Hatshepsut(?) - The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art - Cleveland, Ohio.

Amongst their collections we have this item:

Hatshepsut(?)

Do we have a problem here? Maybe. You will see that the description of the fragment says "Said to be from Thebes, Deir el Bahari". I will inevitably come across many items that have no exact origin and i can see this being an issue. Although here, we have a fragment which could easily have come from Deir el Bahri- we do not know for sure that this fragment shows Hatshepsut. Again in the description, we have a less-than-definite "Hatshepsut or Thutmose III".

What makes it harder to determine who this fragment is for sure is that Hatshepsut showed herself as a male (upon becoming Pharaoh), had herself depicted as such and therefore we cannot say that as the skin pigment shows brown skin- it must be male. That would be too easy.

Despite the above this fragment is a great example of the New Kingdom Art before the Amarna Period, when art changed somewhat. I will go as far as to say that the person depicted does appear (to my eye) to be from the Thutmoside Period of the early New Kingdom. With that said, this is my interpretation only, not fact.

Update: This fragment is of Thutmose III and does indeed originate from Deir el Bahri.

Thank you to Andrzej Cwiek (from the Deir el Bahri Polish Team) for supplying the information by email. Also to IUFAA for the advice (see comments).

" This fragment (Cleveland 1920.1995), representing the head of a king wearing an atef crown, comes indeed from the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. It has been published in L. M. Berman (ed.), The Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Egyptian Art, New York 1999, p. 215, fig. 159 as 'Hatshepsut or Tuthmosis III'. Now we have been able to identify its exact position within the original decoration of the temple"

The above quotation is a small part of the email. Further publications of Porter and Moss will provide substantial information on this fragment and MANY more which are from Deir el Bahri, but housed in museums and sites the world over It will also show their (original) locations within the walls of Deir el Bahri.

Regards,
Stuart

The Hatshepsut Trilogy

Just when things have been a bit quiet, one of the blogs' followers, David Caldecoat, has just informed me of a trilogy of Hatshepsut fiction books by the author Patricia L. O'Neil.

* The first book, Her Majesty the King was released in January 2010.
* The Second Installment, The Horus Throne is out this month.
* The third and final installment is The Eye of Re,and will be released in October 2011 (plenty of time to read the first two).

Patricia has a website, which will tell you all you need to know: Hatshepsut Trilogy

David, i thank you for this information. I will of course be buying them all, but i will wait until Christmas this year as i am really looking forward to reading other books i have already purchased.

If any of you get there first- please feel free to let us all know what you think. If you wish to write a review- get in touch.

If anyone else out there wishes to contribute to the blog, i will always be happy to hear from you. It can be tough keeping up with the pace of Hatshepsut.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - The Walters Art Museum

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

This museum is another offering from the United States. Their online collection has 4 Hatshepsut related items on display, which you will see by following the above link.

The items are:

* Foundation Stone
* Scarab - Hatshepsut
* Scarab - Neferure (her first appearance on this blog)
* Wall Fragment

Regards,
Stuart

Recommended Magazine

Since August 2009 i have been subscribing to the Ancient Egypt Magazine. It covers all periods and is packed full of great articles and updates, which just adds to my own fascination of Ancient Egypt. Subscribers have a magazine delivered once every 2 months, and the cost is low for the information included. As far as i am aware this magazine in only available by subscription. I will say little, but let you view for yourself: Ancient Egypt Magazine Stuart

Photo - Deir el Bahri

This photo was taken in 2008 and i believe it comes from the upper level of the Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple (where the entrance to the Amun Sanctuary is located).

Showing an Egyptian God (possibly Hapi/ Hapy- the god of Inundation). Although i cannot provide the translation of the Hieroglyphs i will intend to find out and add them to this post. I can at least suggest that the highest level of glyphs appears to me as "beloved of Ra" in the masculine form. This may suggest that the name of Thutmose I or III may have appeared in the now missing section. It may even be the name of Hatshepsut, as she is known to have taken on many "male" aspects during her rule of Egypt.

I will correct myself later where necessary. Maybe you can help?

Stuart

The Unfinished Obelisk at Aswan

Updated 11/04/2014

Aswan - an area of Upper (Southern) Egypt which was quarried for centuries to provide the beautiful granite for monuments, statues and much more.

The unfinished obelisk is occasionally attributed to Hatshepsut. There are no inscriptions, so this may be a wild card.



 

                                     

• The top photo shows part of the obelisk in-situ and abandoned. 
• The centre photo shows an area where blocks have been removed in ancient times(giving clues as to how it was done).
• The bottom photo shows one of the channels of the sides of the obelisk.

All photo copyright Janelle Wade.

Wiki has a page on the unfinished obelisk for further details.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - Suggested Website

I have provided a link to the following site before, when providing links to the 18th Dynasty (June post).

