Sphinx Of Hatshepsut Analysis

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I will compare and contrast the Sphinx of Hatshepsut with Haremhab as a scribe of the King. The Sphinx of Hatshepsut is particularly interesting to me for the fact that she was a women pharaoh in Egypt in a time where men and women were not considered equal. Hatshepsut means “The Foremost of noble ladies.” She reigned from 1508–1458 BC and was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III who had ascended to the throne as a child one year earlier. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III’s father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of …show more content…
Most of her statues were destroyed by her nephew and successor after her death. Her sphinx is made of granite. It is considered a sculpture in the round. It was put together from fragmented pieces found by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It depicts the body and muscles of a lion which to Egyptians represented power and strength. Egyptians were polytheists. They believed the gods could appear unto them as humans, animals or a combination of both. Therefor the creation of Sphinx such as Hatshepsut’s. They believed Pharaohs were gods as well or had the same power of a god. The face of the Sphinx is the idealized face of a male Pharaoh, showing the stylized ceremonial beard and the striped head cloth worn by the Pharaohs which in this case represents serenity. Hatshepsut chose to be represented as a male Pharaoh despite her gender. This was a way of showing her power and dominion. Hatshepsut’s Sphinx and her statues were found at The Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut located at what we now call Deir el-Bahri, Egypt. This Sphinx is in all ways a representation of Egypt’s culture where Egyptians wanted to show there control and stability to the rest of the

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