Luxor – Day 6 (The Temple of Hatshepsut)

On the sixth day of our trip, we set out for the Temple of Hatshepsut (it is also known as the Holy of Holies). This temple is special because it honoring a real badass, a queen! Queen Hatshepsut is one of the more important female rulers in Egyptian history. She led the country through some prosperous times.

All of this was completed as a mortuary temple for her – which is very common in Egypt for the Pharaohs. Hatshepsut had been married to her half brother, Thutmose II. Whemn he died, she was appointed as regent for her stepson and nephew, Thutmose III. Michael shared that a “beautiful story” was written for her – a mythical story that would make it possible to take the throne.

In the seventh year of regency, she made an unprecedented move for power and declared herself to be the ruler, calling herself “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkara and the Daughter of Re.” Obviously her stepson/nephew had some bad blood. Once she died, he spent most of his time erasing all memories of her. He destroyed so much of the temple in an attempt to erase her time as ruler. And an even bigger deal in Egyptian culture is erasing her cartouches from different temples. (A cartouche is a symbol with the name written in hieroglyphics). Her tomb and mummy weren’t discovered until 2007!

So stunning – so much was destroyed from Thutmose III, A lot (if not all?) had to be reconstructed with her face on it.

This location had so much to offer. It’s so hard to pick just a few pictures, sorry in advance. I love the fact that so many were well preserved with color!