"the lord of Heliopolis; Menthu, the lord of Thebes; "Khnum, the lord of Elephantine; the chief of all the gods " of Thebes, and to all the gods of the North and South. They were well pleased with her."1 On this journey, the queen made offerings to the temples, and erected statues and altars; restoring, moreover, much that had fallen into ruin. Her record proceeds: "Thou "restorest what was decaying, thou raisest thy statues in thy temples, thou enrichest the altars of him who begot "thee, thou goest on the plains, and thou explorest moun"tains in great number; thou strikest with thy sword .. thy tributes are men by millions, prisoners of thy "sword thou bringest offerings to Thebes, to the "staircase of the king Amen-Ra." 66 At this point in the life of Hatshepsut, her father Thotmes takes up the account, and records her association in his government with the throne name of Ka-ma-ra. The queen's own representations of her enthronement portray her as a youth standing before Thotmes, who says: "Come thou blessed one, whom I take in my arms, that "thou mayest see thy directions (carried out) in the palace; thy doubles (thy person) are made very precious. Thou "hast received the investiture of the double crown, thou art "blessed by thy magic power, thou art mighty by thy valour, "thou art powerful in the two lands. When thou "risest in the palace, thy brow is adorned with the double "14 crown united on thy head, for thou art my heir." Then to the assembled multitude of nobles and officers the king said: "This daughter Khnumit Amen Hâtshopsîtû, "the loving one, I put her in my place . . . henceforth she guides you, listen to her words and submit unanimously "to her commands. Whoever adores her, he will live; but " he who speaks evil against her Majesty, he will die." "5 1 Temple Deir el-Bahari, NAVILLE, Tomb of Hâtshopsîtû, 4, 5. The full names of the young sovereign were then settled, and stood: "The Horus, mighty by his Kas, the Lord of "East and West abounding in years, the good goddess, the pious Lady, the golden falcon divine in her risings, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ka-ma-ra, the daughter " of Ra, Khnumit Amen Hâtshopsîtû." 66 ་ Her accession to the regal authority, and the relative positions on the throne of the queen and her husband Thotmes II., are commented on by an official of that period, Anna, who says: "When his Majesty (Thotmes I.) appearing in heaven, rejoined the gods, though his son (Thotmes II.) standing in his place (inheriting his claim) as king of "the country, reigned on the throne of him who had given "him birth, his sister, the divine wife Hatshepsut, acted as "master of the country; the kingdom was subject to her "will: Egypt bowed its head before this blessed offspring " of the god, sprung from his loins." In ceremonials, the queen nevertheless seems to have occupied a secondary place during her husband's life, as appears from some bas-reliefs at Karnak. In these pictures, Thotmes II. makes offering to the gods, while Hatshepsut, clothed as a woman, stands behind him. In the Karnak fragments she frequently bears the title of queen, which, as M. Naville points out, never occurs in her own temple of Deir el-Bahari.+ Consistent with the arrangement which secured the divine claim unblemished to Hatshepsut, she never thereafter failed to express devotion to her father Amen, and to assert direct inspiration for the principal acts of her reign. She appears to have considered a manly dress more expressive of authority than a woman's, and caused herself to be sculptured with all the attributes of a king. She is represented in male attire, with a beard attached to her chin, and is referred to in inscriptions by the masculine pronoun. 2 Ibid. • N., T.H., 15. 1 NAVILLE, T.H., 12, 22. Recently discovered by LEGRAIN. The chief undertaking of Hatshepsut's reign was the famous expedition to the foreign land of Punt, and the most important work was her great temple, on the walls of which the story of the expedition is faithfully set forth. The foundation deposits of the temple are in the name of Hatshepsut; and M. Naville, who attributes the building to the queen alone, thinks it was probably begun immediately after the death of her husband, Thotmes II. This temple was considered an entirely unique and original piece of architecture, until in 1904, M. Naville discovered its prototype in a long-hidden temple of the king Mentuhetep III., some seven or eight centuries earlier. This is situated close by Hatshepsut's building, which probably copied the earlier one; but in spite of its lack of originality, the temple of the queen still remains one of the most beautiful and interesting monuments of ancient Egypt. It is built at the base of the rugged Theban cliffs, and commands