Hatsheput

            Considering her many good characteristics, Hatshepsut was more than capable of ruling the.
             Besides that she was energetic enough, not to accept the sole part of being regent only.
             Although he remained as the official pharaoh, his stepmother Hatshepsut in fact assumed.
             Thutmosis III's throne in the second year of his reign. She chose one of the feasts of Amon as the.
             proper time to make her declaration. Hatsheput functioned from then on as a king and not as a.
             queen. She dressed as a man during official ceremonies and in nearly every relief, painting and.
             sculpture is depicted as a man. She let it be known that her father Thutmosis I had crowned her.
             king much earlier. Egypt did not suffer under a queen like Hatsheput.
             She did not undertake any wars of conquest like her father. On the contrary she busied herself.
             with tasks that can only be achieved during times of peace. Her construction plans equaled those.
             of other pharaohs. Hatsheput's name is significantly associated with the extended expeditions.
             that she sent beyond the borders of Egypt. It was common knowledge that from the wondrous.
             land of Punt came coveted commodities: incense, apes, giraffes, cheetahs, gold, ivory, ostriches,.
             various sorts of valuable resin and also the strange pygmies that the Egyptian court was so crazy.
             about. From this land, which lay far away by the Red Sea, also came the blacks that were used.
             as servants.
             In the ninth year of her reign Hatsheput sent an expedition to this far off country. It was an.
             undertaking of the first order, comparable to a present-day expedition to the South Pole. With this.
             expedition she furthered the trade between the two countries. Hatsheput seemed to be a worthy.
             ruler. Under her care and the help of her very gifted advisors the country bloomed like never before.
             and gold and treasures poured into the treasuries. Hatsheput ordered the restoration of the.
             temples that had been neglected by the Hyksos and making of sacred objects in gold,.