Ancient Female Rulers

One Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real-time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds of religion, government, literature, and social justice. Complex societies are inherently based on masculine dominance, forcing female rulers to resort to familiar methods to gain power. Some female rulers, like Cleopatra, used their sexuality to gain access to important men and bear them children. Many, like Sobeknefru, only ruled at the end of a dynasty, after the male line had run out, or, like Britain's Boudica, in the midst of civil war. Sometimes, a woman was the only effective leader left after drawn-out battles against imperial aggression. Some women, like Hatshepsut, gained their position as the regent and helper of a masculine king who was too young to rule. Almost no evidence of successful, long-term female leaders exists from the ancient world. Only the female king of Egypt, Hatshepsut, was able to take on formal power for any considerable length of time, and even she had to share power with a male ruler. Given this social reality, how then did Hatshepsut negotiate her leadership role? Why did she ascend the throne as a king? How are we to find this woman's power when it is cloaked by traditional patriarchal systems? This lecture will work through the ample evidence for Hatshepsut's reign in an attempt to find the woman behind the statues, monuments, stelae, and obelisks. This audio lecture includes a supplemental PDF.