A coin bearing the image of Cleopatra, discovered by Dr. Kathleen Martinez and her team at the temple of Taposiris Magna (located about 28 miles/45 km west of Alexandria).
One of the most significant finds by Dr. Kathleen Martinez and her team is a white marble statue of a woman adorned with a royal crown, which a leading expert believes reveals the face of Cleopatra VII.
Speaking of tombs, Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple in Deir el-Bahari, on the West Bank of Luxor, Egypt is nearly 3,500 years old. It was built around 1479–1458 BC during the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. It's a monumental terraced structure carved into and rising against the steep limestone cliffs and it's literally one of the most stunning places you'll ever see.
Queen Hatshepsut was one of ancient Egypt's most successful and powerful rulers, serving as a female pharaoh during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom (reigning from roughly 1478 to 1458 BC). While there were a few other women who ruled Egypt before and after her, Hatshepsut is distinguished by having the most prosperous, longest-lasting, and best-documented reign of any native female pharaoh. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose. After her father's death, she married her half-brother, Thutmose II. When he died young, the throne passed to his infant son (by a secondary wife), Thutmose III. Because the new king was a child, Hatshepsut stepped in as regent. A few years into the regency, Hatshepsut took the unprecedented step of claiming the full title and powers of a pharaoh, co-ruling alongside her young stepson. Hatshepsut's roughly 22-year reign was characterized by peace, economic growth, and magnificent architectural achievements rather than military conquest. Her most famous foreign policy triumph was authorizing a grand trading expedition to the Land of Punt (modern-day Somalia). The ships returned laden with rich goods, including gold, ivory, incense, and living myrrh trees, which were planted at her mortuary temple. She embarked on a massive building campaign, restoring monuments damaged by past invaders and building new ones. Her crowning achievement was her multi-tiered mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari (Djeser-Djeseru). She commissioned giant, red granite obelisks at the Temple of Karnak. One of them still stands today and remains the tallest surviving ancient obelisk in Egypt. To secure her position in a traditionally male role, Hatshepsut used clever propaganda. In official statues and relief carvings, she ordered artists to depict her with a muscular male body and the traditional false beard worn by pharaohs. She also claimed that she was the literal daughter of Amun-Ra, the king of the gods, asserting a divine right to rule. After her death, Thutmose III took full control of Egypt. Late in his reign, a systematic campaign was launched to erase Hatshepsut from history. Her statues were smashed, her obelisks were walled in, and her name was scraped off temple walls. Historians believe this was not personal hatred, but a political move to ensure a smooth succession for Thutmose III's own son and to eliminate the precedent of a female ruler. Her legacy was largely forgotten until modern archaeologists rediscovered and pieced her story back together in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her mortuary temple is truly a wonder of this planet, I get goosebumps every time I look at it.
The place is just stunning. The Temple of Hatshepsut stands out as one of the most breathtaking living miracles of the architectural and cultural achievements of ancient history. It's just insane how they carved the temple out of the surrounding cliffs. The ancient Egyptians built the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (known as Djeser-Djeseru) directly against and partly carved into the towering limestone cliffs of Deir el-Bahari on the West Bank of Luxor around 1473–1458 BC. Designed by the royal architect Senenmut, the complex consists of three massive, colonnaded limestone terraces that step up against the natural rock amphitheater of the cliff face. While the sweeping lower and middle colonnaded porticos and terraces were structurally built up using quarried stone blocks, the deepest innermost sanctuary—the Sanctuary of Amun—was carved directly into the living rock of the cliff itself. The multi-tiered layout was intentionally engineered to echo the vertical lines and dramatic scale of the 300-meter cliffs rising immediately behind it. It's just a marvel of engineering for a civilization that existed over 3,000 years ago.
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A coin bearing the image of Cleopatra, discovered by Dr. Kathleen Martinez and her team at the temple of Taposiris Magna (located about 28 miles/45 km west of Alexandria).
Ancient coins discovered by Dr. Kathleen Martinez and her team see sunlight for the first time in thousands of years.
