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EGYPTIAN ARTICLE
Ancient Egyptian Female Pharaohs
Portraits show her wearing the royal head cloth and kilt over her female
attire, a way of declaring that she is as fit to rule as any man.
and has been quoted as saying, "We are 100 percent sure that the mummy
is Hatshepsut" In order to verify the identification a DNA laboratory was set
up close to the Cairo museum funded by The Discovery Channel. However
some archaeologists have expressed scepticism about the possibility of using
DNA technology to identify the queen, including US molecular biologist Scott
Woodward who was quoted as saying, "It's a very difficult process to obtain
DNA from a mummy. To make a claim as to a relationship, you need other
individuals from which you have obtained DNA to make a comparison
between the DNA sequences." Also other Egyptologists did not see the left
arm on the chest as a royal characteristic, including Dr. Bard of Boston
University who said that royal mummies were usually laid out with both
hands crossed at the chest. It should be noted that at the time of completing
the documentary the DNA evidence had not been conclusive and further DNA
investigation has still not been published (May 2010). It has to be said that
there is some secrecy surrounding Egypt's DNA testing as they are very
reluctance to share or publish the results. Dr Hawass is also unwilling to
have the results double checked by other DNA laboratories elsewhere in in
the world and has been quoted as saying that the DNA of Egyptian mummies
can only be tested by the Egyptians themselves. So far, the science shown in
the Discovery Channel's television special "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen"
has not been published in a reputable peer-reviewed scientific journal the
gold standard of scientific research worldwide. Egypt also lacks an
independent second lab to review the testing. Before any DNA results can be
published in a scientific journal, the Egyptian Museum lab must have its
initial findings duplicate by an independent lab. The ancient-DNA world goes
by a very stringent set of criteria, one of which is replication by an
independent lab. If you don't do this, particularly with something so
important, then no peer review journal will publish it. And if you don't get it
published, then as a scientist you haven't achieved anything.
In conclusion: Mummy identification is a very tricky job and it can be very
difficult to positively ID a mummy solely from the sarcophagi or nearby
funerary objects, especially with the regular shifting of royal mummies in
ancient times in order to protect them from tomb robbers. Also as long as
Egyptian Egyptologists continue to refuse to let other reputable teams of
international scientists examine their results then any claims to mummy
identification will be less than meaningful.
Nefertiti was found at Amarna, which showed her remarkable beauty. She
was actively involved in her husband's revolutionary policies and is often
shown wearing kingly regalia and officiating at his side. It is believed that
after the death of Akhenaten she ruled independently around 1336 BC.
Although this is by no means certain and I have only inlcuded her name here
as apossible female pharaoh, not a certainty.
CLEOPATRA (c 51 BC)
It was over one thousand years after Twosret, during the Ptolemaic period,
that Cleopatra reigned as Pharaoh. However, as the Ptolemaic kings were
essentially Greek invaders, Cleopatra, unlike those mentioned above, was
not of true Egyptian lineage. Descended from Macedonians, who had ruled
Egypt ever since the death of Alexander the Great, some 250 years earlier,
Cleopatra VII was born to Ptolemy XII in 69 B.C. She came to the throne
when she was just 17 year old in 51 B.C. It's thought that she ruled jointly
with her father, then after he died, with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII. It
is said that Cleopatra captivated Julius Caesar (Roman) when he came to
Alexandria and in order to assume sole power over Egypt she asked for
Julius Caesar's help, which he willingly gave. However their relationship was
doomed and when her liaison with Mark Anthony, another powerful roman,
also ended disastrously, Cleopatra, also known as the "Queen of the Nile."
famously committed suicide in 30 BC. Not only was Cleopatra the last female
to be called pharaoh, her demise also brought to an end 3,000 years of
dynastic rule.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Almost certainly, these female Pharaohs were all of royal blood and were at
one time queen-consort to their husbands. It is also believed that most of
them did not produce heirs and therefore, upon the death of their
husbands/brothers/fathers, they ascended to the throne.
Being a royal woman in Ancient Egypt obviously did not exclude you from
the throne, unlike the vast majority of kingdoms at that time. Women in
Ancient Egypt had great advantages over their contemporaries in other
cultures, such as Mesopotamia and Greece. Egyptian women were allowed to
own property and hold official positions. Women could also inherit their
wealth and take any disputes to court and defend their legal rights. As
Heroditus, a famous Greek historian pointed out, much to his horror, that
Egyptian women were free to move about in public, unlike her Greece
counterpart who were confined to her home. However, it is general regarded
that if a woman did become pharaoh it was most likely because she had the
backing of some very influential men upon whom she relied to help her
maintain power.
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