Frederick Monderson

The introductory poems set the author's agenda. They paint Hatshepsut black, referring to her as a black Pharaoh despite no evidence of her skin color. It's true that Hatshepsut's great grandmother Ahmose Nefertari is portrayed in one artisan's tomb painting as black skinned. That was painted some hundred years after her death by Deir el Medina workers who most likely used black paint to symbolize her rebirth and deification. In that painting her profile with a 19th Dynasty Ramesside style nose hardly seems a black African style. Hatshepsut's surviving statue fragments made during her lifetime depict yellow or reddish skin, again as artistic conventions: yellow for female and red for male portraits. Nobody knows her true color--her mummy is all dark and shriveled.

Monderson's overview of the temple scenes pulls information from various scholars, but don't expect complete accuracy. Thumbing through I notice that he talks of Hatshepsut's "virgin birth," but that is not the exact meaning of the visitation scenes. Amun visited her mother, taking the form of her father, the hieroglyphic text says, implying a sexual union. The excerpts from late nineteenth century archaeology reports will be worth reading and I intend to read the rest of the book. Don't make this book your only source about Hatshepsut. For a scholarly feast try Hatshepsut from Queen to Pharoah.… (meer)