One of the most significant finds by Dr. Kathleen Martinez and her team is a white marble statue of a woman adorned with a royal crown, which a leading expert believes reveals the face of Cleopatra VII.
The discoveries were made at the Taposiris Magna Temple, located west of Alexandria, beneath the southern wall of the temple’s outer perimeter.
The Egyptian-Dominican archaeologist Dr. Kathleen Martinez.
Speaking of tombs, Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple in Deir el-Bahari, on the West Bank of Luxor, Egypt is nearly 3,500 years old. It was built around 1479–1458 BC during the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. It's a monumental terraced structure carved into and rising against the steep limestone cliffs and it's literally one of the most stunning places you'll ever see.
Queen Hatshepsut was one of ancient Egypt's most successful and powerful rulers, serving as a female pharaoh during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom (reigning from roughly 1478 to 1458 BC). While there were a few other women who ruled Egypt before and after her, Hatshepsut is distinguished by having the most prosperous, longest-lasting, and best-documented reign of any native female pharaoh. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose. After her father's death, she married her half-brother, Thutmose II. When he died young, the throne passed to his infant son (by a secondary wife), Thutmose III. Because the new king was a child, Hatshepsut stepped in as regent. A few years into the regency, Hatshepsut took the unprecedented step of claiming the full title and powers of a pharaoh, co-ruling alongside her young stepson. Hatshepsut's roughly 22-year reign was characterized by peace, economic growth, and magnificent architectural achievements rather than military conquest. Her most famous foreign policy triumph was authorizing a grand trading expedition to the Land of Punt (modern-day Somalia). The ships returned laden with rich goods, including gold, ivory, incense, and living myrrh trees, which were planted at her mortuary temple. She embarked on a massive building campaign, restoring monuments damaged by past invaders and building new ones. Her crowning achievement was her multi-tiered mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari (Djeser-Djeseru). She commissioned giant, red granite obelisks at the Temple of Karnak. One of them still stands today and remains the tallest surviving ancient obelisk in Egypt. To secure her position in a traditionally male role, Hatshepsut used clever propaganda. In official statues and relief carvings, she ordered artists to depict her with a muscular male body and the traditional false beard worn by pharaohs. She also claimed that she was the literal daughter of Amun-Ra, the king of the gods, asserting a divine right to rule. After her death, Thutmose III took full control of Egypt. Late in his reign, a systematic campaign was launched to erase Hatshepsut from history. Her statues were smashed, her obelisks were walled in, and her name was scraped off temple walls. Historians believe this was not personal hatred, but a political move to ensure a smooth succession for Thutmose III's own son and to eliminate the precedent of a female ruler. Her legacy was largely forgotten until modern archaeologists rediscovered and pieced her story back together in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her mortuary temple is truly a wonder of this planet, I get goosebumps every time I look at it.
Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple lit up at night.
The place is just stunning. The Temple of Hatshepsut stands out as one of the most breathtaking living miracles of the architectural and cultural achievements of ancient history. It's just insane how they carved the temple out of the surrounding cliffs. The ancient Egyptians built the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (known as Djeser-Djeseru) directly against and partly carved into the towering limestone cliffs of Deir el-Bahari on the West Bank of Luxor around 1473–1458 BC. Designed by the royal architect Senenmut, the complex consists of three massive, colonnaded limestone terraces that step up against the natural rock amphitheater of the cliff face. While the sweeping lower and middle colonnaded porticos and terraces were structurally built up using quarried stone blocks, the deepest innermost sanctuary—the Sanctuary of Amun—was carved directly into the living rock of the cliff itself. The multi-tiered layout was intentionally engineered to echo the vertical lines and dramatic scale of the 300-meter cliffs rising immediately behind it. It's just a marvel of engineering for a civilization that existed over 3,000 years ago.
Approaching the entrance to Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple.
Only stubs of columns remain in the courtyard of the top terrace of Queen Hatshepsut's temple.
The colonnades outside Queen Hatshepsut's temple.