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Social And Cultural Aspects Of Hatshepsut As Queen And Pharaoh

Decent Essays

A woman becoming Pharaoh had been almost unheard of in ancient Egypt until Hatshepsut was born. Hatshepsut was the second daughter of the pharaoh, Thothmes I. After her sister, Neferu-khebit, died, Hatshepsut was the next heir to the throne unless a male married her and became Pharaoh. After Thothmes passed away, Hatshepsut fearfully, yet confidently, claimed the throne and commenced one of the most successful She-Pharaoh reigns ever recorded. Pauline Gedge’s Child of the Morning explained the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of ancient Egypt’s society during Hatshepsut’s reign as Queen and Pharaoh. In ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh and his or her officials made up most of the upper class and were at the top of the social ladder. In Child of the Morning, Senmut, a we’eb priest, was walking through the halls of Pharaoh’s palace as “chatter and bursts of laughter floated to Senmut…acutely aware of his course peasant linen, his lack of a wig, [and] his dirty knees” (107). This is an example of a social aspect of social class because the ancient Egyptians of the upper class thought much less of commoners and unimportant priests such as Senmut. A social aspect in ancient Egypt also includes relationships. When Thothmes III, the grandson of Hatshepsut’s father, devised a plan to claim the throne, Nehesi, Hatshepsut’s bodyguard, found out what the plan was. He said, “He will strike at you first, Senmut, …then he will eliminate Hapuseneb…and then me” (379). Thothmes

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