0:00:02.160,0:00:04.640
[DR. KARA COONEY] This work,[br]and you know, Kate said I've

0:00:04.640,0:00:06.399
looked at over 300 coffins.

0:00:06.400,0:00:07.920
Really when you put it[br]with my dissertation

0:00:08.000,0:00:09.360
work, it's over 400.

0:00:09.440,0:00:12.960
And it's rather insane,[br]and when one gets mired

0:00:13.040,0:00:16.239
in coffin studies, you're[br]dealing with databases and

0:00:16.320,0:00:19.680
spreadsheets and copyright[br]issues, and it's quite

0:00:20.240,0:00:22.560
time-consuming morass of data.

0:00:22.720,0:00:24.140
And so, it comes

0:00:24.140,0:00:24.660
(laughs)

0:00:24.660,0:00:28.720
as a great relief, a pause,[br]a moment of reflection for

0:00:28.800,0:00:32.400
me to work on these trade[br]books instead, to go from

0:00:32.479,0:00:34.080
one kind of work to another.

0:00:34.160,0:00:36.880
And this has worked quite well[br]for me as an Egyptologist.

0:00:36.880,0:00:39.280
Sometimes I'm deep[br]in the spreadsheet,

0:00:39.360,0:00:41.520
I'm trying to figure[br]things out and using

0:00:41.680,0:00:44.320
academic jargon, many[br]of you in the audience

0:00:44.400,0:00:46.800
know what I'm talking about,[br]and other times I'm writing

0:00:46.800,0:00:50.960
for the public, and I'm trying[br]to make Egypt relevant,

0:00:51.040,0:00:55.760
and I'm looking at the world,[br]okay, let me put it this way.

0:00:55.760,0:00:58.319
An Egyptologist like Kate[br]and I would never ask each

0:00:58.320,0:01:01.360
other why we study Egyptology,[br]though we both know that it's

0:01:01.360,0:01:03.280
the question we've probably[br]most commonly answered.

0:01:03.280,0:01:05.119
When did you decide[br]to be an Egyptologist?

0:01:05.120,0:01:06.640
Why are you an Egyptologist?

0:01:06.640,0:01:09.040
But we both know that[br]for whatever weird,

0:01:09.040,0:01:13.039
cracked, crazy reason,[br]we see the world around us

0:01:13.360,0:01:16.960
better or best through the[br]lens of the ancient world.

0:01:17.040,0:01:19.280
I don't know why,[br]but I am able to

0:01:19.440,0:01:24.240
understand systems of[br]government, economic systems.

0:01:24.480,0:01:27.600
I'm able to understand systems[br]of power best by looking

0:01:27.600,0:01:30.080
at it through the lens of[br]my beloved ancient Egypt,

0:01:30.080,0:01:32.160
and then applying it[br]to the present day.

0:01:32.400,0:01:34.800
Not only that,[br]Egypt affords us

0:01:34.880,0:01:37.679
an amazing gift,[br]which is 3,000 years

0:01:38.000,0:01:40.880
of more or less the[br]same governmental system,

0:01:40.960,0:01:44.560
same cultural system, same[br]religious system, same language.

0:01:44.800,0:01:47.200
And within those[br]3,000 years you've got

0:01:47.360,0:01:49.280
a series of ups and downs.

0:01:49.440,0:01:51.680
You have boom and bust,[br]you have collapse

0:01:51.840,0:01:53.040
and regeneration.

0:01:53.120,0:01:56.320
And we can see the human[br]reactions to all of those.

0:01:56.800,0:01:59.520
That is an extraordinary[br]gift to be able to say,

0:01:59.760,0:02:02.479
this is the way human[br]beings react when X happens.

0:02:02.560,0:02:05.600
This is the way humans[br]react when Y happens.

0:02:05.680,0:02:08.400
And so, I am here as[br]an Egyptologist to tell

0:02:08.479,0:02:11.760
you that in this age[br]of anti-intellectualism,

0:02:12.000,0:02:14.959
where people are saying,[br]'What good is a history degree?'

0:02:14.960,0:02:16.640
I'm like, 'Well,[br]let me tell you.'

0:02:16.640,0:02:17.520
(audience members laugh)

0:02:17.520,0:02:22.400
Egyptology is incredibly useful,[br]and it's useful for studies of

0:02:22.560,0:02:24.720
women, and women in power.

0:02:24.800,0:02:27.440
I teach a course at UCLA[br]called Women in Power

0:02:27.440,0:02:28.239
in the Ancient World.

0:02:28.240,0:02:30.480
And I've been doing this[br]class for the last five years.

0:02:30.560,0:02:32.880
And I spend half of[br]the class on Egypt,

0:02:32.960,0:02:35.440
and then I spend a week[br]on Persia, a week on Rome,

0:02:35.440,0:02:38.640
a week on China, a week on[br]the Levant and Mesopotamia.

0:02:38.720,0:02:42.880
And I'm doing a comparative[br]study on why we don't trust

0:02:42.880,0:02:46.160
women in the halls of power,[br]why it is so very hard for women

0:02:46.960,0:02:48.880
to attain real political power.

0:02:48.880,0:02:52.000
And I'm not interested in this[br]class or in this book about

0:02:52.320,0:02:55.680
women whispering something[br]to the king behind the throne

0:02:55.920,0:02:57.600
trying to get what she wants.

0:02:57.840,0:03:00.080
I'm not interested in that[br]kind of informal power.

0:03:00.080,0:03:03.200
I'm interested in formal[br]expressions of political power.

0:03:03.360,0:03:04.720
When do we give it to women?

0:03:04.800,0:03:05.680
When do we not?

0:03:05.920,0:03:09.600
And Egypt is this strange[br]and cracked place,

0:03:09.680,0:03:12.160
which I will discuss,[br]that allows women into

0:03:12.320,0:03:14.960
power more regularly and[br]systematically than anywhere

0:03:15.040,0:03:17.680
in the ancient world, and more[br]regularly and systematically

0:03:17.840,0:03:20.239
than we allow into power today.

0:03:20.400,0:03:23.920
In the longer version of this[br]talk that I do with the National

0:03:24.000,0:03:29.040
Geographic Institute Association[br]group, I don't, what are they?

0:03:29.440,0:03:31.600
A society, that's what they are.

0:03:32.320,0:03:34.720
I have a whole discussion[br]about how women do not have

0:03:34.880,0:03:38.640
power today, economically,[br]politically, militarily,

0:03:38.640,0:03:40.560
or ideologically,[br]and then I go into

0:03:40.640,0:03:42.320
the anthropological[br]reasons for that,

0:03:42.400,0:03:44.320
what it's like in a[br]hunter-gatherer society,

0:03:44.320,0:03:46.400
what it's like in an[br]agricultural society.

0:03:46.400,0:03:48.300
And then we're all[br]thoroughly depressed.

0:03:48.300,0:03:48.820
(audience members laugh)

0:03:48.820,0:03:52.160
And then I go to Egypt and I[br]say, "But Egypt was able to

0:03:52.240,0:03:55.760
"surmount these obstacles[br]and allowed women to power

0:03:56.080,0:03:59.040
in a way that no other[br]agricultural society did."

0:03:59.280,0:04:01.120
And then I asked,[br]'Why is that?'

0:04:01.200,0:04:02.880
And I continue,[br]and I hope this

0:04:03.040,0:04:06.160
haunts you as I go[br]through six women who

0:04:06.400,0:04:09.920
achieved formal states[br]of power in Egypt, I hope

0:04:10.160,0:04:13.840
the question haunts you,[br]why do we in our society still

0:04:14.080,0:04:16.320
not allow women into power?

0:04:16.399,0:04:20.560
And why is this our reality?

0:04:20.560,0:04:21.839
(all laugh)

0:04:21.839,0:04:24.400
This is from before the[br]last election, right?

0:04:24.480,0:04:26.480
You see Paul Ryan and you're[br]like, 'No, no, this is,

0:04:26.480,0:04:27.520
you have to update this.'

0:04:27.520,0:04:29.280
And you're right,[br]I do have to update it.

0:04:29.360,0:04:32.159
But nothing speaks to what[br]I'm talking about now better

0:04:32.480,0:04:33.920
than the last Congress.

0:04:34.000,0:04:36.880
Because the last Congress[br]was incredibly masculine,

0:04:36.880,0:04:40.000
incredibly white, lacked[br]diversity on all fronts.

0:04:40.480,0:04:43.440
And it made me realize that[br]when people are afraid,

0:04:43.600,0:04:45.599
because I think this[br]country, right and left,

0:04:45.680,0:04:48.080
the thing that unites us the[br]most is the fear that we are all

0:04:48.160,0:04:49.680
falling over the cliff, right?

0:04:49.760,0:04:51.200
That's what we can all agree on.

0:04:51.200,0:04:52.800
We may have completely[br]different ways for how

0:04:52.880,0:04:55.840
to heal that problem,[br]but we all are very afraid.

0:04:55.920,0:04:59.039
And when people are afraid,[br]they often turn towards the

0:04:59.120,0:05:02.400
patriarchy, whatever that is,[br]we can break it down.

0:05:02.560,0:05:05.120
They turn towards what[br]makes them feel safe,

0:05:05.200,0:05:07.440
that decisive masculine power.

0:05:07.840,0:05:11.200
They turn towards this[br]same way of doing things,

0:05:11.280,0:05:13.760
or they even turn towards[br]an authoritarianism,

0:05:13.920,0:05:15.599
which is the subject[br]of my next book,

0:05:15.600,0:05:18.080
which I don't have time[br]to talk about either.

0:05:18.960,0:05:22.560
But it interests me that the[br]way fear makes people turn

0:05:22.880,0:05:26.720
towards certain directions[br]of power and that females

0:05:26.800,0:05:28.479
have nothing to do with them.

