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Book News
November, 2008
Her Majesty the King wins first place in the New South Wales Writers’ Centre & New Holland Publishers Genre Fiction Award, a nation-wide competition for all categories of genre fiction.
January, 2010
Release date for Her Majesty the King, the first book in the Hatshepsut Trilogy. Her Majesty the King is published by Gibbes Street, an imprint of New Holland Publishers, Sydney.
1 October 2010
Release date for The Horus Throne, the second book of The Hatshepsut Trilogy.
10 November 2010
Alpress Publishing, one of the largest publishers in the Czech Republic, will be publishing a Czech language version of Her Majesty the King in 2011.
15 September 2011
Release date of Faraonka, the Czech language translation of Her Majesty the King, by Alpress, Czech Republic.
1 October 2011
Release date of The Eye of Re, the third and final chapter of The Hatshepsut Trilogy
Her Majesty the King wins first place in the New South Wales Writers’ Centre & New Holland Publishers Genre Fiction Award, a nation-wide competition for all categories of genre fiction.
January, 2010
Release date for Her Majesty the King, the first book in the Hatshepsut Trilogy. Her Majesty the King is published by Gibbes Street, an imprint of New Holland Publishers, Sydney.
1 October 2010
Release date for The Horus Throne, the second book of The Hatshepsut Trilogy.
Alpress Publishing, one of the largest publishers in the Czech Republic, will be publishing a Czech language version of Her Majesty the King in 2011.
15 September 2011
Release date of Faraonka, the Czech language translation of Her Majesty the King, by Alpress, Czech Republic.
1 October 2011
Release date of The Eye of Re, the third and final chapter of The Hatshepsut Trilogy
Author Appearances
6 February 2011, 10-11:30 am
The Bodhi Tree Book 'n Author Club
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop
416-418 Oxford St., Mt. Hawthorn, WA.
Patricia will be meeting with readers to discuss and answer questions about Her Majesty the King. Bring your copy of Her Majesty the King along and Patricia will inscribe an authentic Egyptian hieroglyphic message for you. - For more information www.bodhitree.net.au
20 March 2011, 10-11:30 am
The Bodhi Tree Book 'n Author Club
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop
416-418 Oxford St., Mt. Hawthorn, WA.
Patricia will be meeting with readers to discuss and answer questions about The Horus Throne. Bring your copy of The Horus Throne along and Patricia will inscribe an authentic Egyptian hieroglyphic message for you. - For more information www.bodhitree.net.au
2 November 2011
The Ancient Egypt Society of WA Inc.
Hatshepsut's Men
Patricia gave a lively illustrated talk about the loyal, talented men who helped Hatshepsut become one of ancient Egypt's greatest rulers. The audience heard about the heroes and villains who accompany Hatshepsut on her adventures in The Hatshepsut Trilogy, and how they were brought to life using the ancient evidence and a bit of psychological detective work. Patricia discussed Senenmut's relationship with Hatshepsut, and also explained how she cracked the mystery of Hatshepsut's persecution by Tuthmosis III. The audience was treated to Patricia's photographic recreations of some of the main characters in The Hatshepsut Trilogy (see the poster above for Hatshepsut and Senenmut.) She also inscribed copies of her latest novel, The Eye of Re, with an authentic hieroglyphic spell from Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.
The Bodhi Tree Book 'n Author Club
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop
416-418 Oxford St., Mt. Hawthorn, WA.
Patricia will be meeting with readers to discuss and answer questions about Her Majesty the King. Bring your copy of Her Majesty the King along and Patricia will inscribe an authentic Egyptian hieroglyphic message for you. - For more information www.bodhitree.net.au
20 March 2011, 10-11:30 am
The Bodhi Tree Book 'n Author Club
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop
416-418 Oxford St., Mt. Hawthorn, WA.
Patricia will be meeting with readers to discuss and answer questions about The Horus Throne. Bring your copy of The Horus Throne along and Patricia will inscribe an authentic Egyptian hieroglyphic message for you. - For more information www.bodhitree.net.au
2 November 2011
The Ancient Egypt Society of WA Inc.
Hatshepsut's Men
Patricia gave a lively illustrated talk about the loyal, talented men who helped Hatshepsut become one of ancient Egypt's greatest rulers. The audience heard about the heroes and villains who accompany Hatshepsut on her adventures in The Hatshepsut Trilogy, and how they were brought to life using the ancient evidence and a bit of psychological detective work. Patricia discussed Senenmut's relationship with Hatshepsut, and also explained how she cracked the mystery of Hatshepsut's persecution by Tuthmosis III. The audience was treated to Patricia's photographic recreations of some of the main characters in The Hatshepsut Trilogy (see the poster above for Hatshepsut and Senenmut.) She also inscribed copies of her latest novel, The Eye of Re, with an authentic hieroglyphic spell from Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.
