Hatshepsut
A woman rules Egypt as king for two decades, and her successor tries to erase her.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 21 years
- Known to
- ± 20 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Hatshepsut takes power around 1479 BCE as regent for her stepson and within a few years is ruling as pharaoh outright, depicted in male regalia including the false beard. Her reign is prosperous and largely peaceful, marked by extensive building and a famous trading expedition to Punt recorded in relief at Deir el-Bahari. Late in Thutmose III's reign her images and names were systematically chiselled out of monuments — probably dynastic politics rather than personal spite.