0:05:28.640,0:05:32.480
So, now we come to this topic[br]of women in power in ancient

0:05:32.480,0:05:36.000
Egypt and why this was such a[br]systematic and regular thing.

0:05:36.080,0:05:39.359
Now, keep in mind I'm gonna[br]be talking about six women,

0:05:39.520,0:05:41.919
five of whom became nothing[br]less than leaders of

0:05:42.000,0:05:44.080
state, king, right?

0:05:44.240,0:05:47.840
And I'm not talking about the[br]dozens of other women that acted

0:05:47.840,0:05:49.360
as regent for a young king.

0:05:49.520,0:05:51.920
Coming in, pulling the strings[br]of the government, and then

0:05:52.000,0:05:54.560
when that boy is old enough,[br]stepping back into the shadows,

0:05:54.640,0:05:55.760
letting him run the show.

0:05:55.840,0:05:59.359
I'll be talking about one[br]and a half, in a sense.

0:05:59.440,0:06:03.920
But I'm leaving those women out[br]of this discussion and focusing

0:06:04.000,0:06:07.520
on the women that were able[br]to take that kind of power

0:06:08.000,0:06:09.919
and move it a step beyond.

0:06:09.920,0:06:14.159
But this is a place that allows[br]women into power so often that

0:06:14.320,0:06:16.960
we need to question why that is.

0:06:17.040,0:06:19.200
And so, I am led to a map.

0:06:19.520,0:06:21.040
In my class,[br]Women in Power

0:06:21.040,0:06:22.640
in the Ancient World,[br]I usually start with

0:06:22.720,0:06:24.320
a map of each region.

0:06:24.400,0:06:25.360
And I show the map

0:06:25.520,0:06:27.100
And I say, oh,[br]this doesn't

0:06:27.100,0:06:27.620
look so great.

0:06:27.620,0:06:29.120
Can you guys kind of[br]see it, more or less?

0:06:29.200,0:06:30.960
The Nile is there,[br]you get some understanding

0:06:30.960,0:06:32.240
of what's going on.

0:06:32.720,0:06:36.239
Is this place unitable?

0:06:36.480,0:06:39.280
Is this place protected?

0:06:39.520,0:06:44.960
Is this place geographically[br]in tune with the allowance

0:06:45.040,0:06:46.080
of female power?

0:06:46.160,0:06:48.240
Seems a strange question[br]for me to ask, right?

0:06:48.240,0:06:51.039
How can you look at a map[br]and know that females will

0:06:51.120,0:06:52.719
be allowed into power or not?

0:06:52.880,0:06:54.480
Well, you actually can.

0:06:54.720,0:06:58.000
And the more I taught the class[br]Women in Power in the Ancient

0:06:58.000,0:07:00.000
World, the more I realized,[br]oh, my goodness, you know,

0:07:00.720,0:07:03.680
you can look at a map and[br]decide, will women be able

0:07:03.680,0:07:04.880
to rule in this place?

0:07:05.360,0:07:09.680
Now, Egypt is a very different[br]and special geographic region.

0:07:10.320,0:07:10.960
Unique.

0:07:11.280,0:07:13.360
It is protected[br]on all four sides.

0:07:13.520,0:07:16.000
It's got deserts on east[br]and west, on the east,

0:07:16.000,0:07:18.960
you can add the Red Sea just to[br]make a little harder to invade,

0:07:19.200,0:07:22.560
Mediterranean Sea to the north,[br]and then down to the south

0:07:22.800,0:07:25.919
where you have this artery[br]of the Nile cutting through

0:07:26.080,0:07:28.080
the desert, and of course,[br]the Nile is the only reason

0:07:28.240,0:07:31.599
anything exists in Egypt at[br]all, it's a gift of that Nile.

0:07:31.840,0:07:34.400
In the south,[br]at a place called Elephantine,

0:07:34.400,0:07:36.880
and then five or six times[br]further south, you have

0:07:36.960,0:07:39.520
these giant granite boulders[br]in the middle of the river.

0:07:39.600,0:07:42.160
So, even if you wanted to[br]bring some naval invading

0:07:42.320,0:07:44.880
force with all your ships[br]straight up the river,

0:07:44.960,0:07:47.200
you'd hit those granite[br]blocks and you and your

0:07:47.280,0:07:49.039
naval force would have to[br]take the boats out of the

0:07:49.040,0:07:51.680
river, go around and just[br]carry them around the boulders,

0:07:51.840,0:07:54.560
put them back in the water,[br]and then head up north again.

0:07:54.640,0:07:57.120
So, even the South is protected.

0:07:57.360,0:08:00.719
This is a place that does not[br]suffer foreign invasion very

0:08:00.880,0:08:03.200
often for most of its history.

0:08:03.360,0:08:06.400
It is a place where[br]different ethnicities,

0:08:06.400,0:08:08.480
and different languages,[br]and different religious

0:08:08.480,0:08:11.280
systems coming into this[br]place for most of its pharaonic

0:08:11.360,0:08:13.440
history, this is quite rare.

0:08:13.600,0:08:16.880
Until the invasion of[br]a series of empires,

0:08:16.880,0:08:19.360
starting with the Assyrian,[br]going with the Babylonian,

0:08:19.360,0:08:21.600
then the Persians,[br]then Alexander the Great,

0:08:21.760,0:08:25.040
this place existed in[br]a microcosm of safety,

0:08:25.280,0:08:27.680
where you can have[br]the same language,

0:08:27.760,0:08:29.440
the same religious system,[br]the same government

0:08:29.920,0:08:31.440
for over 3,000 years.

0:08:31.680,0:08:35.440
This is a very special and[br]protected place, a place where

0:08:35.919,0:08:37.679
warlording is not the norm.

0:08:37.919,0:08:40.560
Compare this in your minds[br]to what you hear in the news

0:08:40.720,0:08:45.920
about Syria, Mesopotamia, what[br]we would call Iraq, or Rome,

0:08:45.920,0:08:47.520
or Greece in the ancient world.

0:08:47.760,0:08:51.520
There you have places that[br]are much more competitive

0:08:51.760,0:08:54.720
and geographically do not[br]have the same barriers that

0:08:54.960,0:08:56.400
this place has protected.

0:08:56.560,0:08:58.560
War lording pays dividends.

0:08:58.720,0:09:03.680
You will be rewarded for raising[br]an army, marching into Babylon,

0:09:03.840,0:09:06.320
taking out the king,[br]and claiming that city

0:09:06.400,0:09:08.719
as your own, and you know,[br]you might just win.

0:09:08.880,0:09:11.120
Whereas here,[br]war lording is

0:09:11.120,0:09:13.360
discouraged either[br]geographically from

0:09:13.360,0:09:16.480
the outside in, but it's[br]also discouraged within.

0:09:16.880,0:09:20.160
Because within you have[br]this Nile that floods its

0:09:20.160,0:09:22.800
banks when it's doing it[br]as it's supposed to.

0:09:23.040,0:09:24.820
Egyptians would tell us[br]there's a way it should work

0:09:24.820,0:09:25.340
(laughs)

0:09:25.340,0:09:26.079
And a way it shouldn't.

0:09:26.160,0:09:28.319
Not too much flooding,[br]not too little flooding.

0:09:28.400,0:09:31.360
But every year it floods its[br]banks and it leaves behind this

0:09:31.520,0:09:34.240
thick layer of rich Nile silt.

0:09:34.320,0:09:37.120
You sprinkle your seeds on it,[br]you let your animals and your

0:09:37.120,0:09:39.280
children run on it, and just,[br]you know, a couple weeks

0:09:39.280,0:09:42.079
later you have fat, juicy[br]kernels of wheat and barley.

0:09:42.160,0:09:44.800
Herodotus in the 5th century[br]visited this place and he's

0:09:44.800,0:09:46.880
like, 'Damn, this is insane.'

0:09:46.880,0:09:50.000
He's like, "In Greece we have[br]to move the rocks and then we

0:09:50.080,0:09:51.840
have to plow and it's so hard."

0:09:51.840,0:09:52.800
In Egypt,[br]you're just

0:09:52.800,0:09:54.060
like, la, la, la.

0:09:54.060,0:09:54.580
(audience members laugh)

0:09:54.580,0:09:56.800
And everyone's drunk and[br]there's too many people

0:09:57.120,0:10:00.560
and nobody has to work[br]that hard, and it's awesome.

0:10:01.280,0:10:03.760
That creates a kind[br]of society too.

0:10:03.920,0:10:06.960
It creates a society where you[br]don't need to warlord because

0:10:07.120,0:10:10.000
you don't have the same kinds[br]of scarcity that you have in

0:10:10.000,0:10:12.880
Mesopotamia, or the Levant,[br]or Greece, or Rome.

0:10:12.960,0:10:16.480
And so, warlording on the[br]inside is discouraged as well.

0:10:16.720,0:10:20.800
And indeed, we compare Egyptian[br]politics to Greece or

0:10:20.800,0:10:22.000
Rome at our peril.

0:10:22.160,0:10:24.880
Because regicide in Egypt,[br]you can count them on the

0:10:24.880,0:10:27.360
fingers of one hand, the[br]ones that we know about.

0:10:27.440,0:10:29.600
This is a very rare[br]and unusual thing.

0:10:29.920,0:10:32.320
This is a place that[br]geographically and

0:10:32.320,0:10:35.760
culturally has developed[br]the most perfected form

0:10:35.840,0:10:38.080
of divine kingship the[br]world has ever seen,

0:10:38.320,0:10:42.479
where you might have[br]problems in the kingship,

0:10:42.560,0:10:44.800
there could be an issue[br]with the succession,

0:10:45.200,0:10:47.840
and the king dies early[br]after only ten years of

0:10:47.840,0:10:49.680
rule and he leaves an[br]eight-year-old son of

0:10:49.760,0:10:51.440
his choice behind,[br]in addition to

0:10:51.520,0:10:52.640
many other sons,[br]but he leaves this

0:10:52.640,0:10:53.760
eight-year-old behind.

