Hatshepsut: life of the week

Hatshepsut is one of ancient Egypt's most extraordinary figures, a pharaoh who deftly asserted her right to the throne, reigned over an era of prosperity, and commissioned some of the most iconic monuments of her time. But how did she rise from a royal princess and consort to become a pharaoh in her own right? In this episode of History Extra's Life of the Week series, I spoke to Egyptologist Dr. Campbell Price to explore Hatshepset's remarkable story. Now, you and I have spoken all about ancient Egypt before in our podcast series, Ancient Egypt, The Big Questions.

And funnily enough, you nominated this particular figure as the person you would most like to invite to a historical dinner party. Why would the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut rank as your number one historical dinner party guest? Well, Emily, I think when people think of ancient Egypt, they think of Tutankhamun, they think of Ramesses the Great, maybe they think of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid. If they think of royal women, they think of Cleopatra, of course, she's very famous. But the reason I suggested Hatchipsuit is because I think she's much less well known despite the fact there being lots more evidence for her.

So actually the raw historical material, as opposed to other historians' accounts, as in the case of Cleopatra, but with Hatshipsuit, the stuff she built, the texts that concern her, the statues, the images, the evidence for her inner circle is much more voluminous. So That is why I just think she is a fascinating, very powerful lady who ruled Egypt pretty successfully for over 20 years, and I would love to know what she was actually like. So let's get right into it. Who was Hatshep Sutz?

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