Study probes motive behind destruction of Queen Hatshepsut statues

After the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut died round 1458 BC, many statues of her had been destroyed. Archaeologists believed that they had been focused in an act of revenge by Thutmose III, her successor. Yet the situation of the statues recovered within the neighborhood of her mortuary temple varies and lots of survive with their faces nearly intact.

Now a brand new research by archaeologist Jun Yi Wong re-examines the unique excavations and presents another clarification. Much of the harm might in truth be from the “ritual deactivation” of the statues and their reuse as uncooked materials. We requested him to elucidate.

Who was Queen Hatshepsut?

Hatshepsut dominated because the pharaoh of Egypt round 3,500 years in the past. Her reign was an exceptionally profitable one – she was a prolific builder of monuments, and her reign noticed nice improvements in artwork and structure. As a outcome, some regard her as one of the best rulers – male or feminine – in historic Egypt. She has additionally been described because the “first great woman in history”.

Hatshepsut was the spouse and half sister of pharaoh Thutmose II. Following the untimely dying of her husband, she acted as regent for her stepson, the younger Thutmose III. However, about seven years later, Hatshepsut ascended the throne and declared herself ruler of Egypt.

Why had been her statues destroyed?

After her dying, Hatshepsut’s names and representations resembling statues had been systematically erased from her monuments. This occasion, typically known as the “proscription” of Hatshepsut, is at present half of my wider analysis.

There’s little doubt that this destruction started in the course of the time of Thutmose III, since some of Hatshepsut’s erased representations had been discovered hid by his new constructions. 

The statues that shaped the topic of my lately revealed research had been found within the Nineteen Twenties. By this time, Thutmose III’s proscription of Hatshepsut was already well-known, so it was instantly (and rightly) assumed it was precipitated throughout his reign. Some of the damaged statues had been even discovered beneath a causeway constructed by Thutmose III, so there’s little doubt that their destruction came about throughout his reign.

Because the statues had been present in fragments, early archaeologists assumed that they should have been damaged up violently, maybe as a consequence of Thutmose III’s animosity in direction of Hatshepsut. For occasion, Herbert Winlock, the archaeologist who led the excavations of 1922 to 1928, remarked that Thutmose III should have “decreed the destruction of every portrait of (Hatshepsut) in existence” and that each conceivable indignity had been heaped on the likeness of the fallen Queen.

The downside with such an interpretation is that some of Hatshepsut’s statues have survived in comparatively good situation, with their faces nearly intact. Why was there such an excellent variation within the remedy of the statues? That was primarily the primary query of my analysis.

How did you discover the reply?

It was clear that the harm to Hatshepsut’s statues was not precipitated solely by Thutmose III. Many of them had been left uncovered and never buried, and lots of had been reused as constructing materials. Indeed, not removed from the place the statues had been found, the archaeologists discovered a stone home that was partially constructed utilizing fragments of her statues.

Of course, the query is to what extent these reuse actions added to the harm of the statues. Fortunately, the archaeologists who excavated the statues left behind area notes which can be fairly detailed.

Based on this archival materials, it’s doable to reconstruct the areas during which many of these statues had been discovered.

The outcomes had been fairly intriguing: statues which can be scattered over massive areas, or have important lacking components, are likely to have sustained important harm to their faces. In distinction, statues present in a comparatively full situation usually have their faces absolutely intact.

In different phrases, statues that had been subjected to heavy reuse actions are way more prone to have sustained facial harm.

Therefore, it’s seemingly that Thutmose III was not liable for the facial harm sustained by the statues. Instead, the destruction that he was liable for was way more particular, specifically the breaking of these statues throughout their neck, waist and knees.

This type of remedy just isn’t distinctive to Hatshepsut’s statues.

What does this imply?

The follow of breaking royal statues throughout their neck, waist and knees is widespread in historic Egypt. It’s sometimes called the “deactivation” of statues.

For the traditional Egyptians, statues had been extra than simply pictures. For instance, newly made statues underwent a ceremony often known as the opening of the mouth, the place they had been ritually delivered to life. Since statues had been considered dwelling and highly effective objects, their inherent energy needed to be neutralised earlier than they might be discarded.

Indeed, one of essentially the most extraordinary discoveries in Egyptian archaeology is the Karnak Cachette, the place a whole bunch of royal statues had been discovered buried in a single deposit. The overwhelming majority of the statues have been “deactivated”, though most of them depict pharaohs who had been by no means subjected to any hostilities after their dying.

This means that the destruction of Hatshepsut’s statues was motivated primarily by ritualistic and pragmatic causes, fairly than revenge or animosity. This, of course, modifications the best way that her relationship with Thutmose III is known.

Jun Yi Wong is a PhD candidate in Egyptology, University of Toronto. This article is republished from The Conversation.

Published – July 08, 2025 05:00 am IST