The aspect of ruling or leading has been a debatable topic for a long time. Many consider men to be the ideal people to rule. However, I believe that women can also be great leaders in society. It is not right to discriminate against women when it comes to taking leadership roles. For this case, we will consider the Egyptian land. According to history, Egypt has had several Dynasties that had great kings or Pharaohs. Most of these rulers were males. But some women twisted the history of leadership in Egypt. They assumed the power of a Pharaoh and functioned the same way the Pharaohs did. Examples of these female Pharaohs include Pharaoh Sobekneferu, Pharaoh Neferneferuaten, Pharaoh Twosret, Pharaoh Merneith, and Pharaoh Hatshepsut.
Pharaoh Sobekneferu
Sobekneferu ruled as Pharaoh of Egypt after the demise of Amenemhat the Fourth. She was the last leader of Egypt’s 12th Dynasty and reigned in Egypt for about four years (1806 BC to 1802 BC). Sobekneferu’s name means ‘the beauty of Sobek.’ Pharaoh Sobekneferu was the daughter of Pharaoh Amenemhat the 3rd. Manetho’s Aegyptiaca says that she also was the sister of Amenemhat the 4th, but people have not proven this claim. Researchers have yet to find evidence of Manetho’s claim, and none of Sobekneferu’s documented titles back the claim. Sobekneferu had a bigger sister called Neferuptah, who was the next heir after Amenemhat the 4th. Neferuptah had her Pyramid at Hawara, and she died at an early age.
The female Pharaoh’s name appears on several King Lists, namely Saqqara, the Karnak, and Turin King Lists, making her the only female Pharaoh appear on these lists. People omitted the names of female Pharaohs such as Twosret, Hatshepsut, and Neferneferuaten from the official King Lists for several reasons. Sobekneferu, the female Pharaoh, is absent from the Abydos King List, the only ruler from the 12th Dynasty that people did not include.
Researchers have discovered few monuments for Sobekneferu, although people have preserved many statues of her, including the base of a statue that has her name and is famous as the symbolism of a king’s noble daughter. People identified a bust in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, lost in World War two, as belonging to Sobekneferu. Notably, Sobekneferu made extensions or additions to the funerary complex of Amenemhat the 3rd at Hawara, and also, she established structures at Magna.
Sobekneferu’s monumental works relate her with Amenemhat the 3rd rather than Amenemhat the 4th, backing the theory that she was the noble daughter of Amenemhat the 3rd and perhaps a step-sister to Amenemhat the 4th.
Pharaoh Twosret
Pharaoh Twosret was the last ruler and the final Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt. Tausret’s or Twosret’s birth date is unfamiliar according to history. History believes that Twosret must have been a daughter of Merenptah, possibly a daughter of Takhat, hence making her a sister to Amenmesse.
People think that Twosret was the 2nd noble wife to Seti the 2nd. Twosret and Seti the 2nd had no children unless tomb KV56 symbolizes the burial of their daughter.
Theodore Davis identified Twosret and her better half in a cache of jewelry in tomb KV56 in the Kings’ Valley. This tomb also had objects having the names of Rameses the 2nd. There is no unanimity about this tomb’s nature. Aldred thought this was the tomb of a daughter of Twosret and Seti the 2nd, but Maspero thought this was a cache of objects belonging to the tomb of Twosret herself.
After her husband’s demise, she became the 1st regent to Seti’s heir, Siptah, together with Chancellor Bay. Siptah was a stepson of Twosret since people know his mother to be a Shoteraja from Louvre Relief E 26901. When Siptah lost his life, the female Pharaoh assumed the throne for herself.
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End of Twosret’s Reign
Twosret’s rule ended in a civil war, which individuals have documented in the Elephantine stela of her successor, Setnakhte, the founder of the 20th Dynasty. Records do not tell us if Setnakhte overthrew her or whether she died in her reign. If the former is the case, then a struggle many have arisen among several groups at the court for the throne in which Setnakhte emerged a winner or victorious. Setnakhte and Ramesses the 3rd, his son, described the late Nineteenth Dynasty as a time of war or chaos. Setnakhte usurped the joint KV14 tomb of Seti the 2nd and Twosret but reburied Seti the 2nd in tomb KV15 while intentionally redrawing and replastering the images of Twosret in tomb KV14 with those of himself. Setnakhte’s decision here may show his dislike and hatred for Twosret since he decided to reinter Seti the 2nd but not the female Pharaoh.
