The Speos Artemidos Inscription of Hatshepsut and Related Discussions - pocketboek

Hatshepsut was not the only but certainly the most remarkable woman on the throne of ancient Egypt. Especially her early reign is marked by several events which not only impacted Egypt but which had repercussions far beyond it. There is the conflict with Thutmosis III whom she forced from the throne and possibly into exile. She created a previously unknown religious fervor for the god Amun. Her reign is also the time of a vast natural disaster which affected the entire eastern Mediterranean. A group of people who opposed her rule were caught in the catastrophe while leaving Egypt. Different from most rulers, Hatshepsut revealed her motivations for usurping power and reacting to the problems she faced in a unique inscription which survived on a rock-cut chapel she had built in gratitude to the goddess Pakhet for saving her from potential devastation by diverting a flood-wave was created by the cataclysmic explosion of the volcanic island of Thera/Santorin. A group of people affected by the water so that "the earth swallowed their footprints" might be the same as those known from the Biblical Exodus. The early reign of Thutmosis III is discussed in a separate chapter, as in the inscription of a certain Antef, a prominent follower of this king.