Why Were Ancient Statues of This Egyptian Female Pharaoh Destroyed?
EGYPT, JUN 23 – New research shows statues of Pharaoh Hatshepsut were broken to neutralize spiritual power, following ancient Egyptian ritual practices rather than out of personal or gender-based animosity.
- A new study published on June 24, 2025, reveals that many statues of Egyptian Pharaoh Hatshepsut were intentionally broken but not to erase her memory.
- This challenges the prior belief that her nephew and successor, Thutmose III, destroyed her statues out of gender-based animosity or revenge after her death in 1458 BC.
- Research by Egyptologist Jun Yi Wong, who analyzed 1920s–30s excavation records from Deir el-Bahri near Thebes, shows statues were methodically broken at weak points to 'ritually deactivate' them.
- Wong explained that the damage to Hatshepsut's statues does not automatically imply deliberate animosity toward her, noting that many statues were later repurposed as construction materials, which contributed to their deterioration.
- The study implies Hatshepsut’s statues suffered the same practical dismantling common for deceased pharaohs, suggesting her persecution had political motives but was not driven by hatred or efforts to erase her gender.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Study Suggests New Reason for Vandalism of Female Pharaoh's Statues - Archaeology Magazine
Fragments of a limestone statue of Hatshepsut DEIR EL-BAHARI, EGYPT—When archaeologists excavated the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (reigned ca. 1473–1458 b.c.) at Deir el-Bahari in the early twentieth century, they found that many of the statues depicting the female pharaoh had been intentionally destroyed after she died. Scholars have long thought that this was part of a campaign of revenge carried out by her co-ruler and successor, Thutmose I…
Egypt's forgotten female pharaoh was not erased from history because of her gender, study finds
Fresh research has suggested that the gender of the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut was not the reason she seemingly vanished from history.The pioneering ruler, who crowned herself king and governed Egypt for two decades until 1458 BC, has long been thought to have suffered deliberate erasure by her male successors. A University of Toronto study revealed that damaged statues of Hatshepsut were not destroyed out of gender-based animosity as previousl…
It was long believed that damage to statues of the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut was the result of settling accounts with the queen's inheritance after her death, but a new study suggests that it was likely just part of a ritual.
Archaeologists Finally Uncover Why Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s Statues Were Destroyed
Fragments from a life-size indurated limestone statue of Hatshepsut. Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art / CC BY 4.0 For nearly a century, scholars believed that Egypt’s powerful female Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s statues were the target of a posthumous revenge campaign. The widely accepted theory claimed that her nephew and successor, Thutmose III, ordered her statues destroyed to erase her from history. New research now disputes that view. A recen…
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