0:10:53.840,0:10:55.520
And in any other[br]part of the world,

0:10:55.520,0:10:57.360
in Mesopotamia or[br]Greece or Rome,

0:10:57.440,0:10:58.960
the guy holding[br]the bloody knife

0:10:59.040,0:11:00.320
who just killed the[br]eight-year-old and all

0:11:00.320,0:11:01.760
of the eight-year-old's[br]family hold it up

0:11:01.760,0:11:02.960
And he's like,[br]'I'm king next!'

0:11:02.960,0:11:04.160
And everyone's like, "You are.

0:11:04.160,0:11:04.959
"good for you.

0:11:04.960,0:11:05.760
You're king."

0:11:05.760,0:11:07.360
And in Egypt,[br]everyone throws

0:11:07.360,0:11:08.320
themselves to the[br]ground and they're

0:11:08.320,0:11:10.960
like, 'Dear eight-year-old,[br]what would like us to do?'

0:11:11.120,0:11:13.680
I have an eight-year-old boy,

0:11:13.680,0:11:14.320
(audience members laugh)

0:11:14.320,0:11:17.040
Who was born under the[br]full moon of Taurus.

0:11:17.120,0:11:19.600
And I didn't use to believe[br]in that stuff until I had a

0:11:19.600,0:11:21.760
kid who was born under the[br]full moon of Taurus and now,

0:11:21.760,0:11:24.320
trust me, I understand what[br]willfulness means and how it

0:11:24.320,0:11:26.080
is given to us by the God.

0:11:26.080,0:11:27.280
(audience members laugh)

0:11:27.280,0:11:31.040
But I did not want that[br]kid in charge of my house,

0:11:31.120,0:11:32.800
let alone my nation, right?

0:11:32.880,0:11:35.920
So, you have to come up with a[br]different method that's gonna

0:11:36.080,0:11:40.640
keep this divine kingship[br]safe and fun in Mesopotamia,

0:11:40.640,0:11:42.959
the Levant, Greece or Rome.

0:11:43.120,0:11:46.880
If you let a kid rule,[br]you're gonna have somebody older

0:11:46.960,0:11:49.280
come in and make decisions on[br]his behalf and you're probably

0:11:49.360,0:11:50.560
gonna have a man do so.

0:11:50.800,0:11:54.000
What's gonna happen if an[br]uncle of the kid comes in

0:11:54.080,0:11:55.200
and rules on his behalf?

0:11:55.520,0:11:56.720
The brother of the dead king.

0:11:56.720,0:12:00.720
I have a saying amongst[br]my students at UCLA.

0:12:00.800,0:12:02.319
It's a very useful saying.

0:12:02.720,0:12:03.520
It's very short.

0:12:03.760,0:12:05.120
Many of you may have[br]heard it before.

0:12:05.360,0:12:06.240
You've heard me speak.

0:12:06.240,0:12:09.760
And the saying is two words,[br]and it is because testicles.

0:12:09.760,0:12:11.440
(audience members laugh)

0:12:11.440,0:12:13.440
I say it so much that[br]a grad student made me

0:12:13.440,0:12:15.520
a t-shirt that says,[br]'Because testicles,'

0:12:15.600,0:12:18.400
and then she put the[br]hieroglyph for the penis on it.

0:12:18.400,0:12:19.180
I'm like,[br]"I can never

0:12:19.180,0:12:19.700
wear this shirt.

0:12:19.700,0:12:20.220
"What do you expect?

0:12:20.220,0:12:20.740
(audience members laugh)

0:12:20.740,0:12:21.260
I can't."

0:12:21.260,0:12:21.780
(audience members laugh)

0:12:21.780,0:12:23.600
So, I just lovingly put it[br]aside, and it was just in a

0:12:23.600,0:12:25.760
drawer, and I can never wear it,[br]in sparkly glitter

0:12:25.840,0:12:26.800
paint, whatever.

0:12:26.800,0:12:28.240
(audience members laugh)

0:12:28.240,0:12:31.199
But because testicles,[br]you can't have the uncle

0:12:31.360,0:12:33.600
of the young kid come in[br]and be the decision maker.

0:12:33.600,0:12:36.400
I'm not saying he's necessarily[br]going to assassinate the kid.

0:12:36.400,0:12:38.400
But the chances[br]are higher, right?

0:12:38.640,0:12:40.000
It is riskier.

0:12:40.080,0:12:43.840
Whereas if you have a woman[br]come in, mother of the kid,

0:12:43.840,0:12:47.439
maybe the aunt, we'll discuss,[br]it's going to be less risky.

0:12:47.520,0:12:50.640
And this brings up the other[br]thing I want to haunt you as

0:12:50.800,0:12:51.920
we're talking about this.

0:12:52.080,0:12:54.400
Do women rule[br]differently from men?

0:12:55.120,0:12:58.959
In some way, and the way I hear[br]yeses and often I'll hear nos.

0:12:59.040,0:13:01.280
And I don't think we as[br]a society have completely

0:13:01.280,0:13:03.680
figured this out yet because[br]we don't let them rule.

0:13:03.840,0:13:06.720
So, we don't know what[br]the options are yet.

0:13:06.800,0:13:09.680
But the Egyptians believed[br]that women ruled differently.

0:13:09.680,0:13:11.600
And the Egyptians,[br]to keep this system

0:13:12.080,0:13:15.600
running and to keep it safe,[br]systematically allowed

0:13:15.680,0:13:18.800
the woman to come in to[br]keep the divine kingship

0:13:18.960,0:13:20.400
safe, to keep it working.

0:13:20.480,0:13:22.240
And here's the most[br]uncomfortable part

0:13:22.320,0:13:23.840
of working through[br]this book, working

0:13:23.840,0:13:24.960
through the female power.

0:13:25.040,0:13:27.440
I'm not here to write a[br]revisionist history for you.

0:13:27.520,0:13:29.680
I'm not here to make you[br]feel happy and cushy with

0:13:29.680,0:13:32.560
rainbows and puppy love[br]about the women of the past.

0:13:32.800,0:13:35.280
I am here to tell you[br]the truth as a historian.

0:13:35.360,0:13:38.400
And the uncomfortable truth for[br]me, having gone through all of

0:13:38.480,0:13:41.920
these women, is that it is in[br]the most authoritarian state

0:13:42.160,0:13:45.440
on the planet, with the most[br]perfected divine kingship

0:13:45.600,0:13:47.119
that we see female power.

0:13:47.360,0:13:48.240
Only there.

0:13:48.560,0:13:51.440
It is where female power[br]is forced upon its people

0:13:51.760,0:13:53.200
that it is most accepted.

0:13:53.440,0:13:56.079
It is in the most unequal[br]of social situations,

0:13:56.080,0:13:58.160
the most pyramidal of[br]social situations, that

0:13:58.240,0:13:59.760
female power is allowed.

0:13:59.920,0:14:02.880
Otherwise, if you go to[br]Greece or Rome, let's go

0:14:02.960,0:14:04.880
to the Greek Democratia.

0:14:05.680,0:14:08.080
Very broad[br]understanding of power.

0:14:08.320,0:14:11.200
Everyone who's a citizen has a[br]say in their assembly, right?

0:14:11.440,0:14:13.520
One man falls, another[br]man takes his place.

0:14:13.600,0:14:17.840
Women have no say in this[br]society and in this culture.

0:14:18.000,0:14:21.120
Women have so little political[br]power and men have so much that

0:14:21.200,0:14:24.160
there's actually a political[br]sexual understanding to

0:14:24.240,0:14:25.600
male love in Greece.

0:14:25.840,0:14:26.740
That true love,

0:14:26.740,0:14:27.260
(laughs)

0:14:27.260,0:14:29.199
If you read your Greek[br]texts very carefully,

0:14:29.280,0:14:31.280
is male-male, not female-male.

0:14:31.600,0:14:34.480
The women are full of deceit,[br]and witchcraft, and problems,

0:14:34.560,0:14:37.200
and read your Pandora's box[br]discussion and you see it,

0:14:37.280,0:14:38.239
Oh, my goodness.

0:14:38.320,0:14:41.120
But in Egypt,[br]the woman is what

0:14:41.360,0:14:42.880
keeps this safe.

0:14:43.200,0:14:45.360
The woman is the[br]placeholder to allow this

0:14:45.520,0:14:47.200
patriarchy to continue.

0:14:47.600,0:14:49.680
That's the uncomfortable[br]reality for me.

0:14:49.760,0:14:52.240
And I just wrote a piece in[br]Time Magazine about this,

0:14:52.320,0:14:55.680
that the woman usually[br]serves the patriarchy

0:14:55.760,0:14:57.920
without even thinking,[br]without even knowing

0:14:58.000,0:14:58.640
what she's doing.

0:14:58.720,0:15:01.040
It doesn't matter if there's[br]a woman in power, what is

0:15:01.120,0:15:02.560
the agenda of that woman?

0:15:02.720,0:15:05.440
So, this is very much[br]my discussion for today.

0:15:05.440,0:15:07.760
If women do rule differently,[br]what is their agenda?

0:15:07.920,0:15:11.440
How are we to understand[br]their place in this society?

0:15:11.680,0:15:14.240
Now, many of you in the audience[br]might be annoyed that I have

0:15:14.240,0:15:16.400
used the word female king twice.

0:15:16.480,0:15:17.760
You're like,[br]"Why did she do that?

0:15:17.760,0:15:18.460
"That's stupid.

0:15:18.460,0:15:18.980
(audience members laugh)

0:15:18.980,0:15:20.480
"She could just[br]use the word queen.

0:15:20.640,0:15:21.199
We do."

