Hatshepsut
The pharaoh who ruled Egypt as king
c. 1507 – 1458 BCE
Rather than rule only as a regent for her stepson, Hatshepsut took the full title and regalia of pharaoh, presiding over one of the most prosperous periods of the New Kingdom.
Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. When he died, his heir, Thutmose III, was still a child, and Hatshepsut initially ruled as regent — but within a few years, she began styling herself as a full pharaoh, using the male titles and false ceremonial beard of the office alongside her own name.
Her reign, lasting roughly two decades, is remembered for ambitious building projects, including her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, and for expanding trade — most famously a documented expedition to the land of Punt, which returned with gold, ebony, and myrrh trees to replant in Egypt.
After her death, many of her monuments were defaced or her image chiseled out, likely on the orders of Thutmose III's successors — an erasure that meant her full story wasn't reconstructed by Egyptologists until the 19th and 20th centuries.
Why it matters
Hatshepsut is now recognized as one of the most successful pharaohs in Egyptian history, and her reign is cited as evidence of how thoroughly women could — and did — hold supreme political power in ancient Africa.