Book Description

Hatshepsut's Temple at Deir el Bahari is about a wonderful experiment in ancient Egyptian art and architecture, a uniquely remarkable structure, but more important it provides some insights about the men and a woman who were avant guard in their thinking at a time when females dared not rule. However, given the opportunity to do so, Queen Hatshepsut ruled well and was involved in many building projects, chief of which was her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari, on the west bank at Thebes. The present work is a survey of the history of the Queen, her architect Senmut and their impact on the historical landscape of ancient Egypt. This work consists of two poems to the god Amon Ra and to the Temple of Deir el Bahari itself, an overview, an introduction, two essays on Hatshepsut and Senmut and conclusions by the author, as well as some published reports written more than a hundred years ago when the Swiss Egyptologist Edouard Naville excavated the temple. In addition, there are some 20 illustrations and photographs taken from the bird's eye view of the temple from the mountain, descending the mountain, and the ascent into the temple's colonnades, ramps, shrines, and to the middle and upper terrace at the mountain's base. The photographs are designed to "let the monuments teach" and as such, they highlight the art and architectural wonder of the temple and this work is therefore a guidebook for students, specialists, and laymen and women as well as for tourists.