0:15:21.200,0:15:23.439
And I will say,[br]in the ancient

0:15:23.440,0:15:25.440
Egyptian language,[br]the word queen

0:15:25.520,0:15:26.640
connotes no power.

0:15:26.880,0:15:29.600
It is a sexual[br]helpmate of the king.

0:15:30.080,0:15:33.360
It is something that is,[br]it has nothing to do with

0:15:33.520,0:15:35.120
politics or decision-making.

0:15:35.360,0:15:38.480
When the Egyptians chose a[br]woman to be king, in this case,

0:15:38.480,0:15:39.920
Hatshepsut from our obelisk.

0:15:39.920,0:15:41.280
Can you see the[br]central column there?

0:15:41.440,0:15:43.680
Top word, Nesut is used.

0:15:43.840,0:15:46.400
They used the word king,[br]so I'm gonna use the word king.

0:15:46.800,0:15:48.160
That's the way I've[br]decided to do it.

0:15:48.160,0:15:49.680
So, just a little[br]justification there

0:15:49.760,0:15:51.439
So I don't get that[br]question in the Q&A,

0:15:51.440,0:15:53.040
which I always do, otherwise.

0:15:55.120,0:15:57.520
So, now I want to go[br]through our six women.

0:15:57.600,0:16:00.000
How much time do[br]I have until 2 40?

0:16:00.000,0:16:01.520
Who's running the show?

0:16:01.840,0:16:02.800
2 50?

0:16:02.960,0:16:03.520
Okay.

0:16:04.240,0:16:04.880
Alright.

0:16:05.280,0:16:08.400
So, we'll go through these,[br]really five, 'cause I don't

0:16:08.400,0:16:10.640
have a whole lot of time for[br]Tawosret here, and she's

0:16:10.640,0:16:12.620
more Game of Thrones than[br]you can possibly imagine.

0:16:12.620,0:16:13.140
(audience members laugh)

0:16:13.140,0:16:14.720
So, we're gonna skip over her.

0:16:14.960,0:16:17.760
And I can stand here by the[br]podium and say, 'You can buy

0:16:17.760,0:16:19.280
the book,' which is awesome.

0:16:19.787,0:16:22.640
But let's start with[br]Merneith of Dynasty 1,

0:16:22.640,0:16:25.680
and gain an understanding[br]that this female power in

0:16:25.760,0:16:28.800
ancient Egypt to protect an[br]authoritarian patriarchal

0:16:28.800,0:16:31.920
regime, yeah, those words[br]just rolled off my tongue.

0:16:32.560,0:16:36.000
The female power is the[br]other side of the coin of

0:16:36.080,0:16:37.440
that patriarchal regime.

0:16:37.520,0:16:38.400
It comes with it.

0:16:38.480,0:16:40.880
You have to have the[br]one without the other.

0:16:40.960,0:16:43.040
There is no way to[br]avoid the female power.

0:16:43.040,0:16:45.120
You could argue,[br]and the Egyptologists

0:16:45.120,0:16:46.560
in the room know what I'm[br]talking about, that there

0:16:46.560,0:16:50.080
are Dynasty 0 examples of[br]very, very strong female power.

0:16:50.160,0:16:52.800
Merneith is just the[br]most well-documented

0:16:52.880,0:16:54.480
for us to start with,[br]but it could have even

0:16:54.560,0:16:55.840
had an earlier beginning.

0:16:56.080,0:16:59.360
So, when Egyptologists[br]found Merneith's tomb,

0:16:59.680,0:17:01.920
they found it in a[br]place called Abydos,

0:17:01.920,0:17:06.000
Middle Egypt, along the Nile,[br]out in the western desert sands.

0:17:06.079,0:17:08.720
And they looked at the layout[br]of the tomb and they looked at

0:17:08.800,0:17:11.359
the horizontal stratigraphy,[br]they're like, king's tomb

0:17:11.359,0:17:13.359
there, king's tomb there,[br]now we're digging here,

0:17:13.440,0:17:15.040
must be another king's tomb.

0:17:15.119,0:17:17.520
They find the grave[br]marker, the stela,

0:17:17.680,0:17:19.440
and they look at that[br]and they're like, "Yup,

0:17:19.440,0:17:20.240
looks like the others.

0:17:20.240,0:17:21.120
"We're all good.

0:17:21.200,0:17:22.079
It's a king."

0:17:22.079,0:17:24.560
And then they start[br]to look and compare.

0:17:24.880,0:17:26.399
And they're like,[br]"Wait a minute,

0:17:26.480,0:17:27.679
something's missing.

0:17:27.680,0:17:29.520
"Something is a little bit off.

0:17:29.760,0:17:32.560
There are two things missing[br]from Merneith's stela."

0:17:32.560,0:17:34.560
Merneith whose name[br]means the beloved one

0:17:34.640,0:17:36.000
of the goddess Neith.

0:17:36.160,0:17:37.680
The name is not[br]really gonna help us.

0:17:37.680,0:17:38.960
There's not at the end.

0:17:39.040,0:17:41.280
Egyptian names are useful.

0:17:41.280,0:17:43.680
It's Smurf or Smurfette, right?

0:17:43.680,0:17:44.320
(audience members laugh)

0:17:44.320,0:17:46.480
So, it's the same with Merneith.

0:17:46.800,0:17:48.560
Some would be like, 'No,[br]there is a t,' some

0:17:48.560,0:17:50.320
would be like, 'No,[br]there's not,' but it

0:17:50.320,0:17:51.680
depends on how it's written.

0:17:51.760,0:17:54.399
But the two things that are[br]missing are the falcon at the

0:17:54.400,0:17:59.520
top, porous and carnic, kingship[br]on earth, and the palace facade,

0:18:00.240,0:18:04.800
that mud brick walled fortress[br]that goes around the inner

0:18:04.880,0:18:07.360
sanctum where the king[br]and his court dwell.

0:18:07.440,0:18:09.919
Those two things are[br]missing from her stela.

0:18:09.920,0:18:12.879
So, the Egyptologists are like,[br]'Huh, I wonder what's going on.'

0:18:12.960,0:18:16.080
And then they find a tiny[br]little label, this big,

0:18:16.080,0:18:20.000
affixed to a commodity[br]in her, well, I wouldn't

0:18:20.000,0:18:22.960
wanna give it away, in one[br]of the later king's tombs.

0:18:23.120,0:18:26.720
And this tiny little label,[br]they see, okay, we have Djer,

0:18:26.720,0:18:30.000
we have Djet, we have Den,[br]and then what have we got here?

0:18:30.320,0:18:34.480
We have the king's[br]mother, Merneith.

0:18:34.720,0:18:37.280
So, they're like, oh,[br]it's not exactly the

0:18:37.280,0:18:38.879
correct lineup,[br]but she's named as

0:18:38.880,0:18:40.720
the king's mother,[br]they're like, 'Oh, I got it.

0:18:40.720,0:18:42.320
She's there as the regent.'

0:18:42.960,0:18:46.240
Djet must have died too early,[br]leaving Den on the throne too

0:18:46.400,0:18:49.760
young, demanding somebody[br]to be the decision maker,

0:18:49.760,0:18:51.200
somebody to act as regent.

0:18:51.280,0:18:52.879
Who better than[br]the king's mother?

0:18:52.956,0:18:54.820
This starts off in Dynasty 1.

0:18:54.820,0:18:55.340
(fingers snap)

0:18:55.340,0:18:58.000
Soon as they can do it,[br]they institute this as a

0:18:58.080,0:19:00.080
pattern, and as a system.

0:19:00.560,0:19:02.560
Now, how did she get there?

0:19:02.640,0:19:03.760
How does this work?

0:19:04.160,0:19:06.560
I say her father, Djer,[br]and in the book I talk

0:19:06.720,0:19:10.000
about the king, Djer,[br]as her father, given how

0:19:10.080,0:19:11.600
high Merneith's station is.

0:19:11.600,0:19:13.280
It is an assumption that[br]I make, and I'm clear

0:19:13.440,0:19:14.159
about it in the book.

0:19:14.240,0:19:17.520
It's possible this guy is[br]not her father, but we'll

0:19:17.600,0:19:18.960
leave it there for now.

0:19:19.280,0:19:23.840
But Merneith would have been[br]a girl when this very powerful

0:19:23.920,0:19:26.160
and long-lived King Djer died.

0:19:26.320,0:19:29.040
And this would have been one[br]of her earliest memories,

0:19:29.040,0:19:31.600
a memory seared into her brain.

0:19:31.680,0:19:34.720
Because at Djer's death,[br]and at the death of any

0:19:34.880,0:19:39.440
First Dynasty king, the[br]courtiers were separated,

0:19:39.520,0:19:43.440
and it was determined who[br]among them would accompany

0:19:43.520,0:19:45.200
the king into death themselves.

0:19:45.280,0:19:47.040
So, they were sacrificed.

0:19:47.440,0:19:48.720
We don't know the method.

0:19:48.720,0:19:50.320
I'll show you some[br]of the skeletons.

0:19:50.320,0:19:52.000
They could have been poisoned,[br]they could have been strangled,

0:19:52.000,0:19:53.600
they could have been starved,[br]we've got nothing.

0:19:53.920,0:19:54.880
There's very little evidence.

0:19:54.880,0:19:56.720
And the archaeologists[br]who found most of these

0:19:56.880,0:19:59.360
skeletons only kept the heads.

0:20:00.320,0:20:01.600
Annoying, right?

0:20:01.600,0:20:02.480
(audience members laugh)

0:20:02.480,0:20:05.040
I have a graduate student,[br]Rose Campbell, for those of

0:20:05.120,0:20:08.000
you that know her, who's[br]working on isotope analysis,

0:20:08.000,0:20:10.560
and she's heading to London[br]and Cambridge soon, where there

0:20:10.640,0:20:12.399
are hundreds of such heads.

