Queen Hatshepsut: HER STORY | EPISODE 3 (FULL DOCUMENTARY) Ancient Egypt's Greatest Female Ruler

Throughout history, we have witnessed innumerable women who have written their names for all to remember, but none come close to the iconic Egyptian female pharaoh, Hatshepsut. She ruled in a world where male domination was prevalent. Born into one of Egypt's most powerful dynasties, she came from a long line of great feminine role models who changed the course of history in their own right. I've always loved Hatshepsut. She is a strong woman who took over, she ruled, she was a great diplomat. Hatshepsut didn't inherit the throne. She was compelled to take it. Her father had died, her weaker brother had died, and the only male heir was an infant. She did what had only happened once before hundreds of years prior. In images from this period, she was the pharaoh. The male ruler, but as a woman, setting a standard for all future female rulers. Not just doing this in an ordinary way, but in an extraordinary one. Hatshepsut was not just some political figure. New research can prove that she was a warrior, fighting for the rights of her country. When a man says he led a campaign, we tend to take it at face value. When a woman does, we question it. For years, Hatshepsut has been subject to controversy and conspiracy. There are some people in the past few years that have tried to push the narrative that Hatshepsut must have been transgender. Hatshepsut dressed as a man to convince the Egyptians that she has the right to be a pharaoh. But we announce something with evidence. They are misunderstanding a lot of the cultural references of the time. Now, we are setting the record straight. Get close up to her monuments to find their real meaning and discover the secrets we overlook. Hatshepsut, who has deified herself. One of the evidence, Hatshepsut didn't did anything bad to Thutmose III. But she's capitalizing upon political theology. We are setting out on a quest to unravel the full life of Hatshepsut like never before. She died because of cancer. It means Thutmose III did not murder her. Revealing the true story of one of the greatest pharaohs and rulers of all time, Hatshepsut. The most powerful woman in history. Join myself, Curtis Ryan Woodside and many Egyptologists as we tell the story of Hatshepsut. This is her story. The Heb Sed was clearly a very important event for Hatshepsut. A time that probably filled her with great joy and pride. It would be in the same year, however, that not one, but two tragedies would strike Hatshepsut. Her beloved daughter, the god's wife of Amun, has died. Hatshepsut must have been broken hearted by this and would have gone into the traditional 70 days of mourning. She had no other direct heir. Nor did Neferura have a child. Neferura would have been around 28 years old. Because her death appears to be sudden, Hatshepsut buried her in an unfinished tomb. She chose the valley on the opposite side of the Valley of the Kings. More near, what we call today, the Valley of the Queens. This was near the tomb Hatshepsut abandoned construction on when she became pharaoh in year 7 of Thutmose III's reign. Hatshepsut chose a very bizarre location, high up in the cliffs of the valley. Perhaps it was to protect her daughter's body from future vandals. The tomb was roughly cut. The walls were plastered, but not decorated, with only the cartouche of Neferura inside, as well as a red scarab with the princess's cartouche. This well-hidden tomb was discovered by Howard Carter, the same man that discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. Howard Carter even left his name graffitied inside, something quite common for him, as he did this innumerable times throughout his travels in Egypt. Then again in the same year, Hatshepsut's closest advisor, her chief architect and the tutor to her daughter, Senenmut, also dies. Rather than being buried in his original tomb high up on the mountains, which is where he buried his parents, Senenmut had ordered himself a new tomb to be made right next to the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, as a way to be forever connected to Hatshepsut. Senenmut made such innovations with this new tomb. For the first time, an astronomical ceiling was put into a tomb. This design, created by Senenmut himself, would then go on to be repeated in many pharaohs' royal tombs. His legacy would live on. It appears that Senenmut also died unexpectedly, as the tomb is not complete. We do not have his mummy, yet a non-royal man's mummy was discovered in the cachet from when the Egyptian priests relocated the royal mummies for safekeeping. This man is from the 18th dynasty and appears to have been over 50 years old, which would correlate with what we know of Senenmut. This mummy has a striking feature. He does appear to have very deep lines around the nose and mouth. Inside Senenmut's final tomb, in the unfinished hallway, there is an image of a man. This image is not graffiti. It is drawn on a grid, the same grid that the artists used to lay out the inscriptions with. It is Senenmut, and he is shown with the same defined lines around the mouth and nose. This image was designed by Senenmut for his tomb. No doubt he actually looked like this. Usually these kinds of features are not shown, unless it was that distinct. But can we confirm this? Discovered just outside his first tomb, the workmen there left behind three draft images, all of which appear to be the same man, the owner of the tomb. One ostracon shows what is clearly Senenmut twice, and yes, they included the very same smile lines and his bumped nose. The other shows a more skilled drawing on a grid, with Senenmut again, with all his distinct features. Senenmut is known to have not married nor conceived any children, and even his half-brother is said to perform the funerary rites on him, not a son. The last date in Senenmut's final tomb is around year 15 or 16 of Hatshepsut's reign. There is no mention of Neferura in his tomb, which is rather strange, since he commissioned several statues of them together. From this we can understand that Neferura was already dead Outside Senenmut's original tomb, we learn he did however intend to include Neferura. He commissioned two statues of himself with Neferura as a child on his lap, again showing their close relationship. There is however a larger statue nearby. This statue has an obscure side to it. It was never finished nor used. Some suggest that it was of an assistant, and possible half-brother to Senenmut, named Seniamen. Seniamen is known to have assisted in tutoring Neferura. His tomb is next to the first tomb of Senenmut, though a rather insignificant burial. In Senenmut's first tomb, Seniamen is shown with a woman next to him, named Senemia. This is the mother of Seniamen. The outside statue shows an unnamed man, kneeling down with Neferura on his lap. But next to him stands an unnamed woman. This woman has her one hand on the shoulder of the man, the typical symbol of support. This is unlikely to be a marriage statue, as the positioning of the hands would either be at the waist, or the woman would be holding the husband's arm, with her arm crossing over. It could however be a mother and son statue, with the mother standing and holding her son's shoulder. However, this would be unlikely to be Seniamen. We have no other evidence that these statues were being made for anyone else, rather than Senenmut and Neferura. So who is this woman? It could be Senenmut's mother, that he buried in his tomb. This woman is wearing a thick long hairstyle, a long dress, and her right arm is raised, holding a cistern. Egyptian queens are often shown with their left arm raised, but the right arm can't be ruled out always. The reverse goes for Egyptian noblewomen. She could be a grown-up Neferura. Unlikely, or it was Senenmut sending out a subtle message with this statue. For years, many have suggested that Hatshepsut and Senenmut were more than just close. They were maybe lovers. Could this be Hatshepsut standing in a portrait with Senenmut? The woman does appear to be an afterthought of the statue. It is possible that she may even be the goddess Hathor, which in any case would symbolize Hatshepsut to Senenmut anyway. There is almost no real evidence that tells us outright that the relationship between Hatshepsut and Senenmut was anything more than platonic. Senenmut was very shrewd though. He is famous to us for all of his secret messages all over. Did he leave any of his secrets inside Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri? Perhaps in one of the inner sanctuaries, Senenmut left a secret note. Inside the chapel of Hathor, on one of the small niches, Senenmut himself made a crude carving on the wall, showing himself with his hands raised in worship toward the name of Hatshepsut, though neither us nor the priests were to know of this image of Senenmut in the temple. It would have been hidden behind the wooden doors that would cover it inside when opened. Being the designer of the temple, Senenmut knew exactly what he was doing, leaving a secret message hidden behind a small door that he may be with Hatshepsut for forever. Senenmut would leave over 60 of these graffiti throughout the temple, of which only one remains completely unobliterated. It seems that many years later, these images were discovered and totally removed from all memory. Even the positioning of his tomb next to Hatshepsut's temple is unusual. He was even gifted the stone sarcophagus intended for Hatshepsut's original tomb by the queen herself. This tomb also has a shaft that goes down to a small unfinished chamber that coincidentally, or not so coincidentally knowing Senenmut, is level with the burial chamber of Hatshepsut right behind the mountain in the Valley of the Kings, possibly connecting them in the afterlife too. I found out that Senenmut took Imhotep as his symbol. He put for him a chapel inside the temple and also Senenmut is buried underneath the temple. And that is what really I believe, that Imhotep is buried inside the steppe pyramid. Then I really believe that there was a strong relationship between Senenmut and Hatshepsut. And people say that they were lovers. It could be. But we don't have an exact evidence. But if someone, the director of the palace, raised her daughter, is buried underneath her temple, it should be someone to be important to the queen. And we know that when she became a pharaoh, she had no one beside her except Senenmut. And this could be someone as a lover, maybe. But maybe there was a reason that she didn't marry him, we do not really know. About the relation between Hatshepsut and