Gender, Deities, and the Public Image of Sobekneferu
Beginning as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, female masculinity was an alternative for Egyptian royal women seeking to legitimize their claim to the throne, communicate their power, and exercise their authority. The Eighteenth Dynasty female king Hatshepsut (ca. 1473-1458 BCE) attracted the most atten...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2021
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| In: |
Near Eastern archaeology
Year: 2021, Volume: 84, Issue: 4, Pages: 272-280 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Sobeknofru, Ägypten, Königin ca. 1763 BC-1759 BC
/ Masculinity
/ Iconography
/ Succession to the throne
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| IxTheo Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HA Bible |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Beginning as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, female masculinity was an alternative for Egyptian royal women seeking to legitimize their claim to the throne, communicate their power, and exercise their authority. The Eighteenth Dynasty female king Hatshepsut (ca. 1473-1458 BCE) attracted the most attention for not conforming to traditional western gender norms. However, three hundred years before Hatshepsut, a lesser-known female king—Sobekneferu (ca. 1777-1773 BCE)—embodied power through her performance of masculinity (Halberstam 1998: 1-5). She promoted herself as king of Egypt by assuming a full royal titulary, employing kingly accoutrements, appropriating masculine garb, portraying herself in strong masculine poses, and adopting male prerogatives. Some of Sobekneferu’s preserved imagery illustrates clearly a woman in masculine poses with royal insignia, but her statue in the Louvre (E 27135) shows her with the addition of male dress items (fig. 1; Berman and Letellier 1996: 47; Grajetzki 2006, 63; Callender 1998a: 233-35). With the creation of this statue, Sobekneferu intentionally modified her attire and intensified her expression of female masculinity., Bust of Sobekneferu, Louvre E 27135. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Louvre_032007_01.jpg&oldid=186838900., |
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| ISSN: | 2325-5404 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Near Eastern archaeology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/716826 |