0:20:12.480,0:20:15.200
And she's gonna be looking at[br]these skulls and determining

0:20:15.360,0:20:17.439
where these people grew up,[br]'cause you can tell that from

0:20:17.440,0:20:20.240
the isotopes, what kind of[br]health and nutrition they had.

0:20:20.320,0:20:22.400
And this work has[br]not been done yet.

0:20:22.560,0:20:25.360
But the work that has been done[br]suggests that the people who

0:20:25.440,0:20:29.760
were sacrificed to surround the[br]king's tomb were buried at one

0:20:29.920,0:20:33.439
time and were wealthy people,[br]well-nourished people, people

0:20:33.760,0:20:36.879
who were probably courtiers,[br]people with whom you shared a

0:20:36.960,0:20:40.400
meal, people who were probably[br]family members of yours.

0:20:40.880,0:20:44.879
And when Djer dies,[br]hundreds of people

0:20:45.200,0:20:46.240
met their end.

0:20:46.640,0:20:47.360
Think of this.

0:20:47.440,0:20:50.560
We have this phrase, the king is[br]dead, long live the king, right?

0:20:50.800,0:20:52.000
Well, think of it this way.

0:20:52.000,0:20:53.600
The king is dead,[br]long live the king.

0:20:53.600,0:20:55.360
You say it fast like that[br]'cause you don't want any

0:20:55.360,0:20:57.040
vulnerability coming in between.

0:20:57.120,0:21:00.399
You know it's a time period[br]of great potential problems.

0:21:00.480,0:21:03.040
You wanna make sure everybody's[br]safe and everybody's taken care

0:21:03.040,0:21:05.280
of, that you go to the next[br]kingship when you're moving

0:21:05.360,0:21:06.880
from one government to another.

0:21:07.120,0:21:10.480
And to make this more seamless,[br]the Egyptians of the First

0:21:10.480,0:21:13.439
Dynasty hit upon a rather[br]brilliant but macabre and

0:21:13.520,0:21:16.720
brutal plan, which is to[br]show the king's power over

0:21:16.880,0:21:18.480
life and death itself.

0:21:18.720,0:21:21.919
And to also, I would argue,[br]take out potential

0:21:22.400,0:21:23.840
threats from society.

0:21:24.000,0:21:27.040
So, if you're worried about,[br]you know, you've got your king,

0:21:27.040,0:21:29.360
you place him on the throne,[br]who are you most worried

0:21:29.360,0:21:31.520
about as you do that in that[br]a most vulnerable situation?

0:21:31.520,0:21:33.439
Well, you're worried about[br]the other guys who could

0:21:33.600,0:21:34.879
have taken that position.

0:21:35.120,0:21:38.000
Those are the ones who are[br]most of a threat to the guy

0:21:38.000,0:21:39.280
who's sitting on the throne.

0:21:39.360,0:21:42.080
He's the one, in a sense,[br]that needs this sacrifice.

0:21:42.160,0:21:45.040
You put them around the burial[br]of the king before, but really

0:21:45.360,0:21:47.120
the dead do not bury themselves.

0:21:47.600,0:21:49.679
This is about the guy[br]who's sitting on the

0:21:49.680,0:21:52.480
throne now and what he[br]needs in the here and now.

0:21:52.640,0:21:57.040
And what the guy who comes next,[br]Djet, after Djer's burial needs

0:21:57.200,0:22:01.840
now, is some sacrifice of older[br]men, but not a whole lot.

0:22:02.000,0:22:05.280
Djer has more females buried[br]in his tomb than he has males.

0:22:05.680,0:22:07.919
And this is based on[br]archaeological reports

0:22:07.920,0:22:10.560
that are problematic,[br]but we're gonna leave it there.

0:22:11.280,0:22:14.000
But he has a great number[br]of dead that accompany him.

0:22:14.000,0:22:16.800
And I would argue that any[br]threats to the throne are

0:22:16.880,0:22:20.320
eliminated in a very quick[br]couple of weeks as they

0:22:20.480,0:22:22.240
put this man to death.

0:22:22.400,0:22:25.040
Each person gets their own[br]little marker, their own name,

0:22:25.120,0:22:26.880
a little designation[br]of their gender.

0:22:26.960,0:22:29.360
Even if you can't tell from a[br]skeleton what the gender is,

0:22:29.360,0:22:32.400
you can use these markers to[br]determine what the gender is.

0:22:32.960,0:22:36.720
Ellen Morris is the person whose[br]work I follow the most on this.

0:22:37.120,0:22:40.080
Laurel Bestock as well,[br]if you guys wanna follow up.

0:22:40.400,0:22:43.760
Now, Merneith is not[br]slated for sacrifice,

0:22:43.840,0:22:45.600
but she may have seen[br]her own mother die in

0:22:45.680,0:22:46.480
front of her eyes.

0:22:46.560,0:22:47.680
We have no way of knowing.

0:22:47.840,0:22:50.160
This is history from[br]5,000 years ago.

0:22:50.400,0:22:52.960
But the burial of the king[br]would have been accompanied

0:22:52.960,0:22:56.160
by a keening and mourning[br]that we have no concept of.

0:22:56.320,0:22:59.120
Imagine somebody very important[br]dying and then imagine that

0:22:59.200,0:23:01.600
they take out 500 other very[br]important people right

0:23:01.680,0:23:03.520
in front of your eyes,[br]and you have to watch

0:23:03.760,0:23:04.880
that in a ritual.

0:23:05.200,0:23:06.640
Absolutely brutal.

0:23:07.040,0:23:08.720
Merneith watches all of that.

0:23:08.800,0:23:11.520
She marries the next[br]king, the guy Djet.

0:23:12.320,0:23:16.000
She then watches as he dies,[br]and then the selection

0:23:16.080,0:23:17.120
is made again.

0:23:17.360,0:23:19.360
Now, he dies a little too early.

0:23:19.680,0:23:24.080
He dies leaving Den, her son,[br]to rule before his time.

0:23:24.560,0:23:26.560
However this happens,[br]and this is one of the most

0:23:26.640,0:23:29.760
mysterious things about any[br]authoritarian regime, how is the

0:23:29.840,0:23:31.600
successor to the throne chosen?

0:23:31.760,0:23:33.120
How is this choice made?

0:23:33.200,0:23:34.639
What is the realpolitik?

0:23:34.720,0:23:36.640
How is the regent chosen?

0:23:36.720,0:23:39.439
Do they choose the successor[br]by which regent is best

0:23:39.680,0:23:40.480
or other way around?

0:23:40.560,0:23:41.200
We don't know.

0:23:41.280,0:23:44.399
But Merneith is chosen as[br]regent, her son is the king.

0:23:44.560,0:23:47.040
And now who's gonna be in[br]charge of the selection at

0:23:47.040,0:23:48.080
the death of her husband?

0:23:48.240,0:23:50.879
Well, we have to[br]assume it's her.

0:23:51.200,0:23:53.120
So, you have to look at[br]this again as the dead

0:23:53.200,0:23:54.399
do not bury themselves.

0:23:54.720,0:23:57.040
The living are the ones[br]who are doing this.

0:23:57.200,0:23:58.720
The kid on the[br]throne is too young.

0:23:58.720,0:24:00.320
Let's assume he's 12 years old.

0:24:00.400,0:24:03.120
Not ready to rule yet,[br]but not incredibly young either.

0:24:03.120,0:24:07.600
And Merneith is the one[br]saying, 'Him, him, him,

0:24:08.320,0:24:10.159
her, and him, him.'

0:24:11.520,0:24:14.080
And these people are[br]all sacrificed in front

0:24:14.240,0:24:15.200
of everybody else.

0:24:16.000,0:24:18.320
Merneith doesn't have[br]to die because she's

0:24:18.400,0:24:22.320
there as Queen Regent,[br]but I imagine she sacrificed

0:24:22.480,0:24:25.920
or saw sacrifice many women[br]her age, who accompanied

0:24:26.000,0:24:29.680
her husband maybe from the[br]harem into his burial place.

0:24:29.840,0:24:32.480
She's the one that's[br]calling the shots.

0:24:32.960,0:24:35.360
Each one gets a little[br]burial marker of their own.

0:24:35.440,0:24:38.800
Each one gets a room of[br]his or her own in a sense.

0:24:39.040,0:24:41.280
This is a very[br]brilliant, if brutal,

0:24:41.280,0:24:43.280
plan of making sure that[br]everyone understands who

0:24:43.360,0:24:44.320
has the power.

0:24:44.960,0:24:47.520
This is an interesting,[br]if you look at comparative

0:24:47.680,0:24:50.400
anthropology and you look[br]at incipient states,

0:24:50.480,0:24:54.159
you look at nascent states,[br]this is a feature you see

0:24:54.480,0:24:57.760
in Africa and Europe and[br]Asia, in the New World.

0:24:57.920,0:25:00.560
That in these states[br]when a kingship is new,

0:25:00.800,0:25:04.160
sacrificial burial often goes[br]along with it for the king.

0:25:04.320,0:25:07.200
It is a great and quick,[br]efficient means of showing

0:25:07.280,0:25:09.520
who has the power and that[br]you better move along with

0:25:09.600,0:25:12.159
this and not rock the boat.

0:25:12.320,0:25:14.240
Do what you need to do.

0:25:14.560,0:25:16.640
This is what the dead look[br]like as they are buried,

0:25:16.640,0:25:18.480
they're accompanied with[br]these markers, with grave

0:25:18.560,0:25:21.760
goods, sometimes with jewelry,[br]buried on their side in a fetal

0:25:21.840,0:25:24.560
position as if they're sleeping,[br]there are no marks

0:25:24.720,0:25:27.360
of murder, nothing.

