Product Description

Queen - or, as she would prefer to be remembered King - Hatchepsut was an astonishing woman. Brilliantly defying tradition she became the female embodiment of a male role, dressing in men's clothes and even wearing a false beard. Forgotten until Egptologists deciphered hieroglyphics in the 1820's, she has since been subject to intense speculation about her actions and motivations. Combining archaeological and historical evidence from a wide range of sources, Joyce Tyldesley's dazzling piece of detection strips away the myths and misconceptions and finally restores the female pharaoh to her rightful place.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114727 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Joyce Tyldesley lives in Bolton, Lancashire. She gained a first-class honours degree in archaeology from Liverpool University in 1981 and a doctorate from Oxford in 1986. She is now Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics andOriental Studies at Liverpool University and a freelance writer and lecturer on Egyptian archaeology. Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt, is published by Penguin and her next book - a biography of Nefertiti - will be delivered in May 1997.

Customer Reviews

Insightful portrait of the world's first truly powerful woman
Joyce Tyldesley provides us with a thorough examination of the evidence surrounding the pharaoh Hatchepsut. She discusses issues such as the disputed order of succession, the conspicuous over-use of propaganda by Hatchepsut to legitimize her power and the question of exactly who attempted to erase the name of Hatchepsut from the monuments and why. Her arguments in each case are based on a judicious weighing of the evidence and the reader is always provided with alternative interpretations from other scholars. Tyldesley systematically dismantles the prevalent opinion that many of the actions of both Hatchepsut herself and her stepson Tuthmosis were motivated by a deadly enmity. On this issue she suggests that Tuthmosis was relatively accepting of the co-regency his stepmother imposed on him, but fails to suggest a convincing motivation for this. The one real disappointment in the book is that Tyldesley does not provide us with any real suggestion as to how Hatchepsut was able to succeed in establishing herself as pharaoh. She emphasizes that Hatchepsut would have needed both an acceptable reason and widespread support among the powerful men of the kingdom to be able to go against maat (the Egyptian concept of tradition and balance) and establish herself as king, but does not provide us with a plausible suggestion as to what such a reason may have been or whose support may have been responsible for her success. Admittedly, there are unlikely to be definitive answers, but these questions are barely raised. All in all, the book is an intriguing and insightful portrait of the world's first truly powerful woman.

The female pharoah...
Joyce Tyldesley (who also wrote the book on 'Nefertiti', which I have reviewed recently) has produced a well-researched work exploring the political, social and family climate into which Hatchepsut was thrown. Using historical research and archaeological discoveries, she has produced a marvelous biography, restoring this long-forgotten ruler to the ranks of the Pharoahs.

Tyldesley begins with an examination of the general society: the role of pharoah, a divine/absolute ruler upon which almost all society turned; the role of the royal family, the priest and military classes, and the interaction with foreign cultures. From here she proceeds to examine the specifics of the Tuthmoside family, with their warring factions and cooperative ventures designed to shore up a tenuous grasp on the authority of power. Examining Hatchepsut's rise to power, she divides it into two chapters - 'Queen of Egypt' and 'King of Egypt'.

This is an interesting, accessible biography which brings to light many recent discoveries and shares contrasting theories of the history of this interesting figure.

Excellent overview of a female pharoah
As a egyptologists from the confides of my own house, I throughly enjoyed this insight into Hatchepsuts life and court.
For anyone who wants to learn about the new "Golden Age" of Egypt from the time of despair in Egypt and the regaining of power by Egypt from the regin of Ahmose to the complex reigns from the Tuthmosides empire through to the complexities of the reign of Hatchepsut, this book is a good start.
It outlines the reign of a forgotten pharaoh who was not mentioned on the kings lists but who's memory was not entirely wiped away by her step-son/nephew Tuthmosis III.
The book goes on to explain the family tree of the Tuthmoside empire and gives explanations into the correct order that each Tuthmosis regined from her father, to her brother/husband , to her reign and that of her co-regency with her step-son/nephew.
It gives detailed acounts of her mortuary temple at Djeser-Djeseru commonly known now as Del-el-Bahri and the reliefs on the temple walls outlining her expiditions to the land of Punt and so forth.
Joyce Tyldesley also gives an account of her supposedly love affair with Senenmut and his influence on her life and that of her daughter Neferure.
To summarize this book I would say that it gives the reader with an already stable interest in Egypt and Hatchepsut ,more light on her life, love, political and unfortunate temporary loss of remmbrance as a Pharoah, slighty more indepth scholarly biography of a remarkable woman who had great power over Egypt and who's peace keping expeditions did alot for the stability and wealth of a truly Golden Empire.