Since then, i have seen how much more the site offers. The site owner, Anneke Bart, has put a lot of time and effort into providing some quality information on Hatshepsut(amongst)others. Anneke, thanks for the information and the previous permission given to me, to link to your work.

Anneke's ancient Egypt site

Stuart

Hatshepsut - Future Excavations

As my project focuses a lot of attention on the museum objects of Hatshepsut, I have been considering future findings and where they might be housed.

Egyptology progresses at a pace and if you are serious about your studies, then it becomes aparent that keeping up to date is essential.

When most people start studying the Egypt- based excavations, the almost immediate question may well be "do the finds get split amongst the excavators?" The answer to the question has changed from the time of, say, Howard Carter. Back then it was common for a division of finds, so that Egypt and other countries (generally those who are part of the excavations themselves) share the "spoils".

Today, all finds stay in Egypt. We have already seen England, Holland, France and Germany- among other countries who look after the "relics" of Hatshepsut. The work of conserving and housing these objects is there to see. This comes at a price - often through grants. There are many countries with the skills, enthusiasm and commitment to continue the work, but what happens in decades time? That is unclear although it will clearly be difficult for any museum to increase their collections legally (the avoidance of the black- market).

The future appears to be that all future Hatshepsut finds will stay in Egypt, to be housed in various museums- including at Luxor and Cairo. Whilst this stops items leaving Egypt - i wonder i it may have an impact on the Egyptologists of the future.

Whilst the internet gives you extremely valuable information on the subject of Egyptology i have found that nothing beats actually seeing ancient artifacts in various museums up close and personal. We will still have these items, but we may rely on inventive thinking by those who run the Egypt- based rooms to rotate items and possibly even a rotation of artifacts between museums. Even this sounds quite exciting (a rotation), but it may mean that storerooms in Egyptian Museums burst full of artifacts (maybe even too much for them to handle).

We will see of course what transpires. I am not negative on the subject of keeping items in Egypt at all, but not everyone will get to see them. I think that most people will fall back on the internet. One problem with the internet- who do you trust? Well, we can still rely on forums and blogs - these will grow and grow. It will be up to the individual to decide who they trust. Will there ever be a complete database of all ancient Egyptian artifacts the world over- probably. Will this include all items not considered fit for display- it may be doubtful unless way, way into the future. After all Egypt allows us to discover more information about her glorious past every year. This will not end in our lives as the sand is stripped back and more finds are registered.


Stuart

Hatshepsut - Brooklyn Museum

I have just recently found out that the Brooklyn Museum in the U.S.A houses a number of items of interest to this Hatshepsut Project.

Amongst their collection of antiquities can be found the following:

Hatshepsut
Senenmut
Thutmose III
Queen Ahmose

Here is a link to their website, where you can see photos of these items and descriptions which you may find useful.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/search/?q=hatshepsut&x=0&y=0

Hatshepsut - author's note

As i have been progressing through this blog, I have learned a great deal about Hatshepsut and of the details left behind by her. I have, of course, only just began the journey, but i have a few things to share at this early stage.

Hatshepsut was (to me) a great Pharaoh. Not only did she commission her beautiful mortuary temple, obelisks, way shrines, etc but she did so much more.

From what i know so far- the early 18th Dynasty had its fair share of instability. With Egypt united once again much was to be done to ensure that the whole of Egypt was fed, watered, defended and content.

Hatshepsut's father, Thutmose I succeeded Amenhotep I to the throne of Egypt and the Thutmoside dynasty had begun. Thutmose II was the next in line, married Hatshepsut and then died. Thutmose III was very young at this stage and began his reign with his Step- Mother, Hatshepsut (a co- regency).

At some stage Hatshepsut became Pharaoh. She died and Thutmose III was crowned pharaoh.

Ok- that was a very short story (and feel free to correct any mistakes), but the actual reign of Hatshepsut as Pharaoh has caused reason for much debate in today's world of Egyptology. Did Hatshepsut push Thutmose III out of the way so that she could become pharaoh, or was it to ensure stability and order in Egypt- someone had to reign until Thutmose III was old enough and capable enough of running Egypt successfully?

Its things like this which lead to people like us taking an interest, formulating ideas, opinions, cross- referencing with archaeological findings, etc, etc. This, to me, is great. Communities are created and knowledge is shared. One of the biggest bonuses in studying Ancient Egypt are the people you meet. Without like- minded individuals, it can be one long, lonely road.

Who else would i have to share my museum and holiday snaps to?

Thanks for your interest,

Stuart

I would like to thank Dr Karl Leser of the inspirational Maat-Ka-Ra Hatshepsut website for spotting an error in my original post (since corrected). Your help is greatly received and i thank you for your valued input.