439 story she wanted told. The type and volume of art 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.839 created during hot ships AT's reign was markedly different from 0:13:56.000 --> 0:14:00.840 that of her predecessors. First, facilitated by the trade routes 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.599 that Hotschipsut had helped to open up, artists began to 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:09.440 draw inspiration from neighboring kingdoms, and Egyptian art began to 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:14.640 feature new motifs and techniques. Not only were artists creating 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.600 new visions of Egyptian art, but now hot Chipsut was 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:22.840 paying them to do so. The pharaoh commissioned an impressive 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.680 number of buildings and monuments during her reign, and in 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:32.120 the interest of keeping this episode relatively short, i'll name 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.520 just a few. Following in the footsteps of previous pharaohs, 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.360 hot Chipsut sponsored various projects at the Karnak Temple complex 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.000 in Luxor, like what is now known as the Chapel 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.840 Rouge Temple. The most outstanding of these projects at Karnak 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:54.440 are twin obelisks that once flanked the entrance to a temple. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.160 Measuring just under thirty meters almost one hundred feet tall, 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.400 the obelisks were the tallest buildings in the world when 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:09.040 they were constructed. Unfortunately, only one of these obelisks remains upright, 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:14.080 but it has stayed upright for over thirty five hundred years, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.040 which is amazing, and that remaining obelisk is the tallest 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.480 obelisk in Egypt to this day. The gem in all 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:27.760 of ancient Egyptian architecture really is her mortuary Temple at 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.440 Deir el Barrie. The temple, which was meant to serve 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.560 as a place to worship the pharaoh after her death, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.760 sits on top of a series of colonnaded terraces. Sloping 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.240 walkways allow visitors to scale the many stories with ease. 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:48.840 The monument was built into a steep cliff face, which 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:53.960 makes for a striking backdrop. Despite how awe inspiring it is, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.320 today the temple is less impressive than it once was. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:02.119 Many sculptures, including ones of the gods of Cyris and Sphinxes, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.760 were looted over the years by other pharaohs for their 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.880 own projects, and although a bit hard to imagine based 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:15.480 on today's arid landscape, the entire complex was once surrounded 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.960 by lush gardens. I urge you to look up photos 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.000 of the temple, as it certainly deserves its title as 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.120 a masterpiece of the ancient world, and I'll put up 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:30.600 photos on the Patreon. Within the episode script it's on 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:36.920 these buildings that Hotschipsut solidified justification for her reign. At 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.960 all of these different sites there remain engravings and paintings 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.960 which tell stories of Hotchipsut's origins and her accolades and 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:50.680 many accomplishments. For example, on the walls of her mortuary temple, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.520 we can still find engravings telling about her successful expedition 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.640 to the kingdom of punt or the region south of 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.600 the Nile around the mouth of the Red Sea. These 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.600 inscriptions and images also tell us how the pharaoh used 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:12.040 religion and gender to justify her reign. As I previously mentioned, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:17.280 ancient Egyptians saw pharaohs as physical embodiments of their gods. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.359 Not only were pharaohs ordained by the gods to rule, 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:24.959 but they were the beings that connected the physical and 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.520 spiritual worlds and held the two in balance. If the 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.800 king wasn't appeasing the gods properly, the world as the 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:38.360 ancient Egyptians knew, would cease to exist. The Nile would 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.480 dry up, disease would descend upon the population, or their 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.719 neighbors would invade. As such, being a pharaoh involved a 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:53.240 panoply of religious responsibilities Accomplishing all of those religious tasks 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.480 were not difficult for Hotshipsut. She had already trained to 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:03.160 be God's wife or the highest priestess in the state religion. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.879 The pharaoh's religious rituals were no more difficult or demanding 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.040 than those of the pharaoh's wife. The task Hotschipsut did 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:17.160 face was to communicate the divine justification for her rule, 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:22.760 and to do that, hot Chipsut made herself divine at 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.320 both her temple in Karnak and her mortuary temple. Inscriptions 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:33.199 tell the supposed story of Hotschipsut's divine birth. According to 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:38.080 the inscriptions, Amun, the principal god during the eighteenth dynasty, 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:44.560 visited and impregnated Hotchipsut's mother in the form of Hotchipsut's father, 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:49.119 the pharaoh that most the first. This way, Hotchipsut is 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:54.280 simultaneously the daughter of a previous pharaoh but also sired 0:18:54.440 --> 0:19:00.359 by a god. Hotchepsut's birth itself was also sacred, as 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.119 her mother was tended to in labor by Hecket, the 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.080 goddess of life, and Khnum, the god in charge of 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:13.280 shaping humans. On top of all that, according to her story, 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.360 hot Chipsut was also endorsed by the oracle of a moon, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.680 who proclaimed that it was his will that Hotchepsut be pharaoh. 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.840 With those stories and proclamations, hotschipsu It covered all of 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:33.120 her bases. Whether or not she truly believed that narrative 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.240 is something else, we'll never know. But like many later 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.159 monarchs who bought into their own divine mandate to rule, 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.000 Hotchepsut very well could have believed that the gods predetermined 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.240 her birth and fate as a pharaoh. But more importantly, 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.639 the general public and future generations needed to believe it, 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:59.960 and by inscribing that tale on her temples, Hotschepsut woild, 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:05.640 cementing her claim to the throne in perpetuity. Another key 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:11.439 way that Hotchipsut legitimized her rule was by deliberately masculinizing 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:16.359 her image. In ancient Egyptian art, there were customary and 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:21.520 distinct representations of men and women. The main difference between 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.879 genders was that men were drawn wearing short kilts and 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.680 with their feet spread apart, and women had ankle length 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:34.520 dresses and a shorter stride. Given that Egyptian pharaohs were 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:39.560 almost always men, the standard depiction of a pharaoh included 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:44.959 standard male dress and stance. Pharaohs were also depicted wearing 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:49.719 a variety of crowns and a fake beard. During the 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:55.159 early years of her regency, Hotchipsut was depicted femininely. She 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:59.200 had a smaller stride and wore a long dress. I mean, 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.000 she was the wife of the former pharaoh and not 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.360 yet claiming the throne beside her stepson, there was no 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:10.080 need for her to portray herself as anything but the norm. However, 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.560 once she crowned herself pharaoh in the seventh year of 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:18.000 that Most the Third's reign, her depictions started to feature 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:23.199 both masculine and feminine traits. For example, the engraving of 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.879 Hotchepsuit at Chappelle Rouge shows her with a long dress, 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.520 but also with a crown adorned by ramshorns, an accessory 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.320 worn by pharaohs. Over time, her depictions became more and 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.720 more masculine. For example, some of the statues that we 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.359 still have of her today feature the fake beard that 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:49.399 all pharaohs donned. Other engravings that depict both hot Chepsu 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.800 and her co ruler that Most the Third appear to 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:57.200 show two male pharaohs. We only know that it's this 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:02.280 particular pair. Because of the inscription that accompany the engravings, 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:07.679 it's clear that Hotschipsut was meticulous in crafting her image. 