# Hatshepsut Source: https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/hatshepsut Language: en # Hatshepsut A king who was a woman, and whose name was later cut out of her own walls. **Reign**: c.1473–1458 BCE **Dynasty**: 18th Dynasty **Period**: New Kingdom **Also written**: Hatchepsut · Maatkare · Hatshepsut Khenemetamun · حتشبسوت · ماعت كا رع ## Who they were Hatshepsut adopted the full titles and regalia of kingship. Her representations combine different ways of expressing that role: some use a masculine royal form, while inscriptions and other images retain feminine features and titles. ## Why they matter Her reign is especially visible through major building projects and the expedition to Punt. Trade and royal display were important, but describing the reign as entirely peaceful would overlook evidence of military activity. ## What happened Hatshepsut first governed as regent for the young Thutmose III, then took full royal titles and ruled alongside him. At Deir el-Bahari, the Punt reliefs and royal images connect her building programme with trade, worship and the presentation of kingship. Senenmut was one of the senior officials associated with that programme. Thutmose III continued to rule after her death. Her royal names and images were later attacked, but the surviving monuments still let you follow how she presented her authority. The timing and motives of that erasure require more care than a simple story of personal revenge. ## What they built in Luxor At Deir el-Bahari, her terraces, colonnades and reliefs make the royal programme visible at architectural scale. The temple is closely associated with Senenmut, but its creation involved a much larger workforce. ## Where to meet them At Karnak, compare her standing obelisk with the surviving upper section of another near the Sacred Lake. Confirm the accessible route on site. How we label claims ## What is disputed Each claim below carries its evidence class. A claim marked interpretation or uncertain is not a weaker version of a fact — it is a different kind of statement, and the note says why. - Uncertain Why her names and images were removed. That the erasure happened, and that it was careful and selective, is fact — you can see it. The motive is not established, and the dating is the reason. The evidence points to the work being carried out well into the reign of Thutmose III rather than at his accession, which is very hard to reconcile with the popular story of a resentful stepson striking the moment he could. Explanations offered instead range from a late regularising of the succession to a concern with the legitimacy of the royal line rather than any personal grievance. None of them is established, and this site does not choose between them. - Uncertain That she and her official Senenmut had a personal relationship. Senenmut’s prominence is documented — an unusual number of titles, statues showing him holding the royal daughter, and two tombs. A personal relationship beyond that is speculation. It rests largely on a crude graffito in an unfinished tomb, which is not evidence of anything except that somebody drew it. - Uncertain Whether Thutmose III was a real co-ruler during her reign or a junior in name. Both are named as king throughout the period and dates are counted from his accession, not hers. How much authority he actually held, and at what age he began to exercise it, cannot be read off the monuments — they show the arrangement, not the politics inside it. Who added what ## Before and after [11th Dynasty **Mentuhotep II** c.2055–2004 BCE The reunifier whose temple gave Deir el-Bahari an early royal landmark. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/mentuhotep-ii) [18th Dynasty **Thutmose I** c.1504–1492 BCE The soldier king usually named as the first buried in the Valley of the Kings. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/thutmose-i) [18th Dynasty **Thutmose III** c.1479–1425 BCE Seventeen campaigns, and an empire that outlasted him by two hundred years. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/thutmose-iii) [18th Dynasty **Hatshepsut** c.1473–1458 BCE A king who was a woman, and whose name was later cut out of her own walls. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/hatshepsut) Tomb ## Their tomb No tomb in this directory is recorded to them. [Tomb directory](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs) Continue reading ## Explore the connections 1–1 / 8 [Temple · West bank ### Temple of Hatshepsut Terraces set straight into the cliff at Deir el-Bahari — and a reign that was later chiselled off its own walls. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/temple-of-hatshepsut)[Temple complex · East bank ### Karnak Temple Complex Two thousand years of building, rebuilding and royal ambition, gathered around the temples of Amun. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/karnak)[Temple · West bank ### Medinet Habu Colour survives here wherever the roof did — on a temple built by a king fighting to hold Egypt together. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/medinet-habu)[God ### Amun The hidden god of Thebes, who became king of the gods and the state god of an empire. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/amun)[God ### Hathor Goddess of love, music and the western mountain — the one who receives the dead. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/hathor)[God ### Anubis The black jackal of the cemetery, who does the embalming and guards the burial. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/anubis)[History ### Karnak: Finding Your Way Through the Layers Karnak grew through additions, rebuilding and reuse. Compare the western pylons, central obelisks and eastern Festival Hall; walking east does not follow a simple newest-to-oldest sequence. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/karnak-in-the-order-it-was-built)[History ### Hatshepsut: The Story to Know Before Visiting Deir el-Bahari Hatshepsut ruled with full royal titles alongside Thutmose III. Her royal names and images were attacked later; the pattern and timing complicate the familiar explanation of immediate personal revenge. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/hatshepsut-and-the-erasure) Sources & further reading 6 Tier 1 Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh — exhibition overview (2006) The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tier 2 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw Oxford University Press Tier 1 [The temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari — excavation, conservation and reconstruction reports](https://templeofhatshepsut.pcma.uw.edu.pl/badania/) Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw Official page indexed · checked 2026-09-19 Tier 2 The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton Thames & Hudson Tier 2 The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, Richard H. Wilkinson Thames & Hudson Tier 1 [Seated Statue of Hatshepsut — royal imagery and feminine titles](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544450) The Metropolitan Museum of Art Online source checked 2026-09-19 Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references. Published works and institutional references for further reading. [Sources and review status](mailto:corrections@egyptmore.com?subject=Luxor101%20correction) [Pharaohs](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs)