Their words
“I have done this with a loving heart for my father Amun… It was he who led me, I did not plan a work without his doing.”
Source: Obelisk inscription, Temple of Amun, Karnak, c. 1463 BCE (trans. Miriam Lichtheim, 1976, p. 27)
Context Dedicating the Karnak obelisks to the god Amun, she presents her reign as divinely guided, a standard claim of royal legitimacy.
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More words from Hatshepsut
“I have restored that which was ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished.”
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“Now my heart turns to and fro, in thinking what will the people say, they who shall see my monument in after years, and shall speak of what I have done.”
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“My mouth is effective in its speech; I do not go back on my word.”
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“Hear ye, all persons! ye people as many as ye are! I have done this according to the design of my heart.”
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“Never was brought the like of this for any king who has been since the beginning.”
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More words from Empires & Antiquity
“The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wished vehemently to do so.”
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“I am a great chief: no one ever sees me sing, no one ever sees me eat; no one has ever sat at table with me.”
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“If you want war, I am ready. I will not end it, though it lasted a hundred years and killed twenty thousand of my men.”
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