If you haven’t noticed, we’re a bit obsessed with women throughout history. National Women’s History Month may be over, but we can’t help but to keep highlighting interesting women from the past. My sister got me a subscription to National Geographic for Christmas, and the April issue introduced me to Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh who ruled Egypt form 1479 to 1458 B.C. Since it’s now 2009 A.D. and the U.S. still hasn’t had a female president, you can imagine that it was a pretty big deal for Hatshepsut to rule back then.
The pharaoh’s body was discovered two years ago, and we still don’t know much about her life, but what we do know is rather scandalous. Hatshepsut was the eldest daughter of Thutmose and Queen Ahmose. Because they believed so much in strengthening royal bloodlines, incest wasn’t a bad thing and Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose II, producing one daughter with him. Thutmose II’s heir, however, was a son by another woman. Thutmose III was super young when his father died, so Hatshepsut stepped in to help him out. Keep reading »