A continuous series of images and inscriptions found in Hatshepsut’s Deir el-Bahri temple tells the story of her early life, starting with her birth and culminating with her coronation as ruler of Egypt. Like so much that is associated with Hatshepsut, the images and inscriptions are damaged and defaced. Nonetheless, they are sufficiently intact to provide insight into the way Hashepsut’s rise to power was described in her own time. This inscription describes Hatshepsut’s growth into womanhood; a journey north to visit her father, “the King of Upper and Lower Egypt”; and the promises the gods made about her future reign during that journey. As you read the excerpt, pay particular attention to the way Hatshepsut herself is described and to the predicted events of her future reign as pharaoh.

The Queen’s Growth and Beauty

Her majesty saw all this thing herself, which she told to the people, who heard, falling down for terror among them. Her majesty grew beyond everything; to look upon her was more beautiful than anything; her [ ] was like a god, her form was like a god, she did everything as a god, her splendor was like a god; her majesty was a maiden, beautiful, blooming, Buto in her time. She made her divine form to flourish, a [favor of] him that fashioned her.

The Journey

Her majesty journeyed to the North country after her father, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Okheperkere, who liveth forever. There came her mother, Hathor, patroness of Thebes; Buto, mistress of Dep; Amon, lord of Thebes; Atum, lord of Heliopolis; Montu, Lord of Thebes; Khnum, lord of the Cataract; all the gods that are in Thebes, all the gods of the South and North, and approached her. They traversed for her, pleasant ways, [they] came, and they brought all life and satisfaction with them, they exerted their protection behind her; one proceeded after another of them, they passed on behind her every day.

Promises of the Gods

They said, “Welcome, daughter of Amon-Re; thou hast seen thy administration in the land, thou shall set it in order, thou shalt restore that which has gone to its ruin, thou shalt make thy monuments in this house, thou shalt victual the offering-tables of him who begat thee, thou shalt pass through the land and thou shalt embrace many countries. Thou shalt strike among the Tehenu, thou shalt smite with the mace the Troglodytes; thou shalt cut off the heads of the soldiers, thou shalt seize the chiefs of Retenu, bearing the sword, the survivals of thy father. Thy tribute is myriads of men, the captives of thy valor; thy [reward] is thousands of men for the temples of the [Two Lands]. Thou givest offerings in Thebes, the steps of the king, Amon-Re, lord of Thebes. The gods have [endowed] thee with years, they [present] thee with life and satisfaction, they praise thee, for their heart hath given understanding to the egg which [they] have fashioned. They shall set thy boundary as far as the breadth of heaven, as far as the limits of the twelfth hour of the night; the Two Lands shall be filled with children—, thy numerous children are [as] the number of thy grain, [which] thou [—] in the hearts of thy people; it is the daughter of the bull of his mother,—beloved.

Source: James Henry Breasted, ed., Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. 2 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906), pp. 91–92.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER