CHAPTER VI.
The Earliest Queen in History.
We now come upon a story in Egyptian history. It might easily begin with "Once upon a time," and better still, it is true. Of course we all know that when people live hundreds and thousands of years in a country and reach a high degree of civilization, when they build noble structures, become proficient in art, write books, and have developed a high degree of culture, their lives have been full of absorbing experiences, just as ours are today, and we may be sure that these Egyptians, who sometimes seem a bit monotonous in the light of recorded history, would be interesting enough did we know more about their daily lives.
In many families it has been customary to keep a family record—in the Bible often, sometimes in special record books. The habit is less prevalent than it once was, but we have doubtless all seen such records and recall that they generally include births, marriages and deaths occurring in the family. From them, however, one could get no idea in years to come of the happy holiday gatherings, social pleasures, and family celebrations frequently enjoyed.
It is somewhat the same with nations. They leave momentous events in their history carved in marble, painted on canvas or written in whatever fashion they have known; but it is left largely to us to weave in the rest of the story as best we may—and too often this part is neglected. People long since vanished seem too often like unreal creatures, who fought in wars, established dynasties, enjoyed periods of peace and suffered in times of tumult, and these events appear to be fitted together like the pieces of a puzzle. Had historians keener imaginations they might bring these ancient people before us as distinctly human, so that, like the characters of Dickens and Scott, they would abide in our memories. But then you see, someone would suggest that this was no longer history.
However, the world has seen a few queens who have apparently determined to relegate dullness and monotony to kings—as for themselves they would have none of it. Such was Good Queen Bess of England, and such also was Queen Hatshepsut of long-forgotten Egypt.
Thutmose I. had been a great warrior; he had subdued the Nubians and Ethiopians in Africa, and then, roused to a spirit of conquest, he had pushed into Asia, revenged the indignities inflicted upon his people by the Hyksos, and had made his power felt far beyond the Euphrates. When no longer able to rule, he left the widest empire the world had yet seen to his daughter Hatshepsut, aged twenty-four, and to his seventeen year old son. Hatshepsut had inherited her father's great ability and tireless energy; the son was weak and purposeless. His untimely death gave occasion for many both then and since to wonder if his vindictive sister did all she could to save him. Certain it is that Queen Hatshepsut rallied sufficiently from the shock of his death to reign for many years.
It was very disconcerting to a nation so strongly held by tradition and veneration for established customs as was Egypt, to have a woman on the throne of the Pharaohs. This is amusingly shown in temples where her loyal supporters sought to lessen prejudices felt because she was a woman by portraying pictures designed to show that her birth had been attended by special marks of favor and of prophecy on the part of the gods. In these, however, she is often represented as a boy. She seems to have regretted not having been a man, and no doubt the matter was constantly thrust before her and she was forced to feel how greatly this placed her at a disadvantage among her subjects. She seems to have made heroic efforts to modify the differences in sex as much as possible by assuming a beard and by having herself represented in art in a king's official dress. Furthermore, a bewildering use of pronouns seem to have been employed concerning her, and such phrases as: "his majesty herself," and others similar have come down to us.
Great benefits came to Egypt when the ruler's attention was directed from conquest to internal improvements, and these last occupied the energy of this capable queen throughout her reign. Instead of erecting pyramids or tombs, she at once began to build a temple in which she might be worshipped after death—for in Egypt a ruler was worshipped as a god after his death. Nor would Hatshepsut have her temple like those around her. Rather, a site was chosen out of Thebes, where the hills rose to quite an elevation. A series of four terraces, each having its beautiful colonnade, led to the temple itself, which was hewn out of the rocky hill.
The young queen wished to build such a temple as she fancied might have been sacred to Amon—the ancient deity of Thebes—in his own land of Punt, on the East African coast. It was a myth of the Egyptians that long before they existed, the gods abode in the land of Punt, called by them the Holyland, or God's land. Tradition held that in this land the myrrh tree was sacred to Amon, and so one day Queen Hatshepsut announced to her ministers that the god Amon had revealed to her his desire that here in Thebes, before the new temple, his favorite myrrh tree should grow.
Now myrrh incense for offerings had been procured from merchantmen who brought their spices into Egypt, and the tree itself grew only in Punt, which lay to the furthermost corner of the ancient world. However, the queen was determined to satisfy the god—and incidentally, perhaps, her own fancy. So, nothing daunted, her subjects set to work to construct a fleet suitable for the journey necessary for procuring the incense-bearing tree.
It is supposed that some canal connected the river with the Red Sea; whether or not this was the case, the ships were built at Thebes, and there is no record of their having been carried over land to the port. They were fitted out with both sails and oars, so that the expedition might not be hindered by calm weather. Beside the oarsmen and the crew, soldiers accompanied the fleet to give protection should it be needed.
After many days the ships came at last to the Holy Land, or Punt. Messengers were dispatched to the native king with presents from Queen Hatshepsut and a request that he acknowledge the sovereignty of Egypt, and allow her subjects to bring back products from his land—especially the coveted incense-tree. The king was delighted with the gifts and made up a procession to go down to the shore and meet the Egyptians. He had a funny little dwarf wife, belonging, it is supposed, to one of the dwarf tribes of interior Africa. She on her donkey, her three children, the king and several of his chiefs, proceeded to the shore to greet the strangers. They were led to the native houses—curious round huts built on piles and entered only by ladders, while palm and incense trees sheltered their occupants from the hot rays of the tropical sun. The travelers were treated royally throughout their sojourn in the land of Punt, and were allowed to exchange the products they had brought from the valley of the Nile for the native products—such as ebony, ivory, incense, leopard skins, metals, and the much desired myrrh trees.
At length the Egyptians were ready to set sail for the home land, and now some of the natives, the dwarf queen, some of the chief men and others decided to return with them and see the queen of great renown; so with these for passengers, the ships cleared port.
Upon arrival, their return was the occasion for a gala-day at the capital. The state troops were out on parade, the veterans of the expedition formed in procession with the thirty-one myrrh trees which had been carefully packed and shielded under awning from the sun's rays; the strange animals from Punt—dogs, baboons, monkeys, a tame leopard with his keeper, natives who gave their war dance, the dwarf queen of Punt, who with her chief men brought gifts to Hatshepsut—all these made up a great spectacle sufficiently absorbing to the throngs who filled the streets of Thebes. All went to the temple where Queen Hatshepsut made offerings to Amon, and then the myrrh trees were planted before his temple. It would be interesting to know how many of these thirty-one trees withstood the radical change, but probably trees which had occasioned such a national outlay had no choice but to flourish.
Queen Hatshepsut felt a natural pride in the result of her expedition which had the effect of establishing lasting trade between the two countries, to the benefit of both. She did not wish it to be forgotten, and so had the whole story depicted on the walls of her temple by artists who probably accompanied the fleet. There some of the pictures may still be seen. The first portrays the embarking of the Egyptian fleet. An inscription before it reads: "These are the ships which the wind brought along with it. The voyage on the sea, the attainment of the longed-for aim in the Holy Land, the happy arrival of the Egyptian soldiers in the land of Punt, according to the arrangement of Amon, King of the gods, Lord of the terrestrial thrones in Thebes, in order to bring to him the treasures of the whole land in such quantities as will satisfy him. This was done by the Queen of Egypt, the daughter of the Sun, never has anything similar been done in the times of a former king in this country."[1]
The second scene shows the reception in Punt; the third, the traffic; the fourth picture, the loading of ships for the return. Men are seen bringing trees and other products of Punt on board. This inscription reads: "The loading of the ships of transport with a great quantity of the magnificent products of Arabia,[2] with all kinds of precious woods of the Holy Land, with heaps of incense, resin, with verdant incense trees, with ebony, with pure ivory, with gold, and silver from the land of Amon, with tesep-wood and the cassia bark, incense, hounds, skins of leopards, apes, monkeys, with women and children. Never has a coming been made like this by any king since the creation of the world."
The fifth is the "Return to Thebes." The accompanying inscription: "Excursion completed satisfactorily; happy arrival at Thebes to the joy of the Egyptian soldiers. The princes of Punt after arrival in this country, bringing with them costly things of the Arabian[2] land, such as never had yet been brought by any Egyptian king, for the Supreme Majesty of the god Amon-Ra, Lord of the terrestrial thrones."
The sixth scene represents the presentation of the tribute of Punt to the Queen, while princes of that land kneeling before her ask for peace.
"Homage to thy countenance,
O Queen of Egypt, Sun,
Beaming like the sun-disk
After your mistress, who is
Arabia's[2] mistress."
In the seventh painting the Queen offers gifts to Amon; the eighth shows the weighing of the incense; the ninth, the formal announcement of the successful expedition before Amon, and the tenth and last, the formal announcement of the happy issue before the Egyptian court.
Other paintings which adorn the walls of this temple, depicting the birth of the Queen and the guardianship exercised over her by the goddess Hathor, while less famous are quite as indelible and interesting from a social standpoint.
This temple in its architectural conception was a departure from Egyptian models. It impresses us with its fine proportion and the skillful use of the colonnade.
It has not long been accessible to visitors, having been uncovered only in the last few years.
Other building enterprises were undertaken by Queen Hatshepsut, notably the erection of two obelisks of polished granite in honor of Amon.
Possessing some tributary territory in Asia and Punt and maintaining a policy of peace, the national revenue was much increased. The proud queen left a record of her kingdom's prosperity chronicled in stone: "My southern boundary is as far as Punt; my eastern boundary as far as the marshes of Asia, and the Asiatics are in my grasp; my western boundary is as far as the mountain of Manu (or the sunset); my fame is among the Sand dwellers altogether. The myrrh of Punt has been brought to me, all the luxurious marvels of this country were brought to my palace in one collection. They have brought me the choicest products, of cedar, of juniper, and of meru-wood; all the goodly sweet woods of God's-land. I brought the tribute of Libya, consisting of ivory and seven hundred tusks which were there, numerous panther skins of five cubits along the back and four cubits wide."[3]
In addition to new structures, Queen Hatshepsut repaired temples fallen in decay. In one of these temples she caused to be written: "I have restored that which was in ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished since the Asiatics were in the midst of the Northland, and the barbarians in the midst of them, overthrowing that which had been made while they ruled in ignorance of Ra."[4]
Thutmose III., a younger brother—a mere child at the death of his father—grew restless at being held so long from the throne by his ambitious sister. The sudden death of the queen again raised the question as to whether the sovereign had died as a result of court intrigue. Certain it is that Thutmose III. retaliated for the restraint the queen had exercised over him by commanding that her name be stricken from all the monuments she had erected, his own to be substituted. Fortunately his workmen followed his instructions so badly that it has been possible to read the original name in many cases, and thus possible to trace the career of the world's earliest recorded queen. Thus have later ages been able to realize how well Queen Hatshepsut met the requirements of her day, and to appreciate her courage in overcoming the prejudices which as a woman on the throne of the Pharaohs she is sure to have encountered.
QUEEN HATSHEPSUT.
[1] These inscriptions are translated in Records of the Past, ed. by Sayce, Vol. X.
[2] The translation is to be corrected to Punt.
[3] Trans. by Breasted, History of Egypt, 280.
[4] Ibid.