EGYPT'S MOST POWERFUL WOMEN

Men weren't the only people to help shape one of the most remarkable civilisations of the ancient world

- ELINOR EVANS

SOBEKNEFERU

ruled 1777-1773 BC

Though it has been proposed that women did rule Egypt before the 12th Dynasty, Sobekneferu was the first female pharaoh of ancient Egypt to be confirmed by archaeological evidence.

Among a small collection of surviving sources to bear her name and royal titles is a cylindrical seal made of steatite, now housed in the British Museum. She acceded to rule at the end of the 12th Dynasty, after the death of her brother, Amenemhat IV, who died without a suitable male heir.

Unlike Hatshepsut - a woman who later adopted the appearance of a traditional male king (see opposite page) Sobekneferu alternated traditional female clothing with royal attire and regalia, creating a composite gender image that can be seen in her few surviving statues. It has been suggested that the pharaoh may have used this deliberate ambiguity as a way to combat critics of her position based on her sex.

Though very little is known about Sobekneferu's nearly four-year rule, some experts believe that she oversaw the building of a pyramid in Mazghuna, in the northern region of modern Egypt.

CLEOPATRA

ruled 51-30 BC

The ruler known to history simply as 'Cleopatra' was actually the seventh queen of that name. Like Nefertiti (see opposite page), Cleopatra's modern reputation is dominated by myths of her great beauty, but there is also much evidence to suggest that she was highly intelligent, a skilled scholar and a shrewd politician; she was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn Egyptian in addition to Greek, and she spoke seven other languages.