Senenmut, it's a normal relation. Because each pharaoh should have like a teacher to his kids. And each pharaoh, he has also a teacher when he was a child. So a lady, she was alone in the country, her husband passed away, she was alone in the palace. So of course she needs someone to support her, to help her, to do all of these jobs. So I think the relation between each other, it was a normal relation. A relationship between Hatshepsut and Senenmut would have been forbidden if she married a man that would make the royal role of Thutmose useless. So if they did have a relationship, it would have to be very secret. Some historians in the past, suggesting that Hatshepsut and Senenmut may have been lovers, that they may have had a secret relationship. It's ridiculous to even think that a woman couldn't do anything without a man, because there's absolutely no evidence to support this claim. And in my personal opinion, this has been a nasty way to try and discredit Hatshepsut as a ruler. And it's an underestimation of Hatshepsut in the most vile form. Some historians even went as far as to call Hatshepsut the vilest type of usurper. It's utterly ridiculous that male historians back in the day could not accept a female ruler of an ancient kingdom of which they had no power or control over. And these ancient historians did everything in their power to diminish the accomplishments of one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs to have ever lived and ruled over the kingdom. Surprisingly, we aren't the only ones to suggest a more intimate relationship between Hatshepsut. 3,500 years ago, there were already rumors of something more between the king and the commoner going around. In fact, someone felt so strongly about it that they even wrote it down. High in the mountains surrounding Deir el-Bahri, in an unfinished tomb where the workmen would come together to have a break and drink some beer. In this tomb, they all left behind their own little scribbles, over 71 to be precise. Among these graffiti which come from the reign of Hatshepsut are a few that would have raised the eyebrows of the public if they had seen them. The first which is more innocent is a crude graffiti of Senenmut himself with his name clearly shown along with the lines on his face. But deeper inside the cave is possibly the most shocking image of Hatshepsut's reign. A man and a woman are engaged in the midst of intercourse. The man who appears to be a commoner is bending over a woman. We know it is a woman because of the lack of male genitalia and the presence of the defined intimate dark triangle which is shown in all nude images of women. But this is not just a regular woman. She is wearing the nemes headcloth worn only by the pharaoh. This graffiti shows Hatshepsut intimately with a man. But who could the man be? None other than the overseer of these men, the same man they depicted at the entrance, Senenmut. These men would have worked closely with Senenmut. Maybe he had bragged to the men about his relationship with the female pharaoh or the men had simply speculated it and drew the image while gossiping. But who would draw such an image? There are other graffiti in the cave of men with erect phalluses. Above the Hatshepsut graffiti is a text which tells us this is by a scribe of Hatshepsut named Neferhotep. Reading the text above, one might expect it to be his personal thoughts. On the contrary, we find a prayer to the gods including Amun, his wife Mut and of course Hathor. The presence of this prayer and the erotic graffiti here could suggest that they were rather talking about a specific celebration that started when Hatshepsut was pharaoh. Over at Karnak in the far reaches of the precinct is another smaller temple dedicated to Amun's wife Mut. Hatshepsut had extended this temple and inside are stories of a festival she reignited. The god of protecting children, Bes, shown here in his dwarf form with the face of a lion, the beard of a man. He's quite interesting looking. But apart from protecting children, Bes was the god of sex. And this is quite interesting that he's here at the temple of Mut because at this temple we know of a festival that took place called the festival of drunkenness. The festival was, in short, to recreate the story of Ra becoming angry with the Egyptians when not following the rules. He sends the goddess Sekhmet who takes the form of a lioness to destroy mankind for their disobedience. However, the Egyptians take beer and dye it red. The lion drinks this beer, thinking it's blood and passes out from the alcohol. She then wakes up calm, having forgotten about her mission to destroy the world. This festival was celebrated by all, common and noble. The aim was to get so drunk until you passed out, recreating Sekhmet's mission. While this happened, there was loud music, dancing and everyone fornicated with everyone. Hatshepsut celebrated this festival twice in her reign. Between 2004 and 2007, an expedition unearthed a remarkable structure beneath the western side of the Mut temple. Column drums reveal the remains of a pillared hall and this was dedicated by Queen Hatshepsut herself. It was identified as a monument to the goddess Mut. It was a ritual space known as the Port of Drunkenness. One of the inscription reads, she made it as a monument for her mother Mut, mistress of