Did Hatshepsut leave a great impact on Egypt?

Answer 1

Hatshepsut was one of the most outstanding pharaoh's in Ancient Egypt, achieving great power and influence during the New Kingdom. As was common in royal families, Hatshepsut originally married her half-brother Thutmose II. When he died the throne passed to his small son, Thutmose III. As the child's stepmother, Hatshepsut served for a period as regent and co-ruler. Then in a bold move she siezed the throne for herself and gained the backing of several high court officials and priests. She ruled Egypt as Pharaoh in her own right for 22 years. Because a Pharaoh was by custom male, she dressed in men's clothes and attached a ceremonial beard to her chin. Statues usually depict her wearing the beard. When ruling the nation Hatshepsut ordered the construction of a temple in her honor at Deir El-Bahri. On the walls of the temple, reliefs tell of her birth as the daughter of the god Amon and of her right to rule Egypt. They also portray her being crowned during the reign of her father, Thutmose I, but this event was a fiction. The reign of Hatshepsut was a peaceful period of effecient government, expanding foreign trade, and artistic rebirth. Carved on the walls of Hatshepsut's funeral temple is a record of a successful trading expedition sent south to Punt (in present-day Somalia), which opened up the possibility of trade in ivory, incense, ebony, and gold. New types of sculpture developed during her rule. A unique style of temple construction that employed terraces became popular; her cult temple at Deir El-Bahri was a fine example of this new architectural design. Hatshepsut came to a mysterious end. During a revolt in the period of Thutmose III, she disappeared. Her statues, temples, and shrines were later mutilated and her body was never found. (Robert J. Walker - World Civilazations: A Comparative Study - pg 67)

Answer 2

She builds the Djeser-Djeseru. We know it as The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It is located at Deir el-Bahri, The Obelisks of Hatshepsut and The Red Chapel. She lived in the Palace of Ma'at. It was rectangular structure. The capital was Thebes, Amarna, and then again Thebes. In terms of trade, Hatshepsut was not blind to the need of bolstering Egypt's economy' and indeed, the Punt expedition is but the climax of her consistent trading enterprises with Lebanon, Crete, Syria, West Africa, South Africa, Aswan and the reopening of mines in Mt. Sinai. She traded Ivory, gold, silver and other goods for eating. Hatshepsut's legacy is also extant in the enduring architectural innovations she incorporated into her building program. The design of Djeser-Djeseru is a prime example; although there exist a few doubtful precursors of the terraced template originality of the design cannot be gainsaid.' The thematic structure of the three terraces, from her role as pharaoh, to legitimization of her rule and achievements, to the worship of the deities is indisputably her own invention, as were the ramps linking them, imitating the glory of a sun's ray. Thutmose III modeled his mortuary temple on Hatshepsut's whilst Akhenaten incorporated the design of the ramps into his own buildings. Similarly, the design of Hatshepsut's tomb, with the three successive passageways leading to the burial chamber, her royal sarcophagus, her resting stations for Amun's barque were likewise replicated by her successors. Therefore, Hatshepsut's reign was characterized by a myriad of architectural innovations that became her legacy, to be admiringly integrated into the buildings of the future generations of pharaohs. Extreme prosperity and renaissance in art and building projects mark the beginning of this period. Towards the end of the 19th Dynasty the increasing power of the priesthood corrupts the central government. During the 20th Dynasty tomb robbing is done by officials. The priesthood becomes hereditary and begins to assume secular power. The government breaks down.