Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor

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Other than the Ptolemaic Cleopatra, who came a thousand or so years later, Hetshepsut figures as the most well known woman ruler of Egypt. She was the popular daughter of Tuthmosis I, who was himself quite a popular and successful empire builder. Hatshepsut basically maintained the integrity of her father's empire, using her political court intrigue to maintain herself on the throne. Actually, her husband and half brother, whose mother was not queen, Tuthmosis II, became also her husband. Tuthmosis II was weak both in terms of political skills and health, and he died within three years of ascending to power. Hatsephsut had no children by him, but her husband had a bastard son named Tuthmosis III, whom Hatsephsut send abroad for 22 years. She ruled for some 20 years, constructing a large number of temples at Karnak and elsewhere, and commissioned a merchant expedition to Punt (modern day Somalia). She died on the throne, and Tuthmosis III returned to take the reigns of power. Tuthmosis III was himself a considerable ruler, who systematically defaced Hatshepsut's image wherever it was, but fortunately added to rather than destroyed the works that she had built. There remains some debate about the nature of her rule, relative to that of her stepson Tuthmosis III, which is discussed in the web link below. The temple, her most notable acheivement for tourists, is beautifully set back against cliffs, just over an outcrop of mountain from Valley of the Kings. The temple of Hathor, the sometime female, sometimes cow headed God is an important theme in a ruined portion of the complex. Reliefs of feasts and gifts suggests that Hatshepsut was not a woman without appreciation for fun, but rather a calculating woman. She did have children by another lover, apparently.

Hatshepsut was the most famous of the female pharaohs in Ancient Egypt. Her reign was the longest of all the female pharaohs, and her temple still stands as a tribute to her incredible rise to power. She was the the queen who became king.

The temple is located close to the Valley of the Kings. It is partly cut into the cliff face and partly free-standing.

It is quite a spectacular sight from from a distance, and well worth the walk from the car park, and the climb up the steps to the temple.

Once you get up to the temple there is also a great view looking back across the valley.

I have a few more photos from the temple in my Travelogue

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The focal point of the Deir el-Bahari complex is the Djeser-Djeseru meaning "the Holy of Holies", the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. It is a colonnaded structure, which was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward and architect of Hatshepsut (and believed by some to be her lover, to serve for her posthumous worship and to honor the glory of Amun.

Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of colonnaded terraces, reached by long ramps that once were graced with gardens. It is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it, and is largely considered to be one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt" It is 97 feet (30 m) tall.

The unusual form of Hatshepsut's temple is explained by the choice of location, in the valley basin of Deir el-Bahari, surrounded by steep cliffs. It was here, in about 2050 BC, that

Deir el-Bahari ad-dayr al-baḥrî, literally meaning, "The Northern Monastery") is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt.

The first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh dynasty.

During the Eighteenth dynasty, Amenhotep I and Hatshepsut also built extensively at the site.

Mentuhotep II, the founder of the Middle Kingdom, laid out his sloping, terrace-shaped mortuary temple. The pillared galleries at either side of the central ramp of the Djeser Djeseru correspond to the pillar positions on two successive levels of the Temple of Mentuhotep.

Today the terraces of Deir el-Bahari only convey a faint impression of the original intentions of Senenmut. Most of the statue ornaments are missing - the statues of Osiris in front of the pillars of the upper colonnade, the sphinx avenues in front of the court, and the standing, sitting, and kneeling figures of Hatshepsut; these were destroyed in a posthumous condemnation of this pharaoh. The architecture of the temple has been considerably altered as a result of misguided reconstruction in the early twentieth century A.D.

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The most interesting thing is to look from distance. You will have a look of modernity, the building seeming a recent classical construction (maybe because it may have been recosntructed) .

It’s a good opportunity for you to imagine the opulence of all those palaces, when they were not ruins but living places.