Hatshepsut in the Headlines
August 2011
Hatshepsut moisturised herself to death, German researchers claim
A team of scientists led by Dr. Helmut Wiedenfeld, of the University of Bonn, analysed the contents of a small flask adorned with Hatshepsut's cartouche, hoping to discover the beautiful fragrance for which the female Pharaoh was renowned. The residue in the long-sealed flask was composed primarily of solidified fats, leading Dr. Wiedenfeld to conclude it was far too greasy to be a perfume. 'I didn't think anybody would put so much grease on her face,' said Dr. Wiedenfeld in a University of Bonn press release. 'That would make her look as greasy as a plate of ribs.' Carcinogenic benzopyrenes, which are compounds found in pitch and smoke, were also detected in the mixture, leading the researchers to speculate that the flask contained an ointment used to soothe an itchy skin disease. Dr. Michael Höveler-Müller, curator of the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn, stated in the press release, 'It is indeed known that there were cases of skin disease in Hatshepsut's family. If you imagine that the Queen (sic) had a chronic skin disease and that she found short-term improvement from the salve, she may have exposed herself to a great risk over the years. We have known for a long time that Hatshepsut had cancer and maybe even died from it. We may now know the actual cause.'
My critique of the Bonn University scientists' results
Unfortunately, this news item is typical of the way that members of the public receive most of their information about ancient Egypt, and Hatshepsut in particular. The press release has not been followed up by publication of the results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so other scholars have no way of knowing exactly what the flask contained or even if it was authentic. The presence of what the press release calls 'nutmeg apple oil', which is possibly myristicin, makes one suspect that the contents might be a modern fake. A nutmeg apple is the fleshy fruit surrounding the pod of the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans. Nutmeg trees were only found on the Banda Islands in Indonesia until recent times; this spice was unknown to the ancient Egyptians. Until the precise chemical composition of the contents of the flask is published, there is no way to ascertain if the ingredients could or could not date to Hatshepsut's time. The contents should also be C14 dated for confirmation.
The flask itself may be a modern forgery. A CAT scan (view here) clearly shows that the vessel was made in two parts, the neck and the base; the ancient Egyptians always made the bodies of stone flasks in a single piece.
We do not know the concentration of the benzopyrenes present in the residue. Would the concentration have been high enough to cause cancer when the substance was applied to the skin? The benzopyrenes may simply be by-products of the degradation of the fatty acids in the residue in a hot, anoxic environment over thousands of years. They might also be incidental contaminants if the ancient methods employed to extract or prepare any of the ingredients used heat. Without the original data, we cannot say.
Concluding that the residue could not have been a perfume because it was greasy is an uninformed judgement. All ancient Egyptian perfumes were fat or oil based. They were rubbed onto the body, clothing and wigs to moisturise and provide long-lasting scent. Comparing Hatshepsut to 'a greasy plate of ribs' is unprofessional and does nothing to assist our understanding of ancient Egyptian culture.
Dr. Höveler-Müller's assertion that Hatshepsut's family was afflicted with a skin disease is unproven. The small macules that occur on some Eighteenth Dynasty royal and noble mummies have never been properly investigated; no one really knows what they are. They not only occur on the neck and upper thorax of the mummies, but also in the hair of some. No known skin disease follows such a distribution. Many Egyptologists and forensic pathologists feel that the macules are more likely to be an artefact of the mummification process. Until a proper histopathological study of the macules is made and published, we cannot be sure of their significance.
Dr. Höveler-Müller's statement that Hatshepsut had cancer is also problematic. It depends on Dr. Zahi Hawass' claim that the mummy known as KV60A is Hatshepsut, and the interpretation of the pathology revealed on the mummy's CAT scan. Many Egyptologists have doubts about this mummy's identity (click here for more on this dispute). A National Geographic TV documentary reported on the CAT scanning of several royal and purportedly royal mummies, but none of the data has ever been released. Until the CAT scans, DNA analysis and morphometric data mentioned in the documentary are scrutinised by the scientific community, the validity of these claims cannot be evaluated.
Virtually all the print and online media available about 'Hatshepsut's flask' and its contents are sourced verbatim from the University of Bonn press release. News material like this is prepared by publicists, not the scientists who have done the work. Press releases are often incomplete, sensationalised and dumbed-down. We can only hope that Dr. Wiedenfeld and Dr. Höveler-Müller will soon publish a peer-reviewed account of their findings so the scientific community can give the flask and its contents the attention they deserve.
April-November 2011
King Tut comes to Melbourne-and Hatshepsut's parents are part of the show!
