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Thutmose III by a coup d’état

Thutmose II ruling alone after the death of Thutmose I

Hatshepsut and Thutmose III again—coup d’état.

Thutmose III alone after the death of Hatshepsut

Obviously this proposal had its difficulties. Naville fell upon them with cries of contempt. So heated did the debate become that in 1902, when Sethe and Naville were both camped out at Luxor for the winter season, they were not on speaking terms with each other. Then a domestic catastrophe befell the Naville camp—the kitchen, complete with cook, collapsed into a tomb pit—and Madame Naville was for calling the whole thing off. Sethe, hearing of the trouble and of Madame Naville’s laments, gallantly offered his hospitality, on one condition—the name of Hatshepsut was not to be mentioned. For several weeks the two deadly rivals lived in amity, enjoying many discussions on Egyptological matters—all matters except one. When the Naville establishment was restored to order, the Navilles moved out and the status quo was reestablished. Naville and Sethe stopped speaking.

Despite the criticism of other scholars, Sethe stuck doggedly to his theory. It’s an absurd scenario, really, and it is hard to understand how Sethe could have overlooked the obvious fallacy. When Thutmose III hacked out Hatshepsut’s name from her monuments, he put in its place not only his own name, but the names of his father and grandfather. Thus we derive the chronological sequence we have used in our chapter, the simplest and most logical.

Such examples of filial piety are not too common in Egypt. Ordinarily the kings who proclaimed this virtue in loud voices went around scratching out everybody’s name so they could put up their own. Thutmose III wasn’t the only king to demonstrate filial piety, though, and—who knows?—he may not have appreciated Hatshepsut’s implicit preemption of Thutmose I. She did make rather a point of the relationship.

THE OTHER HATSHEPSUT PROBLEM

Yes, there is another one, and it has more far-reaching implications than Sethe’s little error. I regret having to report that recent research has thrown the entire dramatic scenario of resentment and revenge, female usurper and frustrated king, into disrepute. And it was such a great story!

Photographic Insert

Hemiun the Vizier. Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

The tomb of Queen Hetepheres as found by Reisner. After a painting by Joseph L. Smith. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Pyramid texts. Pyramid of Unas, Sakkara. (Photograph by S. Ikram)

Hatshepsut. Seated limestone statue. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Senenmut. From his tomb at Thebes. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Deir el Bahri. Temples of Hatshepsut (foreground) and Mentuhotep III. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

The Red Chapel (Chapelle Rouge) of Hatshepsut. Open Air Museum at Karnak. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Thutmose III. Luxor Museum. (Photograph by A. Dodson)

Thutmose III�s tomb, Valley of the Kings, Thebes. Decoration of funerary chamber. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Amenhotep III. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Red granite head of Amenhotep III. Luxor Museum. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

One of the protective goddesses (Selket) from the Canopic shrine of Tutankamon. Cairo Museum. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Akhenaton, Colossal Statue. Cairo Museum. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Kiya, wife of Akhenaton. From a block found at Hermopolis. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Amenhotep, son of Hapu. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Abu Simbel. Rock-cut temples of Ramses II. Great temple. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Temple of Nefertari. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Temple of Ramses III, Medinet Habu, Thebes. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

Luxor Temple. Pylon of Ramses II. (Photograph by D. Forbes)

The Pyramids of Meroe. (Photograph by Martin R. Davies)

I won’t try to summarize the evidence, since it