Of course, when you approach the temple the centuries come out of the building to confirm it’s authenticity. Then it will have nothing very important to add to the others. But the history…Really a woman?

Or one of those natural sexual accidents that, nowadays, are gold for some media and must have been a drama to antiquity and history to deal with?

Tip on Tip: If you are lucky enough to see people or animals in the mountains behind the temple, use their size to get a exact idea of the proportions of the temple.

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Beautiful wall paintings just inside the collonade of columns. These were on the right of the temple. Can you see the captured Oryx in the middle of the picture? Its legs are tied up and it is lying on its back - waiting to be butchered.
We spent ages staring at this painting, the detail is marvellous and the subtle colours a real pleasure to behold.

This is the iconic sight that all tourists come to the west bank to see and as you approach it with the mountainous rocks towering above it certainly makes for an imposing and impressive location. For me though when I actually got to the temple I was a little bit disappointed. It is quite austere and militaristic in appearance when compared to Karnak or Luxor temples. The fact that it is in effect a mausoleum may account for its austerity but nonetheless it is more impressive (to me anyway) when viewed from a distance.
For more info click the link below.

This woman pharaoh, Hatshepsut, has quite a story --- she was hated by her stepson (Tuthmoses III) and a lot of her images were destroyed. She had to wear men's clothes and accessories like a fake beard to assert her authority.

She is the daughter of Tuthmoses I, married to her half-brother who became Tuthmoses II who in turn died early. Tuthmoses III was too young then, and Hatshepsut actually took the power from him --- hence, his dislike for her.

She ruled quite for a while and built this huge temple on the side of a mountain, looking like it was carved out of the stone (this is the same temple where tourists were gunned down by terrorists decades ago according to my guide). The massacre of the tourists has led to very strict laws and security in Egypt with regards to tourism and no such incident has occured again at the temple (thank God!).

It is speculated that Tuthmoses III had something to do with the death of her mother. Was she murdered? I think this is a great story that Angelina Jolie could probably pull off!

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This tip follows on from Part I which describes how we visited the Valley of the Kings independently from a tour and how we found our taxi driver, Mohammed.

Onwards to Hatshepsut's Temple at Deir el Bahari. Again we were dropped off a short distance from the main entrance and we had to buy our tickets for the site. There is a land train but as it is only about 100 yards before you have to get off the ride seemed a bit pointless and I think there was another LE£2 fee so we didn't bother.

I loved this Temple - the wall paintings are exquisite - see my other tip.

Back to Mohammed once more. He took us on to our final temple at Medinet Habu which, for many visitors, is omitted as it is the last on their itinerary. Again we had to buy our entrance tickets at a separate booth. This temple is a treasure; it is less crowded and very extensive - we could have spent much longer here but by then we were beginning to flag. See my tip in Off the Beaten Path.

On the return journey Mohammed explained to us how his payment from the broker would work. It was a very well considered and rehearsed explanation. He told us he would get a % of the LE£300 but if we were going to give him a tip could we give it to him out of sight of the broker. We wanted to do this so obliged accordingly. Approaching the end of our trip and nearly at the river side car parking he said we should give him some other small tip so that the Broker or boss could see that we had indeed given him something at the end. The boss, after all, would expect a small percentage of any gratuities. If the boss didn't see any tipping then he would suspect Mohammed of trying to pocket all of the tips before arrival at the car park which would not be good for Mohammed! In the end we gave him another smaller tip in full view of the boss but we learned that tipping and receiving was a very well practiced art which had been refined almost to masterly proportions.

Never mind we enjoyed our day in Thebes immensely. In fact I can't wait to return. There's still the Valley of the Queens and other burial sites over there waiting to be explored.

I'd recommend going independently even though it does lead to some inconveniences like the extra walking distances, having to buy tickets and the inevitable hassle over the tips at the end BUT it did mean we could chose how long we wanted to spend at the various sites. It also meant that our fees were at least going into the local economy rather than being hived off by an international tour company.