The world-wide hit exhibition, 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs' will be on show at The Melbourne Museum from 8 April 2011 to 6 November 2011. This is the last stop for the touring exhibition before its precious treasures head back home to Cairo. The exhibit contains a section featuring Egypt's Golden Age, the Eighteenth Dynasty, and includes objects from the reigns of the warrior Pharaohs who preceded Tutankhamun. Although there are no objects illustrating Hatshepsut in the exhibit, there is a charming small (69 cm) statue of her parents, King Tuthmosis I and Queen Ahmose. Seated between them is the king of the gods, Amen-Re-who has his arm around Queen Ahmose! It is highly likely that Hatshepsut herself ordered this statue to be made and placed in Karnak Temple to honour her parents. Unfortunately, this fine alabaster sculpture can't tell us much about the appearance of Hatshepsut's parents (although we know what they looked like from other sources). During the reign of Tutankhamun's father, the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, the statue was smashed during the attacks of Akhenaten's adherents. The top part of the statue containing the faces was completely destroyed. Later, during the reign of Tutankhamun, the statue was repaired. Amen-Re was made to look like Tutankamun, and King Tuthmosis and Queen Ahmose were given generic faces typical of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. Even so, Hatshepsut's tribute to her parents still has the power to convey the love she felt for them.
March 2010
User-amen's false door turns up at Karnak
The false door (place of offering to the dead) belonging to the tomb of User-amen, Vizier during the latter part of Hatshepsut's reign, was found buried in front of Karnak Temple. The large granite slab had been re-used as part of a wall built by the Romans.
- For more info visit drhawass.com
March 2009
German scientists will attempt to recreate Hatshepsut's perfume
Residue inside a 3,500-year-old perfume flask belonging to Hatshepsut will be analysed in an attempt to replicate the fragrance of the world's first perfumista.
- For more info visit National Geographic
March 2009
Djehuty's burial chamber and jewellery discovered
Djehuty was an important official who was devoted to Hatshepsut. A team of Spanish Egyptologists have located the hidden burial chamber of his tomb and found a cache of gold jewellery, including several pairs of earrings.
- For more info visit drhawass.com
June 2007
Dr. Zahi Hawass announces identification of the mummy of Hatshepsut
In a Discovery Channel documentary, Dr. Hawass claims that a broken tooth proves that an obese mummy known as KV60A is that of Hatshepsut.
- For more info visit National Geographic
June 2007
A critique of the TV show points out methodological flaws and unanswered questions
Mark Rose, Director of the Archaeological Institute of America, discusses the pitfalls of announcing discoveries on TV without proper scientific scrutiny.
- For more info visit archaeology.org
Hatshepsut moisturised herself to death, German researchers claim
A team of scientists led by Dr. Helmut Wiedenfeld, of the University of Bonn, analysed the contents of a small flask adorned with Hatshepsut's cartouche, hoping to discover the beautiful fragrance for which the female Pharaoh was renowned. The residue in the long-sealed flask was composed primarily of solidified fats, leading Dr. Wiedenfeld to conclude it was far too greasy to be a perfume. 'I didn't think anybody would put so much grease on her face,' said Dr. Wiedenfeld in a University of Bonn press release. 'That would make her look as greasy as a plate of ribs.' Carcinogenic benzopyrenes, which are compounds found in pitch and smoke, were also detected in the mixture, leading the researchers to speculate that the flask contained an ointment used to soothe an itchy skin disease. Dr. Michael Höveler-Müller, curator of the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn, stated in the press release, 'It is indeed known that there were cases of skin disease in Hatshepsut's family. If you imagine that the Queen (sic) had a chronic skin disease and that she found short-term improvement from the salve, she may have exposed herself to a great risk over the years. We have known for a long time that Hatshepsut had cancer and maybe even died from it. We may now know the actual cause.'
My critique of the Bonn University scientists' results
Unfortunately, this news item is typical of the way that members of the public receive most of their information about ancient Egypt, and Hatshepsut in particular. The press release has not been followed up by publication of the results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so other scholars have no way of knowing exactly what the flask contained or even if it was authentic. The presence of what the press release calls 'nutmeg apple oil', which is possibly myristicin, makes one suspect that the contents might be a modern fake. A nutmeg apple is the fleshy fruit surrounding the pod of the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans. Nutmeg trees were only found on the Banda Islands in Indonesia until recent times; this spice was unknown to the ancient Egyptians. Until the precise chemical composition of the contents of the flask is published, there is no way to ascertain if the ingredients could or could not date to Hatshepsut's time. The contents should also be C14 dated for confirmation.
The flask itself may be a modern forgery. A CAT scan (view here) clearly shows that the vessel was made in two parts, the neck and the base; the ancient Egyptians always made the bodies of stone flasks in a single piece.
We do not know the concentration of the benzopyrenes present in the residue. Would the concentration have been high enough to cause cancer when the substance was applied to the skin? The benzopyrenes may simply be by-products of the degradation of the fatty acids in the residue in a hot, anoxic environment over thousands of years. They might also be incidental contaminants if the ancient methods employed to extract or prepare any of the ingredients used heat. Without the original data, we cannot say.
