Preface

Queen Hatshepsut—or sometimes “King” Hatshepsut, in formal circumstances— was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmosis I, the wife (and half-sister) of Pharaoh Thutmosis II, the stepmother and co-regent of Pharaoh Thutmosis III. She ruled Ancient Egypt in her own right as the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, approximately from 1473 (perhaps 1479) to 1458 BC, with the throne name of Maatkare. She is regarded as one of the most successful Pharaohs, preserving power longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Hatshepsut is known to have been engaged in military campaigns early in her reign, but generally is credited to be a monarch who initiated a long era of peace. She re-established international trading relationships, disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of the country, and brought great wealth to Egypt. During her reign, Hatshepsut organized and funded several missions to foreign lands, the most famous being that to the Land of Punt. This region, also called Pwenet or Pwene, was located to the southeast of Egypt, on the littoral of either, or both, the Horn of Africa and Southern Arabia (most likely Eritrea and neighbouring Ethiopia). The expedition was very ambitious—Hatshepsut sent a fleet of five ships, each measuring about 25 m length, 7 m beam and 2 m draft, bearing several sails and 30 rowers, which left Kosseir, on the Red Sea, with a total crew of about 250–300 men—and turned into a remarkable commercial, as well as diplomatic and scientific success. Many invaluable goods were bought back—Hatshepsut herself informed us in lengthy inscriptions that “the ships were laden with the costly products of the Land of Punt and with its many valuable woods, with very much sweet-smelling resin and frankincense, with quantities of ebony and ivory”—including precious myrrh and 31 live myrrh trees, the roots of which we know were kept in baskets for the duration of the voyage. While the trees were planted in the courts of her mortuary temple complex at Dayr el-Bahari, near Luxor in the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut had all stages of the expedition commemorated on the walls of her tomb’s Djeser-Djeseru, the Holy of Holies, the Sublime of Sublimes—a colonnaded structure of perfect harmony designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward and architect (probably royal lover as well) to serve for her posthumous worship and to honor the glory of Amun. A full account of the expedition returned treasures and findings was recorded in the