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What Does an Egyptian Pharaoh Smell Like?

She may have ruled like a man, but Egyptian queen Hatshepsut still preferred to smell like a lady.

The world may be able to get a whiff of that ancient royal scent when researchers complete their investigation into the perfume worn by Hatshepsut, the powerful pharaoh-queen who ruled over ancient Egypt for 20 years beginning around 1479 B.C.

Analyzing a metal jar belonging to the famous queen , the team from the Bonn University Egyptian Museum in Germany recently found residue thought to be leftovers from Hatshepsut's own perfume. Their next step will be attempting to "reconstruct" the scent, which was likely made from pricey incense imported from present-day Somalia.

Though funerary objects belonging to Egypt's ancient rulers fill museums around the world, if successful, this will be the first time that a pharaoh's perfume is recreated, the researchers said.

Hatshepsut stepped in as one of ancient Egypt's rare female leaders when her half-brother and husband, Pharaoh Thutmose II, died without an adult male heir. She was meant to rule as a co-regent only until her stepson Thutmose III matured, but she effectively took the reins and was recognized as the pharaoh by the royal court and religious officials until her death in 1457 B.C., Egyptologists say.

Despite her gender, Hatshepsut's two decades as pharaoh are considered an incredibly successful time. Ruling like a man, historians say, she mounted at least one military campaign but kept Egypt largely peaceful, and commissioned several impressive building projects.

Hatshepsut is best known, perhaps, for reopening southern trade routes that had been interrupted by war, increasing the wealth of her empire. She famously launched a naval caravan to the ancient land of Punt - what today is called the Horn of Africa - bringing back ships laden with myrrh, frankincense and, notably, incense plants which were then replanted near her funerary temple (commonly under construction well before a pharaoh's death), according to ancient documents.

"Incense was extremely valuable in ancient Egypt and was used only in temples and for living gods (such as the king)," said Michael Höveler-Müller, curator of the Bonn University Egyptian Museum.

It is this incense that researchers suspect they have found in a filigree container bearing the queen's name. Using powerful X-rays, the remains of a dried-out fluid were discovered at the bottom of the flacon. Pharmacologists will now analyze the residue and break it into its constituents, in the hopes of putting the scent back together, 3,500 years after Hatshepsut last wore it.

"I was looking for the perfume residue, because I had one good hint - the form of the bottle is a well-known perfume-bottle, which was originally closed," Höveler-Müller told LiveScience.










                                                       
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The use of perfume was common among high-society ladies in ancient Egypt, historians say, but even they didn't use the rare incense plant, Höveler-Müller.

"Perfume (in ancient Egypt, always some kind of oil) was a product for the upper class only. The Egyptians used local blossoms, fruits and aromatic wood for that (they put it into non-smelling oil, until the scent was "accepted" by the oil)," said Höveler-Müller.

Hatshepsut's love of incense was likely connected to her desire to project power, a tenuous mission as one of just a handful of female pharaohs in Egyptian history. Many paintings and statues of the pharaoh-queen show her dressing like a man in full royal regalia, and some even depict her with a beard. Wearing such an expensive product on her body, one usually reserved for tributes to gods and kings, was another way to cement her status as Egypt's supreme ruler, Egyptologists believe.

Queen Hatshepsut also made news in 2007, when her mummy was positively identified by Egyptologists using DNA and dental X-rays, making her the first ancient Egyptian royal identified since King Tutankhamen (Tut) in 1922.









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Queen Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut, or Hatchepsut, 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, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.

Although records of her reign are documented in diverse ancient sources, Hatshepsut was once described by early modern scholars as only 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. It is now known that Hatshepsut assumed the position of pharaoh, and her reign as king is usually given as twenty-two years since Manetho assigns her a reign of 21 years and 9 months. The date of her death is known to have occurred in 1458, which implies she became pharaoh circa 1479 BC.

Although it was uncommon for Egypt to be ruled by a woman, this situation was not unprecedented. Hatshepsut was the second known to have formally assumed power as "King of Upper and Lower Egypt" after Queen Sobekneferu of the Twelfth Dynasty. As a queen regnant she is preceded by Merneith of the First Dynasty; and Nimaethap of the Third Dynasty, who may have been the dowager of Khasekhemwy, but who certainly acted as regent for her son, Djoser, during the Third Dynasty, and—she may have reigned as pharaoh in her own right.

Other women whose possible reigns as pharaohs are under study include Nefertiti, Meritaten, Neferneferuaten, and Twosret. Another pharaoh, Smenkhkare, generally has been believed to have been male, but there is some evidence that this was a woman also.