Concluding that the residue could not have been a perfume because it was greasy is an uninformed judgement. All ancient Egyptian perfumes were fat or oil based. They were rubbed onto the body, clothing and wigs to moisturise and provide long-lasting scent. Comparing Hatshepsut to 'a greasy plate of ribs' is unprofessional and does nothing to assist our understanding of ancient Egyptian culture.
Dr. Höveler-Müller's assertion that Hatshepsut's family was afflicted with a skin disease is unproven. The small macules that occur on some Eighteenth Dynasty royal and noble mummies have never been properly investigated; no one really knows what they are. They not only occur on the neck and upper thorax of the mummies, but also in the hair of some. No known skin disease follows such a distribution. Many Egyptologists and forensic pathologists feel that the macules are more likely to be an artefact of the mummification process. Until a proper histopathological study of the macules is made and published, we cannot be sure of their significance.
Dr. Höveler-Müller's statement that Hatshepsut had cancer is also problematic. It depends on Dr. Zahi Hawass' claim that the mummy known as KV60A is Hatshepsut, and the interpretation of the pathology revealed on the mummy's CAT scan. Many Egyptologists have doubts about this mummy's identity (click here for more on this dispute). A National Geographic TV documentary reported on the CAT scanning of several royal and purportedly royal mummies, but none of the data has ever been released. Until the CAT scans, DNA analysis and morphometric data mentioned in the documentary are scrutinised by the scientific community, the validity of these claims cannot be evaluated.
Virtually all the print and online media available about 'Hatshepsut's flask' and its contents are sourced verbatim from the University of Bonn press release. News material like this is prepared by publicists, not the scientists who have done the work. Press releases are often incomplete, sensationalised and dumbed-down. We can only hope that Dr. Wiedenfeld and Dr. Höveler-Müller will soon publish a peer-reviewed account of their findings so the scientific community can give the flask and its contents the attention they deserve.
April-November 2011
King Tut comes to Melbourne-and Hatshepsut's parents are part of the show!
The world-wide hit exhibition, 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs' will be on show at The Melbourne Museum from 8 April 2011 to 6 November 2011. This is the last stop for the touring exhibition before its precious treasures head back home to Cairo. The exhibit contains a section featuring Egypt's Golden Age, the Eighteenth Dynasty, and includes objects from the reigns of the warrior Pharaohs who preceded Tutankhamun. Although there are no objects illustrating Hatshepsut in the exhibit, there is a charming small (69 cm) statue of her parents, King Tuthmosis I and Queen Ahmose. Seated between them is the king of the gods, Amen-Re-who has his arm around Queen Ahmose! It is highly likely that Hatshepsut herself ordered this statue to be made and placed in Karnak Temple to honour her parents. Unfortunately, this fine alabaster sculpture can't tell us much about the appearance of Hatshepsut's parents (although we know what they looked like from other sources). During the reign of Tutankhamun's father, the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, the statue was smashed during the attacks of Akhenaten's adherents. The top part of the statue containing the faces was completely destroyed. Later, during the reign of Tutankhamun, the statue was repaired. Amen-Re was made to look like Tutankamun, and King Tuthmosis and Queen Ahmose were given generic faces typical of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. Even so, Hatshepsut's tribute to her parents still has the power to convey the love she felt for them.
March 2010
User-amen's false door turns up at Karnak
The false door (place of offering to the dead) belonging to the tomb of User-amen, Vizier during the latter part of Hatshepsut's reign, was found buried in front of Karnak Temple. The large granite slab had been re-used as part of a wall built by the Romans.
- For more info visit drhawass.com
March 2009
German scientists will attempt to recreate Hatshepsut's perfume
Residue inside a 3,500-year-old perfume flask belonging to Hatshepsut will be analysed in an attempt to replicate the fragrance of the world's first perfumista.
- For more info visit National Geographic
March 2009
Djehuty's burial chamber and jewellery discovered
Djehuty was an important official who was devoted to Hatshepsut. A team of Spanish Egyptologists have located the hidden burial chamber of his tomb and found a cache of gold jewellery, including several pairs of earrings.
- For more info visit drhawass.com
June 2007
Dr. Zahi Hawass announces identification of the mummy of Hatshepsut
In a Discovery Channel documentary, Dr. Hawass claims that a broken tooth proves that an obese mummy known as KV60A is that of Hatshepsut.
- For more info visit National Geographic
June 2007
A critique of the TV show points out methodological flaws and unanswered questions
Mark Rose, Director of the Archaeological Institute of America, discusses the pitfalls of announcing discoveries on TV without proper scientific scrutiny.
- For more info visit archaeology.org