Isheru, making for her a columned portico of drunkenness and knew that she might perform, given life. This is really interesting because it wasn't metaphor, it was architectural theology. The hall was designed for the celebration of the festival of drunkenness. By Hatshepsut's 16th year as pharaoh with Thutmose III, in 1463 BC, Thutmose was sent to Canaan and the northern lands to yet again subdue them, which was a success. Senenmut was now dead and a new chief architect and steward was appointed, a man named Amenhotep. His work with Hatshepsut would be her highest achievement. Hatshepsut had big plans to memorialize her recent jubilee that took place. Like Senenmut, Amenhotep went to oversee the quarrying of the stones at Jebel Sisila. This was probably for the avenue of sphinxes which lined the entrance and gardens to her temple. Amenhotep also commissioned himself a small chapel at Sisila. Then Amenhotep arrived in Aswan where he was to oversee the excavation of two new and more impressive obelisks for Hatshepsut to be taken to Karnak. Amenhotep was so proud of his work for Hatshepsut on the obelisks that he would leave a record behind for us at Sahel Island where he oversaw the excavations of more granite. On a large stone he tells us that he was proud to oversee the works of the two obelisks for Hatshepsut. We can even see these two obelisks carved into the stone. In ancient Egyptian they were called Tekenu. This great achievement was also recorded in Hatshepsut's red chapel at Karnak. Hatshepsut presenting as pharaoh before the two obelisks which are being received by the god Amun. She proclaims The king raised these two great obelisks for her father Amun-Ra. With exceedingly abundant electrum atop their height pierces the sky and illuminates the two lands like the sun disk Aten itself. Never since the beginning has such a thing been done. May she be given life. Amun-Hotep had the two giant obelisks erected right at the center of Karnak. They would be visible from all over the city. In 2005 under the obelisk it was discovered that Hatshepsut had buried a double statue of another pharaoh named Neferhotep. This would be to harness the energy from that pharaoh and transfer it to Hatshepsut. The second obelisk however had fallen down in antiquity. Most of it was ruined and lay on the ground for thousands of years allowing us to get close up to the detailed parts not intended for human eyes but for the gods. In 2022 a group of Egyptian archaeologists planned to re-raise the remaining part of Hatshepsut's fallen obelisk. The project was a success and today the fallen obelisk of Hatshepsut stands proud yet again. Unfortunately only one of Hatshepsut's four obelisks still stand complete. The Pyramidian Cap of One is now at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The monument was created by the Queen not only for Amun but also for us. One of the most fascinating texts from the reign of Hatshepsut is an inscription on the base of one of her obelisks at Karnak. Within this text she tells us that thousands of years in the future generation after generation she wants people to know why she erected such a massive obelisk that it was for her father Amun that she is continuing in the proper mold of king erecting monuments for the great gods of Egypt but that she's not just doing this in an ordinary way but in an extraordinary one. Hatshepsut's own words remain on the obelisk. I declare to the people who shall be in the future who shall observe my monument I made for my father who shall speak in discussion who shall look to posterity now my heart turns to and fro in thinking what will the people say they who shall see my monument after many years and who shall speak of what I have done. It would appear that Hatshepsut had lost her drive after year 16. Almost nothing worthy of writing down happened for the next years. She may have focused more on religion now. We do not know why this is. Could it be the death of her daughter and her most trusted advisor or was it something else? A stele from the later years now in the Vatican shows Hatshepsut with Thutmose behind her with the goddess Waset of Luxor and the god Amul. The stele shows they are still co-pharaohs and that now restoration of older monuments in Luxor would take place. For now many years would pass with no news from Hatshepsut. In year 20 in 1460 BC a stele from Serebet el-Khadem in Sinai gives us a little glimpse. A stele tells us that there began some issues up north with the Canaanites and Mitanni. The stele says Thutmose went there with his army and would be successful for a short period. Hatshepsut would now be mentioned for one final time. In 1458 BC Hatshepsut's 22nd ruling year a stele from Armanth is the last time we will hear of this female pharaoh. The stele tells us that on the 16th of January the 10th day of the 6th month in the 22nd ruling year of Hatshepsut she had now died. Hatshepsut would be mummified as the pharaoh she was. Thutmose would have performed the final rites for his deceased stepmother. At the Red Chapel we can even see Thutmose worshipping Hatshepsut who is now in the form of Osiris the god of the afterlife showing that Hatshepsut has died and successfully reached the afterlife becoming one with Osiris. She would be buried in the tomb of her father in the Valley of the Kings. She extended