© German Archaeological InstituteA stone block found on Egypt's Elephantine Island shows Queen Hatshepsut as a female (highlighted by red lines). Later images of the pharaoh portrayed her as a male king.
Ancient stone blocks depicting Queen Hatshepsut have been discovered on Egypt's
Elephantine Island, providing insights into the early years of her reign, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced this week. The blocks may have been part of a building that served as a way station for an ancient Egyptian deity.
On several of the blocks,
Queen Hatshepsut was represented as a woman, according to the Ministry, suggesting that the blocks and building it came from were erected during the early part of the first female pharaoh's reign, which lasted from 1473 B.C. to 1458 B.C. Later in her reign,
the queen was depicted as a male.
© German Archaeological InstituteHere, an ancient pillar from the barque station in Egypt erected by Queen Hatshepsut for the god Khnum.
Mentions of Queen Hatshepsut were erased and monuments bearing her image were defaced after her death, and her female figure was replaced with images of a male king: her deceased husband Thutmose II. It is believed that her co-ruler and stepson/nephew Thutmose III ordered the change.
It was unusual for a woman to become pharaoh of Egypt. As Egyptologist Ian Shaw noted in his book "Exploring Ancient Egypt" (Oxford University Press, 2003), "In the history of Egypt during the dynastic period (3000 to 332 B.C.) there were only two or three women who managed to rule as pharaohs, rather than wielding power as the 'great wife' of a male king."
Comment: Remember this the next time your hear Netanyahu, or any other radical Zionist, say that the Jewish people are justified in stealing and occupying Palestinian land because their 'people' ruled it for thousands of years. It's plainly and simply nonsense. And even if the logic were justified (it isn't), the vast majority of Jews should go to Turkey, not "Israel".