is no sufficient evidence to substantiate these
charges, which have been somewhat recklessly made. All that distinctly
appears is, that Thothmes II. died while he was still extremely young,
and when he had reigned only a short time, and that after his death
Hatasu showed her hostility to his memory by erasing his name wherever
it occurred on the monuments, and substituting for it either her own
name or that of her father. She appears also at the same time to have
taken full possession of the throne, and to have been accepted as actual
sovereign of the Egyptian people. She calls herself "The living Horus,
abounding in divine gifts, the mistress of diadems, rich in years, the
golden Horus, goddess of diadems, Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt,
daughter of the Sun, consort of Ammon, living for ever, and daughter of
Ammon, dwelling in his heart." Nor was she content with attributes which
made acknowledgment of her sex. She wished to be regarded as a man,
assumed male apparel and an artificial beard, and gave herself on many
of her monuments the style and title of a king. Her name of Hatasu she
changed into Hatasu-Khnum-Ammon, thus identifying herself with two of
the chief Egyptian gods. She often represented herself as crowned with
the tall plumes of Ammon. She took the titles of "_son_ of the sun,"
"the good _god_," "_lord_ of the two lands," "beloved of Ammon, the
protector of _kings_." A curious anomaly appears in some of her
inscriptions, where masculine and feminine forms are inextricably mixed
up; though spoken of consistently as "the king," and not "the queen,"
yet the personal and possessive pronouns which refer to her are feminine
for the most part, while sometimes such perplexing expressions occur as
"le roi qui est bien _aimee_ par Ammon," or "His Majesty herself."

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SHIP IN THE TIME OF HATASU.]

The legal position which Hatasu occupied during the sixteen years that
followed the death of Thothmes II. was probably that of regent for
Thothmes III., his (and her) younger brother; but practically she was
full sovereign of Egypt. It was now that she formed her grand schemes of
foreign commerce, and had them carried out by her officers. First of
all, she caused to be built, in some harbour on the western coast of the
Red Sea, a fleet of ships, certainly not fewer than five, each
constructed so as to be propelled both by oars and sails, and each
capable of accommodating some sixty or seventy passeng