this tomb to include a chamber for herself to be near her father whom she honoured in life. After her mummification her internal organs would be stored in her canopic chest. The female pharaoh was placed inside her own red stone sarcophagus. On the sarcophagus she is surrounded by the gods helping her to reach the afterlife. At each end Hatshepsut is shown with the goddess Isis and Nephthys both intended to protect her body inside. On the lid Hatshepsut appears as the goddess of the sky Nut. Hatshepsut had been in control over Egypt for 22 years. She ruled as a female pharaoh for 15 years. Now her time had ended. The tomb would be sealed with Hatshepsut and her father inside locked away to be forgotten or at least that is what they intended for after the death of Hatshepsut is when much of her story unfolds. Thutmose III had taken up his birthright and become full pharaoh. He would go on to rule Egypt for another 32 years. He conquered all of his enemies from south to north making Egypt's empire the largest it had ever been from deep in Sudan to high up in Turkey most famous for his battle at Megiddo against the king of Kadesh and the Canaanites in 1457 BC in Thutmose's 23rd ruling year but now as sole pharaoh. Thutmose began his own building projects he also erected several obelisks saying that Aten shall illuminate them from the sky. Thutmose had many statues commissioned now with himself as full pharaoh. Many of these deeds were overseen by his new vizier whose tomb leaves us behind a great record of events. This is Rekhmira his splendid place of burial is astounding. Filled with scenes from the reign of Thutmose from these scenes we understand that this was an abundant time. He even records that many foreigners came to Egypt to give offerings to the great pharaoh Thutmose. Many of Hatshepsut's monuments had not been completed. Thutmose saw to it that they were all finished like at the Red Chapel at Karnak where he completed much of the upper registers. Some of the scenes show Thutmose honoring the deceased Hatshepsut in the form of Osiris. At her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri are these giant statues of Hatshepsut as Osiris meaning that she had now died and become one with the god of the afterlife an imposing site along her masterfully crafted temple. The concept of sacred geography because it is connected to the temple and it has to do with two axes one that goes from the south to the north that is the river Nile and the other that goes from the east to the west that is the sun. So why would we find the temples in the west bank of the river Nile? Because if the sun rises in the east and we have the sunset in the west sunset was regarded as the daily death of the sun god before his glorious rebirth in the east and given its funerary nature Hatshepsut's mortuary temple was built on the west bank of the Nile directly across the river from the main temple of Amun-Inkarnak. The statues of this god, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu left their temples every year during the Opet festival that is the beautiful feast of the valley and crossed the Nile to visit the royal mortuary temples including Hatshepsut's temple and after the introduction of Christianity Hatshepsut's temple was used as a monastery hence its modern name De El Bahari that is the Arabic form for northern monastery. But even her temple was not totally completed many of the chapels had been designed but not decorated rather than most scenes showing Hatshepsut Thutmosis would now add himself Thutmosis had already been included in many scenes with Hatshepsut in the temple now though the finishing touches would only show himself This mortuary temple may be to Hatshepsut's honor however one could see it as a temple for her entire family Hatshepsut had almost all members of her family depicted her grandfather Amenhotep I her father Thutmosis I her mother Ahmoza her brother Thutmosis II her daughter Neferrura and her stepson Thutmosis III are all shown in this temple chosen to be there by Hatshepsut and completed by Thutmosis III Thutmosis III would later have a son who was named as crowned prince Amenhotep II Toward the end of Thutmosis III's reign around 1428 BC his 52nd ruling year he appointed his son Amenhotep II as his co-regent and just two years later the great Thutmosis would die in 1425 BC and Amenhotep II would become pharaoh but with this new pharaoh Hatshepsut's legacy would be threatened All images of Hatshepsut would systematically be removed from all over the country from Karnak temple to Deir el-Bahri Her face was damaged her statues beheaded torn down or changed her name and her name chiseled out from all records essentially denying Hatshepsut an afterlife and furthermore erasing her memory from history At Karnak entire images of the queen were hacked out leaving behind a ghostly shape of the once great female pharaoh Walls were built high around her obelisks to hide the name of Hatshepsut from all over Whoever did this wanted the memory of a female pharaoh who defied all traditions to be forgotten and ceased to have existed at all but who could do such a thing and why? Certainly after her death there were some damnatio memoriae but not all of it happened during his reign a lot of it was in the Ramesside period so in fact you can't put all the destruction