0:25:27.600,0:25:31.760
So, even though we have symbols[br]like little labels like this,

0:25:31.760,0:25:34.320
and in the top right corner[br]you see somebody stabbing

0:25:34.320,0:25:36.879
somebody in the chest,[br]that seems to be more

0:25:36.960,0:25:38.160
of an enemy combatant.

0:25:38.160,0:25:40.720
This doesn't seem to be what[br]we're talking about here.

0:25:41.200,0:25:43.439
Matthew Adams,[br]the archaeologist who

0:25:43.520,0:25:45.840
works at Abydos now,[br]he thinks it's a

0:25:45.840,0:25:48.000
mass cyanide death.

0:25:48.880,0:25:50.880
Like a Jonestown[br]kind of thing, right?

0:25:51.040,0:25:53.280
A Guyana Punch sort of deal.

0:25:53.280,0:25:56.400
And that that was a really easy[br]way to dispatch hundreds of

0:25:56.480,0:25:58.560
people in public in one moment.

0:25:58.720,0:25:59.680
We don't know.

0:26:00.160,0:26:01.679
Until we have better access

0:26:03.760,0:26:06.320
to the bioarcheological remains,[br]this is going to remain

0:26:06.480,0:26:08.320
a mystery for some time.

0:26:09.120,0:26:13.360
Now, Den rules,[br]he has the best and

0:26:13.520,0:26:15.840
greatest rule of all[br]of the Dynasty 1 kings.

0:26:15.840,0:26:18.000
He expands Egypt's borders[br]the farthest that they've

0:26:18.080,0:26:19.120
ever been expanded.

0:26:19.360,0:26:22.720
Merneith is there alongside[br]him for much of his rule.

0:26:22.800,0:26:28.000
And when she dies in his reign,[br]she is buried like a king.

0:26:28.560,0:26:32.560
She does not ever receive[br]the status of a king herself.

0:26:32.560,0:26:33.680
She's not a co-king.

0:26:33.680,0:26:34.720
She is just a regent.

0:26:34.720,0:26:36.640
Her status is[br]completely informal.

0:26:36.720,0:26:39.440
And yet she's buried in[br]the lineup of other kings.

0:26:39.520,0:26:42.320
She's put into the king[br]list as king's mother.

0:26:42.480,0:26:45.520
She's afforded an[br]incredible amount of status.

0:26:45.600,0:26:49.679
And yet, a pattern, oh,[br]given a tomb like this as

0:26:49.920,0:26:53.679
reconstructed, and yet just two[br]generations later, she's already

0:26:53.840,0:26:55.520
removed from the king list.

0:26:56.400,0:26:58.720
This is a pattern that[br]we will see repeated.

0:26:58.880,0:27:01.440
The woman is there as a[br]placeholder in the moment

0:27:01.600,0:27:03.920
to keep the patriarchal[br]system going, to link

0:27:04.080,0:27:07.360
from one king to the next,[br]from one patriarch to the next.

0:27:07.440,0:27:09.040
If you need a woman to[br]keep the system safe,

0:27:09.040,0:27:10.480
everyone's gonna[br]be okay with me.

0:27:10.560,0:27:13.120
They're gonna include her in[br]the king list during the time,

0:27:13.280,0:27:16.160
but then as soon as they move on[br]to somebody who's disconnected

0:27:16.160,0:27:17.760
from her, phew, she's gotta go.

0:27:17.920,0:27:19.120
She doesn't fit.

0:27:19.200,0:27:22.960
And so, then we see all of these[br]kings moving in this direction.

0:27:22.960,0:27:26.000
You've got the Djer, Djet, Den,[br]and then you move on to

0:27:26.080,0:27:26.800
a different king.

0:27:26.880,0:27:30.560
No mention of Merneith[br]anywhere in the list.

0:27:31.440,0:27:34.800
So, now we're gonna skip[br]a number of dynasties

0:27:34.880,0:27:36.320
and go up to Dynasty 12.

0:27:36.320,0:27:38.240
Those of you that want me[br]to talk about Tawosret,

0:27:38.240,0:27:39.040
it's in the book.

0:27:39.520,0:27:41.840
There are no contemporary[br]documents for her during

0:27:42.080,0:27:45.280
that time period, so we will[br]not be able to speak about her

0:27:45.440,0:27:46.960
as an actual living person.

0:27:46.960,0:27:48.720
But Neferusobek, we can.

0:27:49.280,0:27:51.520
Some of you may know[br]her as Sobekneferu.

0:27:51.600,0:27:53.840
Much disagreement about[br]how her name should be

0:27:53.920,0:27:55.200
pronounced and spoken.

0:27:55.520,0:27:57.840
We'll leave it this way for now.

0:27:58.400,0:28:02.639
This woman was born into[br]a very formidable dynasty,

0:28:02.640,0:28:06.320
an incredibly strong dynasty,[br]a dynasty that begins with a

0:28:06.320,0:28:10.320
regicide, and then is very[br]protective from that point on,

0:28:10.400,0:28:12.720
making sure that it keeps the[br]money and the power and the

0:28:12.720,0:28:14.400
influence within the family.

0:28:14.560,0:28:18.160
Her grandfather was the[br]formidable Senwosret III,

0:28:18.320,0:28:21.040
who also expanded Egypt's[br]borders farther than we've ever

0:28:21.120,0:28:23.040
seen, who lived very, very long.

0:28:23.200,0:28:25.200
And his son is Amenemhet III.

0:28:25.200,0:28:28.639
This is Neferusobek's father,[br]also a very, very strong king.

0:28:28.720,0:28:31.760
Both of them great builders,[br]both of them making statuary

0:28:31.920,0:28:34.960
that was so successful[br]aesthetically that it was

0:28:35.040,0:28:37.600
reused for millennia afterwards.

0:28:38.080,0:28:40.320
She may have married[br]Amenemhet IV.

0:28:40.320,0:28:42.560
This is where the history starts[br]to get really problematic.

0:28:42.560,0:28:45.040
And those of you who know your[br]end of the 12th Dynasty history,

0:28:45.040,0:28:46.140
how many of you are there?

0:28:46.140,0:28:46.660
(audience members laugh)

0:28:46.660,0:28:48.700
That's right, no hands at all.

0:28:48.700,0:28:49.220
(audience members laugh)

0:28:49.220,0:28:49.760
I like that.

0:28:49.840,0:28:51.840
Good, because it's[br]very problematic.

0:28:52.720,0:28:54.800
Some people think that[br]this guy wasn't a king's

0:28:54.800,0:28:57.520
son at all and that he's[br]marrying into the family.

0:28:57.600,0:28:59.520
Other people think[br]this was a king's son.

0:28:59.680,0:29:01.120
We're never gonna[br]know these things.

0:29:01.200,0:29:03.439
Remember, an authoritarian[br]regime is not going to

0:29:03.440,0:29:04.480
give away its secrets.

0:29:04.480,0:29:08.000
It's going to give away[br]only perfection, idealism.

0:29:08.160,0:29:09.760
Everything is the[br]way it should be.

0:29:09.840,0:29:12.879
He's depicted as a king's son,[br]he names himself as a king's

0:29:12.880,0:29:14.480
son, I'm gonna go along with it.

0:29:14.800,0:29:15.840
Not gonna hurt me.

0:29:16.320,0:29:18.879
Though I do believe as[br]an Egyptologist it is my

0:29:19.040,0:29:21.520
responsibility to try to[br]figure out what these guys are

0:29:21.600,0:29:23.679
telling us by not telling us.

0:29:24.240,0:29:26.160
I'm distrustful of[br]all of the data.

0:29:26.160,0:29:28.000
I don't like to drink[br]the Kool-Aid, as I think

0:29:28.000,0:29:29.520
most Egyptologists do.

0:29:30.000,0:29:32.159
We accept the[br]authoritarian regime and

0:29:32.240,0:29:33.280
the information we're given.

0:29:33.280,0:29:35.840
And we don't question the data[br]enough, trying to figure out

0:29:35.840,0:29:38.080
what the propaganda is and[br]what the realpolitik could

0:29:38.160,0:29:40.159
be behind the propaganda.

0:29:40.320,0:29:44.159
But here we've got this dude,[br]Amenemhet IV, who is married

0:29:44.320,0:29:47.040
to Neferusobek, may have been[br]her half-brother, maybe not,

0:29:47.040,0:29:51.199
we don't know, but oof, he dies,[br]and there is no heir to the

0:29:51.280,0:29:54.080
throne in any way, shape,[br]or form that we can identify.

0:29:54.160,0:29:56.159
There's nobody,[br]there's nobody left.

0:29:56.160,0:29:59.120
So, what do we have instead[br]but maybe a problem with

0:29:59.280,0:30:01.180
incest in ancient Egypt?

0:30:01.180,0:30:01.700
(laughs)

0:30:01.700,0:30:02.639
I don't know.

0:30:02.960,0:30:05.600
But I do know that incest[br]happened in ancient Egypt

0:30:05.680,0:30:06.399
pretty regularly.

0:30:06.480,0:30:10.400
Tutankhamun is an example[br]of it, we have other kings,

0:30:10.720,0:30:13.679
Dynasty 19's Siptah had a[br]club leg and it was probably

0:30:13.920,0:30:15.120
a product of incest.

0:30:15.200,0:30:18.480
The Ptolemies are well known[br]for their incestuous pairings.

0:30:18.800,0:30:21.919
Hell, European monarchs[br]are well known for their

0:30:22.000,0:30:23.360
own incestuous pairings.

0:30:23.360,0:30:27.600
I have a picture of Charles II[br]here with his ginormous head

0:30:27.760,0:30:31.040
that needed a special pillow[br]and his overly large jaw.

0:30:31.200,0:30:34.159
And we could think of[br]Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia,

0:30:34.160,0:30:36.960
and his hemophilia also being[br]the product of incest.

