Powerful female pharaohs such as Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, and Sobekneferu navigated male-dominated power structures and left a lasting legacy on the ancient world and history. Their reigns demonstrate the complexity of leadership in ancient Egypt.
Hatshepsut, a woman who reigned as a female pharaoh during the 18th dynasty in ancient Egypt, is the inspiration Davis models her fictional female pharaoh, Hathorkare. As the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt her story of her audacious rise to power is legendary.
Pioneering women archaeologists have made their mark on history, quite often literally, as they uncovered evidence of past people and civilizations. Despite societal barriers, these women helped shape the field.
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, one of the 20th century’s best-known Egyptologists and one of the inspirations behind The Stolen Queen, was the first female to direct an excavation in 1938.