“I am the son of Hatshepsut
overseer of the mine workers of sin
chief of the temple of Mana Jahua of Sinai
thou oh Hatshepsut
wast kind to me and drew me out
of the waters of the Nile
hast placed me in the temple (or palace).”
On the reverse were directions for locating the place where the writer reported he had buried certain tablets of stone, which he had broken in his anger. Since all the landmarks the writer used to identify the place of burial have disappeared, nothing has so far come from the search that resulted when this tablet was at last read.
Incidentally, this queen Hatshepsut left her mark upon the age in which she lived, as she was one of the most persistently determined women who ever appeared upon the pages of ancient history. There is a remarkably complete record of her history and her imperial reign which may be read today in the relics of her times and in the ruins of the great works which she caused to be constructed.
Her important place illustrates one of the difficulties of chronology, which we have previously mentioned. Her background is clear and undisputed. When Tuthmosis the First died, his son and heir Tuthmosis the Second succeeded to the throne. He was a physical and mental weakling, and very little is known of him from the monuments of old. But he married his half-sister Hatshepsut, and started a train of events that had surprising consequences. Incidentally, it was the custom for Egyptians to marry in the closest family ties, and brother and sister more often wed than not. In view of this famous lady’s character and later conduct, it is highly probable that the king had no choice in marrying his sister, but was led to the slaughter whether he would or not! At any rate, he died very soon after the wedding, and the widow Hatshepsut declared herself queen. To make her position secure, she married her young stepson and half-brother, Tuthmosis the Third, who was the legal and rightful heir to the throne. During his boyhood the queen reigned in undisputed power, and developed the country in a surprising manner.