Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple at Deir el Bahri dominates the West Bank at Luxor, Egypt.
Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmosis I, the wife (probable half-sister) and Queen of Thutmosis II and step-mother and co-regent of Thutmosis III. Hatshepsut was Pharaoh during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. Hatshepsut was pictured as Pharaoh in her mortuary temple and Deir el Bahri and other monuments. She ruled for twenty-two year. When she died, Thutmosis III supervised Hatshepsut’s burial in the Valley of the Kings.
For more biographical information….
In the years after her reign, her successors defaced the temple at Deir el Bahri and monuments she built, selectively removing her name or replacing it with their own. It is not known if Thutmosis III ordered the actual defacement out of anger at her assumption of power during his youth. There is some archeological evidence that the defacement of Hatshepsut’s Temple at Deir el Bahri took place 20 years after her death– a long time to hold a grudge. Thutmosis III ruled for thirty-three years in his own right.
Scenes of the voyage to Punt where located on the bottom tier of the Mortuary Temple at Deir El Bahri.
The Temple at Deir el Bahri served as a record of the major events of Hatshepsut’s reign. There are scenes depicting a trading expedition to Punt and the quarrying of the two obelisks she commissioned for Karnak,one of which still stands today. There are also scenes of her coronation.
This is the stele commemorating the installation of the obelisks, showing Hatshepsut on the left.
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Hathor columns of the shrine of Hathor. Located on the south side of the second level. The rock cut shrine behind the columns is believed to be more ancient that the Temple. |
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Osiride statue of the queen on the upper terrace. |
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Painted relief showing offering to Horus. Click through to larger picture and note the ceiling decoration. |
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Relief showing young queen being suckled by Hathor cow. |
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Painted relief showin
g Feast table. |
The unfinished tomb of Senenmut, the architect of the Great Temple, is located nearby. The above view was taken from it’s entrance. The Penguin Guide suggests that you can ask for special arrangements to see the tomb. We did ask one of the guards who, for a small fee, fetched the keys and took us over to the tomb. For details of the Tomb of Senenmut….
