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site details
E£12 entry
camera free
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relevant links
travelogue 2/13
theban mapping project
history
New kingdom
18th Dynasty
Amenemhet III
Hatshepsut
Thutmose III
Temple of Hatshepsut
The fabulous terraced temple here (and the area itself) is called Deir al-Bahari, or "Northern Monastery". A more engient name is Djeser Djeseru, "Splendor or SPlendors". The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is a huge tourist attraction, a tremendous monument to one of the few women in Egyptian history who rose to the throne. She was the daughter of Tuthmosis I and married Tuthmosis II and eventually took the throne after being regent for Tuthmosis III.
She is not the first woman to assume the throne -- Tausert ha done it before her -- but she was perhaps the first to assume the trapping of pharaoh such as the headdress, kilts, and false beard.In most statues and images, she is shown in masculine clothing.
But that was not enough. Hatshepsut came up with a fabulous story that she was directly descended from the gods and thus destined to be pharaoh, a claim that she shows in many reliefs on her temple.
