Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, IPA: ), meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by egyptologists as one of the most successful female pharaohs of Egypt, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Several women of non-indigenous dynasties ruled Egypt as pharaoh, such as the Cleopatras.

Hatshepsut was once described only as having served as a co-regent from about 1479 to 1458 BC, during years seven to twenty-one of the reign previously identified as that of Thutmose III.

Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh, however, and her reign as king is now usually given as twenty-two years. The date of her death is known to have occurred in either 1458 or 1457 BC; hence, she must have become pharaoh some time in or just after 1479 BC. She is regarded as one of the earliest known queens regnant in Ancient Egyptian historical records after Merneith of the First Dynasty and the second woman known to have formally assumed power as "King of Upper and Lower Egypt" after Queen Sobekneferu of the Twelfth Dynasty. (Queen Nitocris was once thought to have reigned in Egypt near the end of the Old Kingdom but this name is now thought to be an erroneous rendering of the male king Netjerkare Siptah or Netjerkare 'Son of Ptah'.)