Women who ruled Egypt
Queens who ruled in their own right, and the Ptolemaic queens who shared the throne.
Egypt had no word for queen regnant. A woman who ruled took the titles of a king. The list on this site has 18 women, of whom four are early rulers who held power by themselves, and the rest are Ptolemaic queens, most of whom ruled together with a brother or son.
The early rulers
Merneith of the First Dynasty is buried in a royal tomb at Abydos with a king's grave goods, and is thought to have been regent for her son. Sobekneferu closed the Twelfth Dynasty after the death of her brother Amenemhat IV. Hatshepsut began as regent for her young stepson Thutmose III, then took the full titles of a king and ruled for about twenty years. Twosret ruled at the end of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Neferneferuaten, from the Amarna period, may be Nefertiti or another woman. Scholars disagree, and the page for that ruler says so.
Why Hatshepsut is so well known
Her temple at Deir el-Bahari is one of the most elegant buildings in Egypt, and her name was cut out of many monuments later in the reign of Thutmose III. For a long time this was read as revenge. Many scholars now think it was part of a drive to remove the idea of a female king from the royal record, about twenty years after her death, rather than a quarrel.
The Ptolemaic queens
Under the Ptolemies, queens were co-rulers with their own cult and coinage. Arsinoe II, who married her brother Ptolemy II, was worshipped as a goddess in her lifetime. Seven women called Cleopatra and several called Berenice followed. The last, Cleopatra VII, is the best known, and the next guide sets her in context.
- Merneith Dynasty 1, 2940 BC to 2930 BC
- Sobekneferu Dynasty 12, 1806 BC to 1802 BC
- Hatshepsut Dynasty 18, 1479 BC to 1458 BC
- Neferneferuaten Dynasty 18, 1334 BC to 1332 BC
- Twosret Dynasty 19, 1191 BC to 1189 BC
- Arsinoe II Ptolemaic dynasty, 277 BC to 270 BC
- Berenice II Ptolemaic dynasty, 246 BC to 221 BC
- Arsinoe III Ptolemaic dynasty, 220 BC to 204 BC
- Cleopatra I Ptolemaic dynasty, 180 BC to 176 BC
- Cleopatra II Ptolemaic dynasty, 175 BC to 116 BC
- Cleopatra III Ptolemaic dynasty, 142 BC to 101 BC
- Cleopatra IV Ptolemaic dynasty, 116 BC to 115 BC
- Cleopatra Selene I Ptolemaic dynasty, 115 BC to 102 BC
- Berenice III Ptolemaic dynasty, 81 BC to 80 BC
- Cleopatra V Ptolemaic dynasty, 79 BC to 57 BC
- Cleopatra VI Ptolemaic dynasty, 58 BC to 57 BC
- Berenice IV Ptolemaic dynasty, 58 BC to 55 BC
- Cleopatra VII Ptolemaic dynasty, 51 BC to 30 BC