There were a fair number of women who ruled over ancient Egypt. But who were these women
really, and how did they come to power - and then keep it? Here's the untold truth of the
women who ruled ancient Egypt.
Neithhotep lived in the Early Dynastic Period, which ran from 3150 to 2613 B.C.E., so information
about her is scant. But there are tantalizing clues that she may have ruled on her own after
her husband, the pharaoh, died.
We also have strong circumstantial evidence testifying to her power. The people who uncovered
her tomb many centuries later were awed by its richness and size, and her name was also
included in inscriptions typically meant only for kings. Though Neithhotep remains a mysterious
figure from Egypt's deep past, it's pretty clear, given how her name has survived over
the centuries since her own time, that Neithhotep was a force to be reckoned with.
According to Britannica, Sobekneferu was the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty, stepping in
to take the throne around 1760 B.C.E. after the deaths of her father and brother left
no male heirs.
And she wasn't shy about being a woman in power. While other female pharaohs, like Hatshepsut,
often depicted themselves as male to shore up their claims to power, Sobekneferu consistently
presented herself as a woman during her four years on the throne. To do that, she had to
overcome some procedural speed bumps. According to Silent Images, when a king was crowned,
he was referred to by titles that linked him to male gods. But since Sobekneferu couldn't
find any equivalent goddesses, meaning that she had to invent a female version of Horus
for her coronation.
It doesn't get much more powerful than literally creating a god!
While some women ruled Egypt as regent while their sons were too young to take the throne,
Ahhotep I exercised her power even after her son reached adulthood and became pharaoh.
And she did it with steely determination. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia,
rebels aligned with a foreign power attempted to form a rebellion and overthrow the government
while Ahhotep's son was out of the country on military campaign. Unfortunately for them,
they underestimated Ahhotep, who took command of the military and suppressed the rebellion.
The lesson? Don't mess with mama.
There's no mistaking the fact that Queen Tiye was a major figure in the reigns of both her
husband, Amenhotep III, and her son, Akhenaten . We know this because, unlike many of the
other women who ruled Egypt, Tiye's influence is well-documented thanks to the Amarna Letters.
These were clay tablets inscribed with Akkadian cuneiform, found at Akhenaten's capital. Most
of the tablets are from foreign rulers north of Egypt, and they show that Tiye was a well-regarded
political mover and shaker.
She also shows up in a lot of paintings and statues. Notably, her statues are often as
large as those of her husband. Typically, a king's image showed him as larger than others
around him as a way of visually showing his high status. This means that Tiye's same-size
depictions point towards her influence, as does the fact that her name also shows up
in inscriptions enclosed in a special sign called a cartouche , generally only reserved
for kings.
Perhaps one of the most famous images of ancient Egypt is that of the bust of Nefertiti , queen
of Egypt. Now housed in Berlin's Neues Museum, the sculpture first saw the modern era when
it was uncovered in 1912, aweing viewers with its beauty.
Nefertiti is shown alongside her husband, the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten - Tiye's son
- more than any other queen before her, and in active roles, from leading worship of the
Aten to smiting enemies of the state. Some scholars suspect that she may have even reigned
on her own, or as Akhenaten's co-regent. Whatever really happened, there's no doubt that she
was a uniquely powerful and beautiful Egyptian queen, inspiring new legends about her even
today.
"Who better to protect the bracelet of Anubis than my lovely daughter Nefertiti!"
Hatshepsut
Not only is Hatshepsut's 21-year reign quite long for a pharaoh, it's also unusual for
how it came about. When she was just 12, she married her half-brother, the pharaoh Thutmose
II. When he died, his son by another wife became king. Thutmose III was underage, so
Hatshepsut declared herself regent - and then co-ruler - and then, by some accounts, pharaoh
in her own right.
Donning a false beard and presenting as male, Hatshepsut greatly expanded Egypt's territory,
as the surviving monuments to her greatness attest. Egyptologist James Henry Breasted
called her, quote, "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed." But we
nearly weren't - after her death, Thutmose III and his son attempted to completely erase
her from history, destroying records and defacing statues to cover up her existence. It wasn't
until the end of the 20th century that scholars finally pieced together the details of her
reign.
Cleopatra and her sisters
Cleopatra VII is arguably the most famous of the female pharaohs, but she was just one
of several women in her immediate family who claimed the throne.
While some details are still debated by scholars, in 58 B.C.E., Cleopatra and her father, Ptolemy
XII , were forced to flee Egypt after he was deposed by a popular uprising. Cleopatra's
sister, Berenice IV, and their mother, Cleopatra V, apparently became joint co-rulers.
When their mother died, Berenice seized power for herself. And she didn't want to share
it with any man. Though her court forced her to marry their chosen man in order to make
him co-regent, Berenice instead had her new husband murdered so she could keep power alone.
Alas, her father returned with an army, deposed her, and had her executed. When he in turn
died in 51 B.C.E., he named Cleopatra and her brother-husband, Ptolemy XIII, co-rulers.
But that didn't last either; Cleopatra was forced to flee the country again, and this
time it was another sister, Arsinoe IV, who took Cleopatra's place as the new co-ruler
of Egypt.
By all accounts Arsinoe was the most dangerous of Cleopatra's siblings. At the age of 15,
she directed the Egyptian armies at the Siege of Alexandria and inflicted a defeat on Caesar
himself - at least temporarily.
The army ended up betraying Arsinoe, turning her over to Caesar, who by now was Cleopatra's
lover. Caesar sent Arsinoe away to a monastery for safe keeping. Nowhere was safe from Cleopatra,
though. Following Caesar's death, Cleopatra ruthlessly hunted down anyone who could pose
a political threat to her position, having both Arsinoe and their brother Ptolemy XIV
assassinated, consolidating her power as a major world figure.
"You will kneel."
"I will what?"
"On your knees!"
Violence begets violence, of course, and Cleopatra's end would be as violent as her siblings',
as she and her paramour Marc Antony both committed suicide after being defeated by the Romans.
Still, her legacy lives on in pop culture - an enduring reminder of the power of the
many strong women who ruled ancient Egypt.
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