0:30:37.440,0:30:41.440
Incest is a very useful tool,[br]especially in a dynasty that's

0:30:41.440,0:30:45.120
trying to keep power inside[br]of its own system and

0:30:45.280,0:30:46.720
not give it all away.

0:30:46.960,0:30:50.639
This is the best I've got as a[br]solution for why you can have

0:30:50.800,0:30:54.560
such strong kings and then all[br]of a sudden have nothing and

0:30:54.800,0:30:56.480
end up with a female king.

0:30:56.720,0:30:58.320
How could that possibly happen?

0:30:58.320,0:31:01.040
How could the harem[br]just come up empty?

0:31:01.280,0:31:04.399
Well, we've seen it[br]before in ancient Egypt,

0:31:04.400,0:31:05.680
and we'll see it later.

0:31:05.840,0:31:08.240
This is the best solution[br]that I have to this problem,

0:31:08.320,0:31:10.400
though it's not necessarily[br]the only one.

0:31:10.720,0:31:14.080
But it results in Egypt's[br]first female kingship.

0:31:14.160,0:31:15.760
Let me go back to the[br]incest a little bit,

0:31:15.760,0:31:17.520
'cause who doesn't[br]wanna talk about more?

0:31:19.520,0:31:20.960
Think about it,[br]'cause a lot of you in

0:31:20.960,0:31:23.120
the audience are probably[br]like, "Those ancient Egyptians,

0:31:23.120,0:31:24.639
they're so stupid[br]"and primitive,

0:31:24.640,0:31:26.720
and why would they even[br]do something so ridiculous?

0:31:26.800,0:31:28.639
We would never do that."

0:31:28.800,0:31:29.760
Well, really?

0:31:29.840,0:31:33.120
'cause all this is,[br]is a short-term

0:31:33.280,0:31:36.640
decision based on the[br]opportunism of the moment.

0:31:36.880,0:31:39.520
So, let's put it this way,[br]if you're an elite,

0:31:39.600,0:31:42.399
a very high-level elite,[br]a courtier in the palace

0:31:42.560,0:31:46.080
and you're one of four other[br]guys who is able to whisper

0:31:46.240,0:31:49.439
when the king is sick and the[br]decision you guys make could

0:31:49.520,0:31:52.240
actually hold some weight, and[br]you guys are talking with each

0:31:52.240,0:31:54.480
other and you're like, "Okay,[br]we have a couple of choices.

0:31:54.640,0:31:55.439
What are you guys thinking?"

0:31:55.440,0:31:56.560
You're not gonna put[br]this down in writing,

0:31:56.560,0:31:58.080
authoritarian regimes[br]don't do that.

0:31:58.080,0:31:58.960
You're gonna talk about it.

0:31:58.960,0:32:00.400
And you're gonna be[br]like, "Okay, well,

0:32:00.400,0:32:01.440
we've got a couple of choices.

0:32:01.440,0:32:04.880
"We've got this strong[br]strapping lad whose in-laws

0:32:04.880,0:32:07.040
are from the "South, and they[br]have their own private army,

0:32:07.040,0:32:09.760
and they all wanna "have jobs[br]if we bring him in as king.

0:32:09.760,0:32:12.640
"or we could get the rather[br]dim-witted, large-headed,

0:32:12.640,0:32:15.120
"incestuous product of[br]the brother-sister kingly

0:32:15.200,0:32:17.440
marriage, and all our[br]jobs would be awesome,

0:32:17.440,0:32:18.960
and we'd go on as before."

0:32:18.960,0:32:20.820
And everyone's like,[br]"Yeah, let's do that.

0:32:20.820,0:32:21.340
(audience members laugh)

0:32:21.340,0:32:23.360
Let's go with that[br]short-term solution."

0:32:23.360,0:32:25.680
And if you think we don't[br]make short-term solutions,

0:32:25.760,0:32:28.080
just think of global warming[br]and climate change.

0:32:28.080,0:32:29.760
And this being what,[br]the fourth hottest

0:32:29.760,0:32:32.720
summer the world has ever,[br]year the world has ever seen,

0:32:32.720,0:32:35.360
and we still all have plastic[br]water bottles in our bags and

0:32:35.760,0:32:38.160
there's a plastic island[br]between here and Hawaii.

0:32:38.240,0:32:40.879
And yet we never do anything to[br]change the system because there

0:32:40.960,0:32:42.800
will be job loss or whatever.

0:32:42.880,0:32:45.760
And so, we all continue to make[br]our short-term decision to keep

0:32:46.080,0:32:49.040
the can down the road a little[br]bit more, instead of thinking

0:32:49.040,0:32:50.560
of the long-term repercussions.

0:32:50.560,0:32:53.120
Human beings are not good at[br]long-term decision making at

0:32:53.280,0:32:56.880
all, which is another thing that[br]I've noticed from ancient Egypt.

0:32:56.880,0:32:59.260
And it's a good thing to[br]apply to the modern world,

0:32:59.260,0:32:59.780
(laughs)

0:32:59.780,0:33:00.880
If a depressing one.

0:33:01.200,0:33:04.639
Now, the first female kingship[br]that Neferusobek creates is

0:33:04.640,0:33:07.919
an interesting one, because[br]she shows herself as a woman.

0:33:08.000,0:33:10.480
She has breasts,[br]she's wearing a dress,

0:33:10.560,0:33:13.120
but she layers the[br]kingship onto her person.

0:33:13.280,0:33:16.560
She ties a masculine[br]kingly kilt over her dress,

0:33:16.560,0:33:18.960
and she puts that Nemes[br]headdress under her head,

0:33:19.040,0:33:21.760
the one you know from Tut's[br]mask in your mind's eye,

0:33:21.840,0:33:23.360
that's what she puts on.

0:33:23.360,0:33:26.240
And so, she's not hiding[br]the fact that she's woman,

0:33:26.320,0:33:30.639
she is layering these elements[br]of kingship upon her person.

0:33:31.120,0:33:33.760
Her kingship lasts[br]for just a few years,

0:33:33.920,0:33:36.480
about four at most, though[br]there's disagreement about

0:33:36.560,0:33:39.440
this, and she leaves no legacy.

0:33:39.840,0:33:42.560
One of the most interesting[br]things to me about Neferusobek

0:33:42.560,0:33:44.880
is that the Egyptians let[br]her get away with it all.

0:33:45.040,0:33:47.200
Because there's no heir to[br]the throne that we can see,

0:33:47.200,0:33:48.399
there's only this woman left.

0:33:48.400,0:33:50.960
They know that Dynasty 12 is[br]gonna end, and it's gonna go

0:33:50.960,0:33:53.040
to the ne-, well, they don't[br]call it Dynasty 12, right?

0:33:53.040,0:33:54.560
But they know it's gonna end,[br]and they're gonna go to

0:33:54.560,0:33:57.120
Dynasty 13, why bother?

0:33:57.360,0:34:01.600
Well, because in this system[br]of divine kingship, she is

0:34:01.760,0:34:06.160
the last holder of that royal[br]ka, that spirit of kingship.

0:34:06.240,0:34:07.680
And everyone bows down to her.

0:34:07.760,0:34:10.880
She's the last recipient of it,[br]so she gets to finish it out.

0:34:11.040,0:34:13.440
That's an extraordinary[br]thing in and out of itself.

0:34:13.600,0:34:17.360
But Neferusobek should not be,[br]her decision making should not

0:34:17.360,0:34:20.800
be overlooked, because she also[br]justifies it in a way that works

0:34:20.880,0:34:24.159
for the people around her, so[br]they don't see it as a threat.

0:34:24.400,0:34:27.840
And the way that she does that[br]is she justifies her kingship

0:34:28.239,0:34:32.000
through her father's lineage,[br]not by mentioning her

0:34:32.080,0:34:33.200
dead husband-brother.

0:34:33.440,0:34:35.440
She doesn't go about,[br]you wouldn't even,

0:34:35.440,0:34:38.159
this is why we don't know[br]who Amenemhet IV was, because

0:34:38.400,0:34:40.159
she gives him so little play.

0:34:40.320,0:34:42.399
She doesn't talk about[br]him, she doesn't name him,

0:34:42.480,0:34:44.399
she doesn't make any[br]monuments to him,

0:34:44.480,0:34:46.480
his name is nowhere[br]connected to her stuff,

0:34:46.560,0:34:49.520
but her father's name[br]is everywhere.

0:34:49.679,0:34:51.920
And that is useful for her,[br]and it's something that we

0:34:52.080,0:34:53.600
actually understand as well.

0:34:53.920,0:34:58.160
We trust more those women who[br]are coming in as leaders in

0:34:58.240,0:35:00.080
a strict linear progression.

0:35:00.320,0:35:03.520
We trust more the woman who's[br]protecting her son in power.

0:35:03.680,0:35:06.080
We trust more the daughter[br]who's acting for her father

0:35:06.320,0:35:09.120
in power, than we do the[br]sister or the wife.

0:35:09.280,0:35:11.440
And I can give you an[br]easy political example

0:35:11.760,0:35:13.040
from the last 20 years.

0:35:13.120,0:35:15.520
You guys are probably[br]thinking of it right now, no?

0:35:15.920,0:35:18.400
You're thinking of Hillary[br]Clinton in the 90s when she

0:35:18.480,0:35:21.920
tried to create health care as[br]wife of the president, informal

0:35:22.000,0:35:24.400
power appear to her husband?

0:35:24.400,0:35:26.080
Who the hell does[br]she think she is?

0:35:26.160,0:35:27.360
Everybody said it.

0:35:27.600,0:35:28.720
What is going on?

0:35:28.800,0:35:31.200
I don't understand how,[br]and we feel threatened by this.

0:35:31.200,0:35:33.120
It threatens our[br]patriarchal system.

