The temple at Deir el-Bahri remains Hatshepsut’s most enduring monument. Built of limestone and designed in a series of terraces set against the cliff wall in a bay formed naturally by river and wind action, the temple called ‘Holy of Holies’ {djeser djeseru) was Hatshepsut’s most complete statement in material form about her reign. The design of the temple followed a form known since the First Intermediate Period, and particularly inspired by the iith-Dynasty temple of Mentuhotep 11 (2055-2004 bc) just to the south. Terrace temples, however, had continued to be built in the Second Intermediate Period and, more recently, in the early i8th Dynasty (most particularly by Ahmose at Abydos). Hatshepsut borrowed forms developed by many of her royal ancestors; for example, colossal Osirid statues set in front of square pillars on her colonnades resemble closely statues of Senusret I. Hatshepsut’s inspiration may instead have been her father, Thutmose I, however, since his Osirid colossi at Karnak, although of sandstone, were similar to those at Deir el-Bahri.
By the time of its completion, the temple contained scenes and inscriptions that carefully characterize a number of projects and events in the life and rule of Hatshepsut. The most accessible areas, the lower and middle colonnades, showed, for example, a Nubian campaign, the transport of obelisks for Karnak temple, an expedition to Punt to bring back incense trees and African trade products, and the divine birth of the ruler. Officials associated with the work were mentioned by name in the inscriptions, including the treasurer Nehesy and Senenmut. The funerary inscriptions of Djehuty and Senenmut suggest that they were both active in the building and embellishment of the ‘Holy of Holies’ temple at Deir el-Bahri.
On the south end of the middle terrace, a chapel was constructed for Hathor, goddess of the western cemetery, and it was fronted by a pillared court, whose capitals were fashioned as emblems of the cowfaced deity. Scenes of the king feeding the sacred cow flank the entrance to the chapel itself On the upper terrace there was a central door into a peristyle court behind which was the main temple sanctuary. Scenes of the Beautiful Feast of the Valley procession decorated the north side of the court, while the Opet Festival appeared on the south. Another enclosed court to the north contained niche shrines to the gods, including Amun, and a large Egyptian alabaster open-air altar for the sun-god Ra-Horakhty. This sun-temple feature was a significant addition to the complex, recalling an old form seen as early as the 3rd Dynasty Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Its meaning for the royal cult was further underscored in rooms on the south of the central court, where the ruler’s desire to accompany the sun-god on his daily route through the heavens and the netherworld was expressed in scenes and texts. Hymns describing the deities who governed each hour of the day and night gave Hatshepsut power over time itself so that she could merge with the sun for eternity. On this terrace, too, were chapels for Hatshepsut herself and for her father, Thutmose I. An inscription accompanied a scene of that king declaring his daughter’s future reign.
A set of phrases designed to communicate with the few who could read and who would ever see these private areas of the temple allude obliquely to the unusual nature of Hatshepsut’s rule. Her high officials are twice warned: ‘he who shall do her homage shall live, he who shall speak evil in blasphemy of her Majesty shall die.’ It is likely that this was the official court position of the time and that the inscription merely monumentalized a statement well known to elite circles of the time. Hatshepsut was very generous to those who supported her, judging from the sudden increase in large decorated private tombs at Thebes and Saqqara, as well as the increasing number of private statues dedicated in temples such as Karnak. The ruler appears to have forged a symbiotic relationship with her nobles, so that she became as important to them as they were to her. During this period, for the first time in Theban private tombs, the enthroned ruler appears arrayed like the sun-god himself, acting as an eternal intermediary for the tomb-owner. The Theban tombs of the royal steward Amenhotep (TT 73) and the royal butler Djehuty (TT no) show Hatshepsut in this manner, and several tombs dating to the sole rule of Thutmose III continued the practice. Such loyalist representations recall the inscribed stelae of the Middle Kingdom elite that described how the 12th-Dynasty kings acted for the good of Egypt.
World History
