A Female King?

    We all learn about ancient Egypt whether it be in school, a tv show, or a book or magazine. Egypt and  the Egyptian way of life has fascinated me since I was young. I can't remember when it started but it could have been brought on by the Disney movie The Prince of Egypt or even the movie that was always on tv called Moses. Egyptians always were portrayed as a society of glamour (at least in the case of the elites, the lower classes did not have it as good) and I wanted to learn more.
    I chose this particular book to read because it was about a powerful woman in Egyptian time that I knew very little about. Most kids' brains are ingrained with learning about Cleopatra and King Tut.  I wanted to learn about Hatshepsut. Her life was one of luxury and comfort but at the same time there was loss and heartache. What a lot of people don't realize is that just because you're royalty doesn't mean that there is any safety from disease or malfunctions of the body. The palace was always plagued with those kinds of issues because of diet and sanitation. She grew up experiencing and learning many things that children would never learn at such a young age. Lifespan for them was shorter therefore more precious, so education started at a very young age, usually 4 or 5 years old.
    What surprised me the most in this book was the fact that women reigned Egypt for a very very long time. Not as the pharaoh but through him as a regent. A regent rules beside the "king" because he is far to young to make any diplomatic decisions himself. As regent to Thutmose III, Hatshepsut taught him the ways of the court and how to deal with managing all the affairs of courtly life. This regent role went on for many years because when a king died his son was usually still to young or inexperienced to rule whereas his wife was not. Many woman were the ones who taught the future king all he knew.
    Many scholars who studied Hatshepsut believed that she schemed her way to the crown because if she didn't she would lose all her power. She took the thrown for herself even though there was clearly a heir to it that was male (Thutmose III). It seems she partly did it because the heir would not reach ruling age and maturity for at least another 7 years which for the Egyptians the lifespan/health issue made things very precarious. This of course went against the way things normally went and is seen as a great accomplishment. There were only a couple of female rulers who successfully ruled before her. Hatshepsut came to be one of the greatest woman pharaohs.
    This book is full of detailed history of this woman pharaohs life and lessons. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about her or about Egyptian ways of ruling.

I would like to thank BloggingForBooks.org  for supplying me with this book!

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