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.119 She even went so far as to have altered depictions 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.840 of herself from her years as queen and king mother 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:22.160 to eliminate the queenly attributes and add in more masculine traits. Now, 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:26.480 this topic has been controversial over the years. For a while, 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:32.439 many scholars believed that Hotchipsut's masculine appearance in art reflected 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:38.040 a queer identity or perhaps an androgynous wardrobe. However, that 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.720 view has largely fallen out of fashion, particularly because of 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:47.080 the feminine grammar that was used in writing Hotschipsut's names 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:52.120 and epithets. Accompanying many of those masculine depictions of hotship 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:57.840 Sut are inscriptions using feminine versions of titles and feminine 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:02.480 endings for words. While the image appears to depict a man, 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:07.200 the inscriptions communicate that we are looking at a female pharaoh. 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:12.320 Scholars now mostly believe that Hotshepsut did not try to 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.639 hide her sex, but rather assumed these masculine traits in 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:22.080 portraiture in order to associate herself with kingship, and considering 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:25.280 that we still consider her not just a pharaoh, but 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:29.359 one of Egypt's most impactful pharaohs. She seems to have 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:35.440 achieved her goal about twenty two years after Thutmost the 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:39.520 Third was crowned pharaoh and about fifteen years after hotships 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:45.520 crowned herself. Co pharaoh. Hotchepsut died sometime around fourteen fifty 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.720 eight BC. She was likely around fifty when she passed. 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:53.399 Based on the mummy that is believed to be hotship Sut, 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:58.280 she likely died of bone cancer. Her co ruler and stepson, 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:02.120 Thutmost the Third, when to rule for about thirty three 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:06.720 more years that I'm telling. The story of Hotschipset itself 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:10.960 is pretty remarkable, given the measures taken after her death 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:15.840 to erase her from history. Across the many monuments that 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:21.080 Hotschipsut commissioned, archaeologists have found evidence that most the Third 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:25.160 and perhaps his son the next pharaoh, tried to destroy 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:29.840 statues and engravings featuring hot chip Sut. One of the 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:34.040 biggest examples of that erasure was found at d'ar l Baris, 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:39.280 not far from Hotshipsut's mortuary temple. In the twentieth century, 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:45.800 archaeologists found two pits filled with destroyed statues just yards 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:51.879 away from Hotschipsut's temple. After reassembling the fractured stone, it 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:56.400 became clear that the broken statues were all of hotship Set. 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:01.120 Some featured her as a sphinx, others depicted her sitting, 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:05.640 and some were enormous statues of the pharaoh standing upright. 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:10.359 These works of art had previously adorned her mortuary temple, 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:15.320 but at some point they were removed, destroyed, and thrown 0:25:15.359 --> 0:25:19.679 into pits. It seems that Most the third wanted to 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:24.639 erase Hotchipsut's image so completely that he hid some of 0:25:24.680 --> 0:25:29.080 the rubble underneath a ramp leading to his own mortuary temple. 