of Hatshepsut's monuments or the erasure of her name and image you can't lay them all at the door of Thutmose III so this is a more complex story there's much more going on and we only have little strands of it which we might be making into a completely wrong pattern Hatshepsut here we know it's Hatshepsut because she has been completely chiseled out all the chisel marks are visible here and it's interesting because this temple you can see the images inside the temple actually resemble Hatshepsut not Thutmose III it's a more feminine face but Thutmose III came in stamped his name and took out Hatshepsut but some good guy did come along at one point and some of the names of Thutmose have been hacked out because that guy knew that this was the real builder of this temple as I mentioned this is Hatshepsut and here is an example of where someone came in they knew that this was not Thutmose they started chipping out his name and someone caught them because obviously they had stopped Thutmose III has been hacked out on his nose his mouth, his eyes and his ears so all of his senses are closed and here his fingers have been hacked out so he cannot perform the act of offering the jars to Amun he's totally been deactivated many Egyptologists have theories that all counter each other we may never know for sure Egyptology however is a forever evolving science theories come and go new evidence is discovered and some old evidence proves or cancels new theories not one version of history is set in stone new evidence is providing new thinking about who removed Hatshepsut and why they did so for over a hundred years or so historians have speculated that it was Thutmose III being vengeful against his so called wicked stepmother for taking the throne for half of his life that it was he who had removed Hatshepsut from her monuments but I don't think so she even dressed as a man but the Egyptians never forgave her and therefore many people believe that Thutmose III who is the one who killed her and destroyed her monuments I found out that's not true at all while making this documentary I was seeing more and more evidence that in fact Thutmose did not hate Hatshepsut to the contrary actually many scenes show them having a very close relationship Hatshepsut had gone into battle in Nubia with Thutmose they went on the Punt expedition she gave him much of his training on how to be pharaoh they are depicted together many times he completed her monuments and even shows himself honoring Hatshepsut the most important discovery that I made recently in Luxor we found the valley temple of Queen Hatshepsut you know her temple was fronted by a causeway the causeway ended with the valley temple we discovered inside this temple over 1500 blocks beautifully decorated with scenes we found the name of Hatshepsut everywhere we found the name of Sinmut and the director of the palace and the most important discovery inside that we discovered the name of Thutmose III as a king means that Thutmose III did maintain the cult of the queen and this is another important evidence to announce that Thutmose III did not murder the queen he did not destroy her monuments and therefore we now have to announce to the whole world and to everyone don't say anymore that Thutmose III is the one who murdered the queen or destroyed the monuments but we have evidence that her monuments were destroyed at the end of the reign of Thutmose III and the beginning of the reign of his son Amenhotep II the son of Thutmose III is not so innocent for a doorway from Deir el-Bach has clear marks where the name of Hatshepsut was replaced with his Amenhotep II even statues that should appear to be Hatshepsut have been altered to the name of Amenhotep II from my research it is clear that Amenhotep II would have heard stories about his aunt Hatshepsut being a pharaoh during the reign of his father Thutmose III he was outraged by the blasphemous act of a woman becoming a pharaoh and her being a pharaoh in the time of his father Amenhotep II had to erase the rule of Hatshepsut not only to appease the gods but also to raise the legitimacy of his father's reign as well as legitimizing his own right to the throne of Egypt thus the female pharaoh had to be forgotten more evidence of this comes from the mortuary temple of Thutmose III next to Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri temple this temple had been mostly covered in debris from ancient earthquakes in 1907 an intact chapel of Hathor was discovered in Thutmose's temple and inside this chapel was a striking life-sized statue of the goddess Hathor in the form of a cow in front of the cow stands a pharaoh his name indicated Amenhotep II but it's clearly changed the decorations in the chapel are clearly Thutmose's so it's safe to say that the statue rarely depicts Thutmose III traces of blue paint under the red paint tell us the cow too was recolored on the side of the statue we can see a young pharaoh suckling from Hathor this would clearly be Thutmose not his son Amenhotep because on the walls of the chapel we can see Thutmose the reason this was most likely changed is that Hatshepsut is given the title of Hathor on earth for Thutmose to be shown so close to Hathor meant he would be so close with Hatshepsut who would have protected him in a motherly way by bringing the name forward