His statues bear the same expression, which indeed is that of the mummy itself. He resembles Thûtmosis I., but his features are not so marked, and are characterised by greater gentleness. He had scarcely reached the age of thirty when he fell a victim to a disease of which the process of embalming could not remove the traces. The skin is scabrous in patches, and covered with scars, while the upper part of the skull is bald; the body is thin and somewhat shrunken, and appears to have lacked vigour and muscular power. By his marriage with his sister, Thûtmosis left daughters only,* but he had one son, also a Thûtmosis, by a woman of low birth, perhaps merely a slave, whose name was Isis.** Hâtshopsîtû proclaimed this child her successor, for his youth and humble parentage could not excite her jealousy. She betrothed him to her one surviving daughter, Hâtshopsîtû II., and having thus settled the succession in the male line, she continued to rule alone in the name of her nephew who was still a minor, as she had done formerly in the case of her half-brother.
* Two daughters of Queen Hâtshopsîtû I. are known, of whom
one, Nofîrûrî, died young, and Hâtshopsîtû II. Marîtrî, who
was married to her half-brother on her father’s side,
Thûtmosis III., who was thus her cousin as well. Amenôthes
II. was offspring of this marriage.
** The name of the mother of Thûtmosis III. was revealed to
us on the wrappings found with the mummy of this king in the
hiding-place of Deîr el-Baharî; the absence of princely
titles, while it shows the humble extraction of the lady
Isis, explains at the same time the somewhat obscure
relations between Hâtshopsîtû and her nephew.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin,
from a photograph in
the possession of Emil
Brugsch-Bey.
Her reign was a prosperous one, but whether the flourishing condition of things was owing to the ability of her political administration or to her fortunate choice of ministers, we are unable to tell. She pressed forward the work of building with great activity, under the direction of her architect Sanmût, not only at Deîr el-Baharî, but at Karnak, and indeed everywhere in Thebes. The plans of the building had been arranged under Thûtmosis I., and their execution had been carried out so quickly, that in many cases the queen had merely to see to the sculptural ornamentation on the all but completed walls.
This work, however, afforded her sufficient excuse, according to Egyptian custom, to attribute the whole structure to herself, and the opinion she had of her own powers is exhibited with great naiveness in her inscriptions. She loves to pose as premeditating her actions long beforehand, and as never venturing on the smallest undertaking without reference to her divine father.
This is what I teach to mortals who shall live in centuries to come, and whose hearts shall inquire concerning the monument which I have raised to my father, speaking and exclaiming as they contemplate it: as for me, when I sat in the palace and thought upon him who created me, my heart prompted me to raise to him two obelisks of electrum, whose apices should pierce the firmaments, before the noble gateway which is between the two great pylons of the King Thûtmosis I. And my heart led me to address these words to those who shall see my monuments in after-years and who shall speak of my great deeds: Beware of saying, ‘I know not, I know not why it was resolved to carve this mountain wholly of gold!’ These two obelisks, My Majesty has made them of electrum for my father Anion, that my name may remain and live on in this temple for ever and ever; for this single block of granite has been cut, without let or obstacle, at the desire of My Majesty, between the first of the second month of Pirîfc of the Vth year, and the 30th of the fourth month of Shomû of the VIth year, which makes seven months from the day when they began to, quarry it. One of these two monoliths is still standing among the ruins of Karnak, and the grace of its outline, the finish of its hieroglyphics, and the beauty of the figures which cover it, amply justify the pride which the queen and her brother felt in contemplating it.