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:32.520 But that wasn't the only form of erasure that that 0:25:32.680 --> 0:25:36.679 Most the third demanded. Artisans on the orders of the 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:41.200 pharaoh chipped away at images of the previous pharaoh, as 0:25:41.240 --> 0:25:46.200 well as inscriptions bearing her name. Buttmost the Third literally 0:25:46.280 --> 0:25:53.560 tried to remove Hotschipsut from ancient Egyptian historical records. Although 0:25:53.600 --> 0:25:57.960 this act might feel pretty personal, the destructive mission was 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:01.600 likely not an act of retro on the part of 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:06.119 Moost the Third against his stepmom. Evidence suggests that This 0:26:06.280 --> 0:26:10.840 work didn't begin immediately after Hotshipsut died, but close to 0:26:11.040 --> 0:26:15.600 twenty years after. Why wait so long to take revenge 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:22.600 If it's personal? Historians hypothesize that actually that Moost the Third, 0:26:22.760 --> 0:26:26.399 removing his former co ruler from the records, was trying 0:26:26.440 --> 0:26:31.719 to gradually subsume his stepmom's achievements as his own in 0:26:31.880 --> 0:26:35.520 order to appear all powerful. He wouldn't want to share 0:26:35.640 --> 0:26:40.080 credit for various achievements during their co rulership. He wanted 0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:44.840 to claim those achievements for himself. Additionally, the idea of 0:26:44.920 --> 0:26:49.600 female leadership complicated the male led form of government that 0:26:49.720 --> 0:26:54.159 the ancient Egyptians subscribed to. Since it was the pharaoh's 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:58.200 job to maintain order and ward off chaos, it's possible 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:02.920 erasing Hotships from their history was an attempt to erase 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:06.879 the reality of female leadership and any of the chaos 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:10.159 that it might cause. So, even though it might be 0:27:10.240 --> 0:27:13.680 easy to assume that that most Third attempted to erase 0:27:13.720 --> 0:27:17.560 Hotship Suit from history because of personal contempt for his 0:27:18.119 --> 0:27:22.760 stepmom slash Aunt, the motivation was much more likely political. 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:30.200 Despite this campaign of erasure, evidence of Hotshipsut's reign remains. 0:27:30.640 --> 0:27:33.080 I mean how else would we know about her. But 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:37.520 between her death and the archaeological excavations of the nineteenth 0:27:37.560 --> 0:27:43.280 and twentieth centuries, hot Chipsut largely disappeared from history. It 0:27:43.359 --> 0:27:48.280 was only after archaeologists deciphered the inscriptions at Dar l 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:53.760 Bari that Hotschipsut, the female pharaoh, reappeared. And that is 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:57.560 part of why I'm telling her story today. This woman 0:27:57.760 --> 0:28:01.320 was one of the most successful and prolific pharaohs of 0:28:01.359 --> 0:28:06.119 ancient Egypt. Despite centuries of silence, were now able to 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:10.720 share her story and her achievements. Her reign complicated the 0:28:10.840 --> 0:28:14.919 patriarchal system of governance of her time and complicates our 0:28:15.080 --> 0:28:18.879 current understanding of gender and power in the ancient world. 0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:23.679 But still she existed and her story is worth telling. 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:33.359 That's the story of hot chipst But keep listening after 0:28:33.440 --> 0:28:36.680 a brief sponsor break for a little bit on her 0:28:36.720 --> 0:28:56.600 beauty secrets. Nowadays, skincare and beauty are all the rage. 0:28:56.800 --> 0:29:01.600 Influencers are touting the newest creams and ointment mascara's and lipsticks, 0:29:01.840 --> 0:29:04.880 obviously the solution to any and all of your problems. 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:10.320 Despite the distinctly postmodern capitalists spin on beauty that we're 0:29:10.400 --> 0:29:15.720 currently experiencing. Emphasis on one's appearance is as ancient as 0:29:15.800 --> 0:29:21.640 the pharaoh's. One of Hotschipsut's notable accomplishments is her successful 0:29:21.720 --> 0:29:25.720 expedition to the Kingdom of punt, which I spoke briefly 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:30.560 about earlier. That kingdom was known for its luxury goods 0:29:30.560 --> 0:29:37.520 like aromatic resins, ivory gold. Hotschipsut's royally sponsored expedition came 0:29:37.560 --> 0:29:42.080 back to Egypt with live mrh trees, with frankencen and 0:29:42.320 --> 0:29:46.440 with gold. This trio of items pre dating the Three 0:29:46.520 --> 0:29:49.840 Wise Men of the Bible. Hot Chipsut brought them first. 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:55.360 Hotchipsut took the frankincense from this expedition, charred it, and 0:29:55.520 --> 0:29:58.960 ground it to a paste. She then took the paste 0:29:59.000 --> 0:30:03.000 and added it to a galina based eye cosmetic now 0:30:03.040 --> 0:30:07.719 known as coal. While she was almost certainly not the 0:30:07.760 --> 0:30:11.280 first person to ever do it, Hotchipsut is the first 0:30:11.320 --> 0:30:16.200 person to have been recorded using frankincense's resin as eyeliner. 0:30:17.120 --> 0:30:21.760 Archaeologists also think they found the skin cream Hotschipsut used. 0:30:22.160 --> 0:30:25.560 The Egyptian Museum at the University of Bonn in Germany 0:30:25.920 --> 0:30:29.760 has in its permanent collection a vessel shaped like a 0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:34.440 falcon that, based on an inscription on the vessel, likely 0:30:34.480 --> 0:30:39.560 belonged to Hotschipsut. Originally, scholars believed that the falcon might 0:30:39.600 --> 0:30:42.880 have once held her perfume, but after breaking through the 0:30:42.960 --> 0:30:46.120 seal into the body of the falcon, they were able 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:50.560 to test what was once inside. Based on the chemical 0:30:50.640 --> 0:30:55.600 components of the remaining ancient residue, the vessel likely contained 0:30:55.840 --> 0:31:00.840 skin lotion, and not just any lotion, but body or 0:31:00.880 --> 0:31:06.240 even medication for irritated skin. The sample contained lots of 0:31:06.480 --> 0:31:10.360 fatty acids that are known to provide relief to people 0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:16.160 with skin conditions. Further, scientists found a number of hydrocarbons, 0:31:16.560 --> 0:31:20.800