The General and the Woman Pharaoh

After the Egyptians learned how to fight from the Hyksos, the New Kingdom of Egypt got more and more powerful. This is sometimes called the “Golden Age of Egypt,” because Egypt was richer than ever before.

We could never learn about all of these pharaohs! But we are going to read about two of the most interesting pharaohs: Thutmose I and his daughter, Hatshepsut.

THUTMOSE I: THE GENERAL

Before he became pharaoh, Thutmose I was a general in the Egyptian army. Leading the army into wars was what he did best. And he liked to fight!

Thutmose helped the Egyptian princes drive the Hyksos out of Egypt. When the leader of the Egyptian princes became king, Thutmose was his right-hand man. Then Thutmose married his daughter! And when the king died, Thutmose became the new pharaoh of Egypt. His rule began around 1524 BC/BCE.

Thutmose decided that his job as pharaoh was to make Egypt’s empire even bigger by conquering other countries. Thutmose’s first battles were against the Nubians, who were trying to break away from Egypt. He went down and conquered the Nubian chiefs and reminded them that they were still part of Egypt.

But that wasn’t enough for Thutmose. Next, he took his army and followed the Hyksos all the way up to Canaan. He defeated the tribes living in the south part of Canaan and made the land part of Egypt. Thutmose was very pleased with himself. The Hyksos had come down and taken over Egypt. Now he had gone up and taken over the land of the Hyksos.

The victory made him so happy that he wanted to keep on fighting. He turned his army east, and he started to march. He conquered land all the way to the Euphrates River. But he didn’t cross the river—because Babylon was ruling between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

By the time Thutmose died, Egypt was twice as big as it had been!

HATSHEPSUT: THE WOMAN WHO PRETENDED TO BE A MAN

Hatshepsut was a princess of Egypt—the daughter of a pharaoh. Her father Thutmose was one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs. Thutmose had three children, but his favorite child was his daughter, Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut loved to listen to her father’s stories of battles and conquest. She wanted to grow up to be pharaoh too. But back in ancient times, most people thought that women were too weak to rule countries. In ancient Egypt, women were allowed to get married and have children. If they didn’t want to get married, they could work at the temple, serving the gods. Or they could become dancers. But those were the only jobs women could have.

So when the pharaoh Thutmose died, Hatshepsut’s brother became the next pharaoh. Hatshepsut didn’t think this was fair. Her brother was sick most of the time, and he didn’t pay much attention to his job ruling Egypt. “I would be a better pharaoh than my brother!” she told herself. “But he is a man, and I am a woman. Will I ever get the chance to show what a good ruler I can be?”

Hatshepsut’s brother got sicker and sicker, and one day he died. He had only been pharaoh for four years. Before he died, he told Hatshepsut that he wanted his son to be the next pharaoh. But his son was just a baby.

So Hatshepsut said to the Egyptians, “I will help my brother’s son rule Egypt until he is old enough to be pharaoh on his own.”

The Egyptian people agreed, and Hatshepsut was finally able to rule Egypt. She wasn’t the real pharaoh; everyone knew that her nephew would soon be old enough to rule.

But when that day came, Hatshepsut announced that she would not give up the throne. “My father always meant me to be the Crown Prince,” she told her people. “He wanted me to become pharaoh, rather than my brother.”

“You can’t do that!” the people in the palace said.

Hatshepsut answered, “But the god Amon-Ra told me that I would rule Egypt. He said, ‘Welcome, my sweet daughter, my favorite, the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. Hatshepsut, you are the Pharaoh!’ So the gods themselves want me to rule Egypt!”

“But no woman has ever been pharaoh!” the people complained.

“Then pretend I am a man,” Hatshepsut said. And she started to wear men’s clothing. Whenever she sat on the throne, she even put on a false beard.

Hatshepsut was so determined to be pharaoh that the Egyptians finally agreed to have her as their ruler. For over twenty years, Hatshepsut ruled Egypt—a queen pretending to be a king. She didn’t fight any wars, but she did lead expeditions into Africa. There, she bought gold, incense, monkeys, elephants, and other things that the Egyptian people loved. She built more monuments than any other Egyptian queen. She ruled over the Egyptians until her death.