What Egyptian Queen took power and named herself Pharaoh?

Hatshepsut was the Egyptian queen who took power and named herself Pharaoh. She first became regent after the death of her husband, Pharaoh Thutmose II, because his heir, Thutmose III, was still a child.

Several years into the regency, Hatshepsut adopted the full royal titulary and ruled as pharaoh alongside Thutmose III. Egyptian art often portrayed her wearing the traditional nemes headdress and false beard of a male king, although inscriptions also identified her as a woman and queen.

Her reign, during Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty, was marked by prosperity, trade, and major building projects. Her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari and the Red Chapel at Karnak remain especially famous. Reliefs at Deir el-Bahari also record a trading expedition to the land of Punt.

Hatshepsut was not the only woman to rule Egypt, but she was one of the most powerful. Sobekneferu had ruled earlier, while Cleopatra VII lived more than a thousand years later. Hatshepsut’s monuments were later damaged or altered, probably as part of an attempt to reduce her public legacy.