Gracy Bee

Egyptian Queen: Hapsetshut

Posted on July 22nd, 2007 by GracyBee.
Categories: General.

Following my previous post on the 14th July, I managed to record the repeated documentary on Discovery Channel yesterday. All thanks to TY, I can now see and enjoy it!

I felt so fascinated about archeology and history. I like to imagine how people used to live in the past and how it is different or similar to our modern life. A history record without any proof of remains is nothing to me. However with ancient monuments and legacies left behind by them, it was hard to believe that someone in the past has built it and at such great scales! Hence, the archeological sites around the world, fascinated me and can’t wait to explore and think about their past lives, and learn from their great achievements. (May read more about my Egyptian trip in places category)

Needless to say, every new find in Egypt fascinated me. It is even so when it involved something or someone that is lost and found. Before I visited Egypt, the only personalities I know was Tutankhamum, Cleopatra, Nerfertiti, Ramses and Akentanen. I only found out about Hapsetshut when I visited there and gosh…..she was even more powerful as a pharoah than Nerfertiti and Cleopatra! I only know her though these photos I have taken last year:

Her damaged statue

Her Temple

What is so unique about this documentary is that…they have identified her out of so many unidentified mummies and using evidence from different sources that related to her.

It took my breath away to see her original state of her original tomb KV 20 at nearly 3500 years. When I first visited the other tombs while I was there, there are already platforms for us to walk with ease. But her tomb don’t have any. At the depth of 35ft, the workers in the docu used back the same technology and method to clear the tunnel. I really saluted them. I can’t imagine in those days how they can clear and smooth the tunnels, how they do the colourings and with that depth, how they push the giant granite sarcophagus down and to carry the mummy up and down.

^^^^^^

Anyway, the programme has used CAT scan to identify the different mummies. The DNA test was a failure due to time lag of 3500 years. However it was amazing to know that they found a tooth belonging to her, and that is the key to her identification.

While the sciencific area is going out, another journey was also done to track back her life and till to her last moment of death. I really saluted her of her great achievements to run a country as king as it must have not being easy for her as a female at that era. Against all odds, she led a successful reign, only at her death her records was vanished.

The findings still leave me breathless. My god, it all means that she was there all along while I was visiting the museum and the Valley of the Kings! I’m glad to know that she is now back with us. She is indeed my role model to strive to achieve to great heights.

Hapsetshut

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