An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power. Hatshepsut—the daughter of a general who usurped Egypt’s throne—was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir, however, paved the way for her improbable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just over … king. At just over twenty, Hatshepsut out-maneuvered the mother of Thutmose III, the infant king, for a seat on the throne, and ascended to the rank of pharaoh.
Shrewdly operating the levers of power to emerge as Egypt’s second female pharaoh, Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays in the veil of piety and sexual reinvention. She successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific building periods.
Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power—and why she fell from public favor just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to women in power.
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This book presents a fascinating and new perspective on the life of Hatshepsut and her rule as King. This is a biography of Hatshepsut’s life and how she came into power. Since there is first hand source material from Ancient Egypt isn’t common, Cooney is very clear that most of this is speculation and she states how she comes to these conclusions. She presents evidence, from both sides of the issue and then offers her conclusion on how she thinks things played out for Hatshepsut.
Cooney presents a fascinating look at what royal life, and life in general, was like in Egypt at this time. The long rituals to the Gods, how easy it was to get sick and die, the openness of sexuality are all things that I have rarely seen discussed in history books about Ancient Egypt, most text seem to focus on the actions and monuments left behind not how life was really like. I found this fascinating because it was all new to me and I really want to learn more about day-to-day life in Egypt.
Hatshepsut is the only female ruler to have ruled without assasination or coos, through times of peace, and ruled for a long period of time. She ruled for 22 years as Regend, then King (~1479-1458 BCE) but, she is not as well known as Cleopatra. This book presents a fascinating look at her rise to power, what she accomplished, what might have led to her taking the mantle of King, and why she was systematically erased from history.
Hatshepsut’s reign was one filled with growth for Egypt. She was a prolific building and spent her whole reign building, restoring, and updating temples and monuments to the Gods and herself. She helped professionalize the priesthoods of the Gods and gave them power. She also re-established trade routes and brought back a lot of wealth to Egypt, including Myrrh trees from Punt. Her reign was truly fascinating and it is sad that she doesn’t get very much recognition for all that she did for Egypt.
I was really fascinated with the discussion of Senenmut and Hatshepsut’s relationship. It does seem like their could have been an actual physical relationship between them since he was elevated to a high position so quickly. But since there is no actual evidence of that we will never know. I loved learning about all the different players in her reign from Senenmut, to her daughter Neferure, Thutmose III. Cooney even goes on to discuss the reign of Thutmose III after the death of Hatshepsut and how 25 years into his reign he set about removing Hatshepsut and her legacy from all of Egypt, which is why she isn’t as widely known.
Overall, this audiobook was fascinating and Dr. Cooney does a wonderful job as the narrator. I really regret not reading/listening to this book earlier. I know I will probably re-read this book in the future. I can’t wait to start Cooney’s new book, When Women Ruled The Ancient World.
I. Love books on Egyptology
A very interesting book about a woman who figured out how to manipulate the system to here advantage and do something that should have been impossible.
The author cannot decide if this is a work of fiction or a research paper. It makes for some interesting but difficult and confusing reading.
Extremely well researched from an academic standpoint while at the same time being immensely readable.