Ramesses the 3rd excluded Twosret and Siptah of the Nineteenth Dynasty from his Medinet Habu list of Egyptian rulers, thereby delegitimizing them in the citizenry’s eyes. It is clear that Setnakhte overthrew Twosret from power in a civil war.
Pharaoh Merneith
Merneith was a consort and a regent of Ancient Egypt during the 1st Dynasty. She may have been a leader or ruler of Egypt in her own right, based on various official documents. Suppose this was the case, and the earlier noble wife Neithhotep never reigned as an independent regent. In that case, Merneith may have been the 1st female Pharaoh and the earliest Queen regnant in human history. Her rule happened around 2950 BC for an undetermined time. The name of Merneith means ‘Beloved by Neith,’ and her stele has symbols of that Ancient Egyptian deity. She may have been the daughter of Djer and probably Djet’s senior noble wife. The former meant that she would have been the great-grandchild or great-granddaughter of joined Egypt’s 1st Pharaoh, King Narmer. She was also the mother of Den.
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The Biography of Merneith
According to records, Merneith may have become a ruler upon the demise of Djet. The title she held is controversial. It might be possible that Den, her son, was too young to rule or lead when Djet died, so she may have ruled as regent until Den was old enough to be the ruler or king in his own right. Prior to this, people believe that Neithhotep ruled similarly after King Narmer, the 1st Egyptian Pharaoh and her husband, died as Narmer’s offspring was too young to lead. People wrote her name on a Naqada inside a serekh, which was how people wrote the rulers’ or kings’ names. This would mean that Merneith may have been the 2nd female in Egypt’s 1st Dynasty to have led or ruled as a Pharaoh.
The best or the most substantial evidence that Merneith was a ruler of Egypt is her tomb. This tomb in Abydos, Tomb Y, is different and unique among the male tombs. People buried Merneith close to Djet and Den. Her tomb is of a similar scale as the tombs of the rulers of that period. Researchers discovered two grave stelae bearing her name near her tomb. The name of Merneith is not in the King Lists from the New Kingdom.
Pharaoh Hatshepsut (Accomplishment on Trade Routes)
Hatshepsut was the 5th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Hatshepsut reformed the trade connections that people had disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the 2nd Intermediate Period, thereby creating the wealth of the 18th Dynasty. She oversaw the funding and preparations for a mission to the Land of Punt. This trading journey or expedition to the Land of Punt was during Hatshepsut’s reign during the 9th year. In her name, it set out with more than three vessels or ships, each measuring over 20 meters long, having several sails, and accommodating over 200 men that included more than 23 rowers and sailors. People purchased many trade items in Punt, particularly myrrh and frankincense.
Hatshepsut’s delegation returned from the Land of Punt bearing more than 30 live myrrh trees, the roots of which individuals kept in baskets for the journey’s duration. This was the 1st attempt to transplant foreign trees on records. Reports say that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her mortuary temple complex. Egyptians also returned with several gifts from the Land of Punt, especially frankincense. The female Pharaoh would grind the charred frankincense into kohl eyeliner.
Hatshepsut had the journey celebrated or commemorated in relief at Deir el-Bahari, which is also popular or famous for its realistic portrayal of Punt’s Queen (Queen Ati). People portray the Puntite Queen as tall, and her physique was proportionate, with large breasts and fat on her body. Due to the fat deposits on her buttocks, scholars have argued that she may have had steatopygia. However, according to Marc Armand Ruffer, a pathologist, the main feature of a steatopygous woman is a disproportion in size between the thighs and the buttocks, which wasn’t the case with Queen Ati. She instead appears to have been obese.
The female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut, also sent raiding expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula and Byblos after the Punt journey or trip. According to historical records, people know little concerning these expeditions.
Several Egyptologists have claimed that her foreign policy was chiefly or mainly peaceful. It might be possible that she led military campaigns against Canaan and Nubia.