the plain in magnificent fashion; its white colonnades rising, terrace above terrace, until it is backed by the golden living rock. The ivory white walls of courts, side chambers and colonnades, have polished surfaces which give an alabaster-like effect. They are carved with a fine art, figures and hieroglyphs being filled in with rich yellow colour, the glow of which against the white gives an effect of warmth and beauty quite indescribable. The spirited art of these wall pictures, the bold freedom of drawing, precision of finish and wealth of portraiture, place them among the most remarkable sculptures of their kind. A great avenue, bordered with crouching sphinxes, led up to the temple entrance, each sphinx's head being a portrait of the queen. It is on the walls of this stately edifice that Hatshepsut has carved the chief records of her life; the supposed circumstances attending her birth; her presentation to the people as royal heir; her assumption of power; and above all, the story of the great Punt expedition. The Land of Punt has by modern writers been located on the Somali coast. To the ancient Egyptians it was a mysterious country, visited in early times by their forefathers; but in the days of Hatshepsut the knowledge of its position had been lost; only a general notion remaining to the effect that "it lay to the South, or the extreme East. "From thence many of the gods had come into Egypt, "while from out of it, the sun rose anew every morning." It was, moreover, a country rich in that aromatic gum, which, used as incense, was an offering particularly acceptable to Amen; indeed, it was by Amen's express command that his daughter undertook the expedition to this unknown country. The god, promising to lead the Majesty of Hatshepsut to the "Ladders of incense," adds that, " It is a secret Land, in "truth a place of delight," to which he would lead them "by land and by water, on mysterious shores which join the harbours of incense, the sacred territory of the divine "land." In obedience to Amen's counsel, the queen immediately fitted out five great galleys, and stocked them with various Egyptian products to be used for barter with the people of Punt. The fleet sailed forth under a royal envoy, and in time reached a marvellous country, where the desired incense trees grew in abundance; also the land was rich with palms, strange plants and ebony trees; and abounded with gold, ivory, spices, and curious beasts. The huts of the people were built on piles as a protection against wild animals, and the inhabitants were forced to climb into their abodes by means of ladders. The native people were of a light-skinned race resembling the Egyptians, and they received the travellers with kindly interest. The Prince of Punt came out to meet Hatshepsut's ambassador, and a friendly exchange of compliments and 1 M.'s S.N., 246. merchandise took place; after which the vessels were loaded with the Punt products, and departed for home. It is supposed that about two years had elapsed since the sailing of the expedition, before the five galleys, triumphantly returning, laid their spoils at Hatshepsut's feet. The treasure consisted of ivory tusks, gold, ebony, cassia, myrrh, cynocephalus apes, green monkeys, greyhounds and leopards; besides skins, oxen, giraffes, slaves, plants and fruits; and most precious of all, the incense trees, thirtyone in number, with their roots protected by balls of earth fitted into tubs. The trees were planted in the garden of the temple at Thebes, where they grew and flourished and provided abundance of fresh incense for the service of Amen. At Deir el-Bahari, the remains of several trees, palms and perseas have been found in pits dug in the rock;1 these are situated on both sides of the slope which gave access to the temple, and doubtless represent its garden. At the end of one of the avenues leading to the temple are the ruins of a building which M. Naville suggests may have been a palace of the queen. An inscription of the year IX of this reign, refers to the planting of the incense trees in the garden of Amen, and adds “Punt had been transported to Thebes." The great expedition had therefore taken place previous to the queen's ninth year, and was perhaps one of her first achievements. All of its history is told with minute detail on the upper terrace wall, in a series of vivid pictures with explanatory text. In the last of these the queen, having received the cargoes of the five ships, presents the whole to her father Amen; and an account of the gifts is taken by Thoth, scribe of the gods. A mutilated record on the lower terrace represents the queen as a human-headed lion tearing her enemies; from which it would appear that she had engaged in wars, 1 NAVILLE, T.H., 64, 59. 2 Ibid. |