to Amenhotep II the representation of Hathor would now shift to the wife of Thutmose and the mother of Amenhotep who is present in the shrine well it must have been a great feeling of accomplishment to know that we can now say thanks to your findings that Thutmose III was actually a good guy this is very important to really say because in every book in every tour guide everyone says Thutmose III did that no, Thutmose III did not do this based on the two evidence, number one that she died because of cancer, number two is the discovery of his name as a king inside the felled temple of Queen Hatshepsut that we discovered, and we really think that near this temple we think that maybe an area that contained the tombs of Seknen Ra the one who started to fight the Hexus and his son Kamose and Ahmed I we believe that Senenmut and Hatshepsut came to this area to stop any kind of constructions or temples after dynasty 17 the other theory of why Hatshepsut was removed is linked to Senenmut it is possible that during the reign of Amenhotep II, the wooden doors in the offering niches at Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri needed to be changed when removed, the priests would have been shocked to find the numerous secret self-made graffiti of Senenmut worshipping Hatshepsut this could have caused more speculation of the rumors of their love affair if Hatshepsut did have an intimate relationship with this commoner it could impact the line of succession for Thutmose and his son but why was Hatshepsut's legacy tarnished? we may never really know though not all pharaohs in the future would despise Hatshepsut that much in the decades to follow Pharaoh Ramses II and his son had a mission to restore all of the existing monuments of previous pharaohs and this included the temple of Hatshepsut where Ramses even placed his name next to Hatshepsut on the wall of her greatest journey the Punt expedition so we have a text from the 25th dynasty about a princess and this is his name Ma-et-ka-ra so even the 25th dynasty they recognized Hatshepsut and respected her so they gave the same name for their daughters Ma-et-ka-ra and centuries later when the Greeks were in Egypt they added their own shrine inside the sanctuary of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple most likely by a fellow female pharaoh the Greek female pharaoh Arsinoe II who would have considered Hatshepsut as a feminine inspiration Hatshepsut was not forgotten by all for year after year many women would visit the temple and leave offerings to the goddess Hathor in hopes of having a blessed pregnancy Hatshepsut should be remembered as an incredible woman who managed to rule Egypt for several years who made sure that monuments prospered, people prospered that there were diplomatic relations with her neighbors and Egypt in fact enjoyed an incredibly peaceful time under her and also undertook Moses III because they did have that co-regency was also a very strong powerful state part of the Near East centuries would pass since the death of Hatshepsut then around 1000 BC the priests had to move all of the previous pharaoh's mummies dating back to the start of the 18th dynasty into a new location this was done to spare the royal mummies which were sacred from being destroyed by tomb robbers this relocation project would see many of the royal mummies moved to a safe place together including many of Hatshepsut's family one of the biggest collections of royal mummies was hidden behind Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri it wasn't until 1881 that all of these mummies were discovered for the first time the true faces of Hatshepsut's family could be seen, yet despite this joy none of the female mummies were able to be identified as Hatshepsut her mummy may not have been placed in the main cache then in 1903 Howard Carter discovered an undecorated tomb in the Valley of the Kings which contained two female mummies one lay on the floor the other on her sarcophagus in 1906 only one mummy was removed from the tomb she had been identified as Sitra, the wet nurse of Pharaoh Hatshepsut while the other mummy was left and the tomb sealed and forgotten until 1989 when Egyptologist Donald Ryan rediscovered the tomb the American team documented the findings including a small canopic box with Hatshepsut's name on it and a wooden mask with a notch under the chin intended only for a pharaoh and of course the anonymous female mummy on the floor whose wrappings had been ripped apart in antiquity to steal the golden amulets that adorned her it was not until 2007 that Dr. Zahi Hawass removed the mummy from the tomb to finally identify her I began to search for the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut and this was a great adventure for me I collected every mummy of a queen or a princess that has no name from Cairo Museum and from the Valley of the Kings and after that I took all these mummies to Cairo Museum we scanned all the mummies and also we scanned the mummy of her father Topol I the mummy of her husband and brother Topol II and the mummy of her stepson Topol III the most interesting thing about our scanning that the mummy of Topol I we found out that the hands were in the side and you know that every king of the new kingdom the hands are crossed like that number two we discovered inside the mummy