Among the later, non-indigenous Egyptian dynasties, the most notable example of another woman who became pharaoh was Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

Identification of mummy

Hatshepsut's remains were long considered lost, but in June 2007 a mummy from Tomb KV60, known as the "Strong One" was publicly identified as her remains by Zahi Hawass, the chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Evidence supporting this identification includes the results of a DNA comparison with the mummy of Ahmose Nefertari, Hatshepsut's grandmother. Further conclusive evidence includes the possession of a broken tooth previously found inside a small wooden box inscribed with Hatshepsut's name and cartouche: Zahi Hawass's team's CAT scan revealed that this tooth exactly matches this mummy's jaw. Modern CT scans of that mummy believed to be Hatshepsut suggest she was about fifty years old when she died from a ruptured abcess after removal of a tooth. Although this was the cause, it is quite possible she would not have lived much longer; there are signs in her mummy of metastatic bone cancer, as well as possible liver cancer and diabetes. Egyptologists not involved in the project, however, have reserved acceptance of the findings until further testing is undertaken.

Family and early life

Hatshepsut was the elder daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose, the first king and queen of the Thutmoside clan of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Thutmose I and Ahmose are known to have had only one other child, a daughter, Akhbetneferu (Neferubity), who died in infancy. Thutmose I also married Mutnofret, possibly a daughter of Ahmose I, and produced several half-brothers to Hatshepsut: Wadjmose, Amenose, Thutmose II, and possibly Ramose, through that secondary union. Both Wadjmose and Amenose were prepared to succeed their father, but neither lived beyond adolescence.

In her childhood, Hatshepsut is believed to have been favored by the Temple of Karnak over her two half-brothers by her father. Hatshepsut apparently had a close relationship with both of her parents. Among the official records of her reign are assertions that her father, Thutmose I, named her as his direct heir and later, official depictions of Hatshepsut show her dressed in the full regalia of a pharaoh, including the traditional false beard of pharaohs to indicate that she ruled Egypt in her own right.

Upon the death of her father in 1493 BC, Hatshepsut married her half-brother, Thutmose II, and assumed the title of Great Royal Wife. Thutmose II ruled Egypt for either 3 or 13 years, during which time it has traditionally been believed that Queen Hatshepsut exerted a strong influence over her husband.

Royal lineage was traced through the women in ancient Egypt. Marriage to a queen of the royal lineage was necessary, even if the king came from outside of the lineage as happened occasionally. Secondary unions to other women in the royal family assured that there would be heirs from the lineage and women who could become the royal wives. This is the reason for all of the intermarriages. The royal women also played a pivotal role in the religion of ancient Egypt. The queen officiated at the rites in the temples, as priestess, in a culture where religion was inexorably interwoven with the roles of the rulers.

Hatshepsut had one daughter with Thutmose II: Neferure. Hatshepsut may have groomed Neferure as the heir apparent, commissioning official portraits of her daughter wearing the false beard of royalty and the sidelock of youth. Some scholars think this is evidence that Hatshepsut and Thutmose II were grooming Neferure for the throne; others speculate that she was being prepared to assume her mother's own roles as queen, but to have Neferure prepared to be a pharaoh, if necessary.

When Thutmose II died, he left behind only one son, a young Thutmose III to succeed him. The latter was born as the son of a lesser wife of Thutmose II rather than of the Great Royal Wife, Hatshepsut, as Neferure was. Due to the relative youth of Thutmose III, he was not eligible to assume the expected tasks of a pharaoh. Instead, Hatshepsut became the regent of Egypt at this time, assumed the responsibilities of state, and was recognized by the leadership in the temple. At this time, her daughter, Neferure, took over the roles Hatshepsut had played as queen in official and religious ceremonies. This political arrangement is detailed in the tomb autobiography of Ineni, a high official at court:

“He (Thutmose II) went forth to heaven in triumph, having mingled with the gods; His son stood in his place as king of the Two Lands, having become ruler upon the throne of the one who begat him. His (ie. Thutmose II's) sister the Divine Consort, Hatshepsut settled the affairs of the Two Lands by reason of her plans. Egypt was made to labour with bowed head for her, the excellent seed of the god, which came forth from him.”

Thus, while Thutmose III was designated as a co-regent of Egypt, the royal court recognised Hatshepsut as the pharoah on the throne until she died. It is believed that Neferure became the royal wife of Thutmose III and the mother of his eldest son, Amenemhat, who did not outlive his father.

Thutmose III ruled as pharaoh for more than thirty years after the death of Hatshepsut. This relationship between Neferure and Amenemhat is debated among authors, but since Neferure is depicted in her mother's funeral temple, there are some who believe that Neferure was still alive in the first few years of the rule by Thutmose III as pharaoh, that his eldest son, Amenemhat, was her child, and that he thereby was the heir to the throne of Thutmose III until he died.





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