"NOW MY HEART TURNS THIS WAY AND THAT, AS I THINK WHAT THE PEOPLE WILL SAY. THOSE WHO SEE MY MONUMENTS IN YEARS TO COME, AND WHO SHALL SPEAK OF WHAT I HAVE DONE."

The word Hatshepsut means “Foremost of Noble Ladies”—a pretty great name for the first and only female king of ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut was born to King Thutmose I and his queen, Ahmes. When Hatshepsut was young, her father died and she married her half-brother, who had inherited the throne: this made her the most Great Royal Wife, the most powerful queen in Egypt. When her half-brother died, his power was transferred not to Queen Hatshepsut but to her stepson, Tuthmosis III, then just a baby. For the next seven years Hatshepsut ruled on the baby’s behalf, along with Tuthmosis. But the determined Hatshepsut had great ambition: she wanted to be king.

Egyptian queens could be very powerful, but it wasn’t the same as being the king, who always had the most power. So Hatshepsut declared herself Pharaoh, or king, claiming that her father had wanted her to rule. To help convince the people that she was the rightful king, she ordered carvings to be made on her temple walls that portrayed her as the daughter of not just King Thutmose but also the great god Amun. And she cleverly had herself depicted with the distinct markings of a male king, including a long fake beard and striped headdress. In some depictions she had a woman’s body, plus the beard and headdress; in others she had a muscular male body. Everyone knew she was a woman, but the images helped them accept her as king.

Hatshepsut was a successful and peaceful ruler for 22 years. Rather than going to war, she developed positive relationships with neighboring countries. And she was one of the greatest builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects. She restored important monuments and temples, and her huge burial temple is considered one of the greatest works of Egyptian architecture.

Clearly Hatshepsut wanted her legacy to endure and her achievements to be recognized. She had hundreds of statues of herself placed at temples and shrines, and she left detailed accounts of her life in stone carvings. Perhaps she worried that future generations wouldn’t believe a woman could rule as she had, or that someone might try to erase her legacy.

After Hatshepsut died, her now-grown stepson became king. And around that time, someone tried to erase all evidence of Hatshepsut’s rule. Her name was scratched out of inscriptions on temple walls, her face smashed on many statues. It wasn’t until 1903, when an archeologist found her tomb, that her story became known. So the powerful Egyptian women who came after her, like Cleopatra, might not have known about one of Egypt’s greatest rulers. Thanks to the efforts of 20th century Egyptologists, Hatsheput’s story—and her achievements—have been uncovered.