there is an arrowhead means that this person died in an accident or a war which is very strange I really think that this mummy labelled in the Cairo Museum is not really Topol I and number two about Topol II very strange things happened to him he was buried in the western fields that recently his tomb was found completely destroyed by the flood but outside the tomb found a description that Hatshepsut built this tomb for her husband now this is very strange because why this king is the only king to be buried in the western valley why not Hatshepsut herself who buried Topol II was not buried beside him I believe that the first one who used the burial of the kings is Hatshepsut but really what bothers me as an Egyptologist a big question why she buried Topol II in the western valley why she did not be buried beside him if she buried him then we have a big question then I did look at all the mummies we scanned all of them and after that we have one important object dated from the reign of Hatshepsut and that was a canopic box made of wood contained the name and the liver of the queen I one day when I was scanning the mummies in the Cairo Museum I asked my assistant Hisham El Lisi I said bring this box I need to see the liver of the queen we put the box under the sit scan and we found out actually that we found the liver and a part of the stomach and the surprise was one tooth and that really was big then I brought radiologists and dentists and they began to look at all the pieces of the mummies we found one mummy that we brought from KB60 and KB60 is the tomb of the witness of Queen Hatshepsut that her mummy is in the Cairo Museum I always thought that this is the mummy of Hatshepsut but now beside here was found this mummy and beside this mummy in KB60 was some tools that can show that this mummy could be for a king then we found one gap in the mummy that I brought from KB60 that this tooth fits exactly, then what happened it seemed that Hatshepsut had problems with her teeth while they were doing the mummification then one tooth fell down then they took the tooth and they put it in the canopic a box that contained the liver and the stomach of the queen it's sacred, it's part of her body yes then we found the mummy and I scanned the mummy we found out that Hatshepsut died in the age of 55 she was obese her teeth was in a very bad condition and I found out one important fact that she had diabetes and she died on the side because of cancer means Tutankhamun III did not murder her Dr. Hawass and his team had found the mummy of the long forgotten queen, the mummy that had been moved into the tomb of her wet nurse in the 21st dynasty by the priests Hatshepsut Hatshepsut she underrated and Cleopatra she's overrated with all love and respect to Cleopatra but comparing to Hatshepsut she's like a little child if we look at the value of Hatshepsut a lady-controlled masculine warlord since 3,400 years ago for 20 years, it's something not easy at all if we look to all empires and history of human beings, for example the Roman Empire, how many ladies they controlled them? Nothing the Arabic Empire or Islamic Empire, we have only one lady, she ruled only for three months her name, Shegheradar so if we look at Hatshepsut controlled for 20 years as a very strong and powerful ruler to Egypt, it's something real, real valuable and if the Americans one day make a film about Hatshepsut, same as they did with Cleopatra all the world will know Hatshepsut Hatshepsut is really someone whom I think a lot of women look up to and think of as a role model because she is someone who navigated politics domestic affairs the arts, everything and came out on top for quite a long time Hatshepsut truly wanted to be known as one of the greatest kings of Egypt and I think it's important when looking at her reign not just to see her as a great female king but a great king in her own right when I first encountered Hatshepsut, it wasn't just her titles or her temple that struck me it was the audacity the clarity, the refusal to be defined by precedent, she didn't wait for permission she carved herself into history literally, that's why we remember her, not because she was exceptional for a woman but because she was exceptional full stop Hatshepsut has always been my personal favorite woman of ancient times she was incredible she did incredible things and she made a kingdom flourish my favorite pharaoh because she was indeed a pharaoh, Hatshepsut and we have to remember this great lady that ruled Egypt and she tried to convince the Egyptians that she has the right for the throne Hatshepsut, if you talk about a powerful woman don't talk about Cleopatra anymore number one, you talk about Hatshepsut, Hatshepsut was the most powerful woman in history Thank you very much Dr. Hawass Thank you Hatshepsut's legacy will live on as one of the strongest female rulers of the ancient world, conquering enemies and creating monuments that we still marvel upon today after all, that is what she wanted, she told us this on her colossal obelisk I declare to the people who shall be in the future who shall observe my monument who shall speak in discussion who shall look to posterity now my heart turns to and fro in thinking what will the people say they who shall see my monument after many years and who shall speak of what I have done