An Analytical Essay On Hatshepsut's Life

Well before Hatshepsut ruled in full capacity, she gained knowledge of how to rule during her adolescence and time as King’s Wife. The grouping of these two portions of Hatshepsut’s life is quite important because it was during this time that Hatshepsut learned how to rule and the matter of her birth would be of great use to her later in life. She was born a princess to the pharaoh Thutmose I, her father, and her mother, Ahmes or Ahmose. Ahmes was the pharaoh’s first royal wife which meant that she was his principal wife and thus she was his queen. Hatshepsut being born to Ahmes meant that she had the purest blood at the time of her birth (Cooney 50-53). The only issue for Hatshepsut was that she was not born a boy which is what her parents would have desired. Ancient Egypt was predominantly a patriarchal society and pharaohs were expected to be male, the incarnation of the sun god Ra in the physical world. Hatshepsut was

Some claim that she was the only issue of the pharaoh and his queen while others suggest she at least had a full-blooded sister. Her name was Neferubity but she did not survive past childhood. Some sources also suggest that Hatshepsut may have had one or two full blooded brothers. Their names are believed to be Wadjmose and Amenmose and they also did not survive to adulthood (Cooney 51-53). Children in Ancient Egypt were very vulnerable to disease. Hatshepsut was lucky to survive and her living on ensured that her bloodline was the highest of all the royal children. She was also the most mature and educated of her siblings. The death of both of her full-blooded brothers was the first crisis of Hatshepsut’s young life leaving the line of succession in jeopardy (Cooney 51-53). As the most eligible daughter of the pharaoh, she would have married one of her brothers and continued the family line. It would have left great concern for her father at their