0:35:33.280,0:35:36.799
But in today's White House,[br]the base that supports the

0:35:36.880,0:35:40.560
current president has no problem[br]with Ivanka having an office

0:35:41.120,0:35:44.960
in the White House, acting as[br]an advisor for her father.

0:35:45.200,0:35:49.040
And this is very cleverly done,[br]whereas Melania is like, 'No,

0:35:49.040,0:35:50.480
I'm not getting into[br]that,' right?

0:35:50.560,0:35:51.280
She knows.

0:35:51.440,0:35:52.720
She's there as the wife.

0:35:52.720,0:35:54.799
She's learned from[br]Hillary's mistakes.

0:35:54.800,0:35:57.759
I am not gonna try to take[br]power, but Ivanka can do so,

0:35:57.840,0:36:00.880
and she can do so with impunity,[br]because we respect that kind

0:36:00.960,0:36:02.400
of patriarchal lineage.

0:36:02.560,0:36:07.040
Very interesting way that[br]female power must be packaged,

0:36:07.120,0:36:09.839
and Hatshepsut knows[br]to do this as well.

0:36:10.160,0:36:11.840
And here we move on to her.

0:36:12.160,0:36:15.360
So, Hatshepsut of Dynasty[br]18 is the most powerful

0:36:15.520,0:36:16.720
of all of our women.

0:36:16.880,0:36:21.440
She's the one that is really[br]able to leave Egypt better

0:36:21.520,0:36:24.720
than she found it, save her[br]dynasty, leave a legacy.

0:36:24.800,0:36:27.760
She rules for about[br]22 years altogether.

0:36:27.760,0:36:28.280
And

0:36:30.080,0:36:32.800
yet most of you maybe,[br]maybe, maybe you guys.

0:36:33.120,0:36:34.560
How many can pronounce[br]her name well?

0:36:36.480,0:36:38.240
But everyone's[br]like, 'I don't know.

0:36:38.240,0:36:38.940
Hatshepsut

0:36:38.940,0:36:39.460
(unintelligible)

0:36:39.460,0:36:41.520
' We'll get to that.

0:36:42.480,0:36:45.440
She starts out as Egypt's[br]greatest high priestess.

0:36:45.440,0:36:47.520
For those of you in the know,[br]this would be the God's

0:36:47.520,0:36:50.720
wife of Amun stationed[br]at Thebes in the South.

0:36:51.200,0:36:53.440
There were maybe other high[br]priestesses, but for all we

0:36:53.520,0:36:56.160
can see, this is the most[br]important of them all.

0:36:56.160,0:36:58.720
And she is placed in this[br]position probably under

0:36:58.880,0:37:00.400
her father, Thutmose I.

0:37:00.560,0:37:03.680
She continues in this position[br]alongside her half-brother

0:37:03.680,0:37:05.060
husband, Thutmose II,

0:37:05.060,0:37:05.580
(gasps)

0:37:05.580,0:37:06.220
Incest!

0:37:06.220,0:37:06.740
(audience members laugh)

0:37:06.740,0:37:08.720
To to to.

0:37:09.200,0:37:13.760
She ends up, so, all together,[br]she is the king's daughter,

0:37:13.920,0:37:16.720
she is the king's sister,[br]she is the king's wife,

0:37:16.800,0:37:18.799
'cause she's married to[br]her brother, but she never

0:37:18.960,0:37:21.440
becomes the king's mother[br]because she only gives birth

0:37:21.600,0:37:23.200
to Neferure, her daughter.

0:37:23.280,0:37:25.120
She does not give[br]birth to a son.

0:37:25.760,0:37:28.720
So, when Thutmose II,[br]her half-brother husband

0:37:28.960,0:37:31.359
dies after only three years[br]of reign, and trust me,

0:37:31.360,0:37:34.080
the Egyptological discussion[br]about this is very intense, but

0:37:34.160,0:37:35.360
we'll leave it at three years.

0:37:35.440,0:37:37.520
Because if all he produced,[br]if he had nine years of

0:37:37.520,0:37:39.760
reign and that's all he[br]produced in Egypt's temples,

0:37:39.760,0:37:40.640
then what a sad king.

0:37:40.640,0:37:43.040
So, we'll give him three years,[br]I think it's better.

0:37:43.600,0:37:45.920
So, if he dies after[br]three years of reign,

0:37:45.920,0:37:48.960
he's gonna leave a bunch of[br]two-year-olds in the nursery.

0:37:49.280,0:37:51.279
Hatshepsut's not gonna[br]have a son amongst those

0:37:51.280,0:37:52.799
two-year-olds in the nursery.

0:37:52.800,0:37:55.600
And now we have a serious[br]succession crisis.

0:37:55.760,0:37:58.720
A succession crisis where the[br]choice of the next king is

0:37:58.800,0:38:01.440
probably going to be based[br]on who the regent is,

0:38:01.920,0:38:04.000
rather than on who the kid is.

0:38:04.080,0:38:06.000
Because they're a[br]bunch of toddlers.

0:38:06.080,0:38:08.960
Who's gonna choose the[br]possibility that the toddler's

0:38:08.960,0:38:12.080
gonna grow up to have a good[br]ruling acumen in the future?

0:38:12.320,0:38:13.120
You can't.

0:38:13.360,0:38:15.120
But you have to[br]be very strategic.

0:38:15.200,0:38:18.160
This is a long regency[br]with a two-year-old.

0:38:18.160,0:38:22.240
You're talking about 14, 15,[br]16 years of a woman ruling

0:38:22.240,0:38:23.680
on behalf of this kid.

0:38:23.920,0:38:25.200
It's a long time.

0:38:25.600,0:38:28.080
You have to make sure[br]you choose wisely.

0:38:28.160,0:38:30.399
It seems that Egypt had[br]already decided they wanted

0:38:30.400,0:38:31.840
Hatshepsut to be regent.

0:38:31.840,0:38:33.920
She's there as the[br]greatest high priestess,

0:38:34.000,0:38:36.320
she's there bred for the[br]position, the most elite,

0:38:36.320,0:38:37.840
the king's daughter,[br]the king's wife,

0:38:37.840,0:38:38.640
the king's sister.

0:38:38.720,0:38:39.760
She's ready to go.

0:38:39.840,0:38:43.840
They have to choose a boy[br]that won't be threatened

0:38:43.920,0:38:46.080
by her or vice versa.

0:38:46.320,0:38:48.480
So, they pick a boy[br]with a nothing mother,

0:38:48.560,0:38:50.080
from all we can see,[br]a mother that cannot

0:38:50.560,0:38:51.759
step in as regent.

0:38:51.920,0:38:54.720
His name will be Thutmose[br]III to Egyptologists,

0:38:54.720,0:38:56.320
just Thutmose in the moment.

0:38:56.400,0:39:00.160
And she is there acting as his[br]regent for a good seven years.

0:39:00.400,0:39:02.240
Now, people don't[br]do anything alone.

0:39:02.240,0:39:03.440
This is what I'm[br]always hammering

0:39:03.440,0:39:04.319
into my students' head.

0:39:04.400,0:39:07.280
This is not a history[br]written by individual people.

0:39:07.360,0:39:08.880
This is a history of systems.

0:39:08.960,0:39:11.359
Hatshepsut can't barge[br]into a system and say,

0:39:11.360,0:39:12.640
'I'm gonna do it this way.

0:39:12.640,0:39:14.880
I'm gonna be king,' or[br]'I'm gonna be regent.'

0:39:14.880,0:39:16.080
This is not the way things work.

0:39:16.160,0:39:18.960
Hatshepsut is going to[br]be allowed into a system

0:39:19.280,0:39:20.800
by the elites around her.

0:39:21.280,0:39:24.480
The elites, it seems,[br]want her to be in this

0:39:24.640,0:39:25.600
position of power.

0:39:25.840,0:39:28.960
They demand that she[br]step forward and do this.

0:39:29.200,0:39:32.640
And over the next couple[br]of years that she's acting

0:39:32.640,0:39:34.960
as regent for this toddler[br]king, who I imagine was

0:39:35.120,0:39:36.240
really hard to crown.

0:39:36.400,0:39:37.520
"Keep the crown.

0:39:37.520,0:39:38.400
"No, stop.

0:39:38.400,0:39:40.960
No, stay there," kind of thing.

0:39:40.960,0:39:42.160
(audience members laugh)

0:39:42.160,0:39:44.560
She's there as the,[br]and their texts say

0:39:44.720,0:39:45.920
this, she's the rock.

0:39:46.080,0:39:49.600
She's the one that's gonna[br]be clever in her strategies,

0:39:49.840,0:39:51.600
she's gonna keep Egypt safe.

0:39:51.680,0:39:54.480
But she's already,[br]or her advisors are already

0:39:54.640,0:39:55.840
thinking about the future.

0:39:56.000,0:39:59.440
Because in texts like this[br]from down south in Egypt,

0:39:59.440,0:40:01.600
this one happens to[br]be near Elephantine,

0:40:02.080,0:40:05.600
we see Hatshepsut depicted[br]as a God's wife of Amun,

0:40:05.600,0:40:08.640
but in the text that only[br]the top 1% can read,

0:40:08.720,0:40:12.160
it says that the sun god Ra[br]has given her the kingship.

0:40:12.480,0:40:13.920
She's like a lawyer.

0:40:14.240,0:40:16.560
She doesn't go out[br]and say, 'I am king.'

0:40:16.560,0:40:17.360
Not yet.

0:40:17.520,0:40:19.840
She's laying her[br]foundation for that.

0:40:20.000,0:40:22.399
She goes out and she says,[br]"You know, I'm doing the job.

0:40:22.400,0:40:24.160
"I'm doing the kingship.

0:40:24.240,0:40:27.440
I may not be king,[br]but I'm on my way."

0:40:27.440,0:40:30.800
And when the elites don't[br]push back against this,

0:40:30.880,0:40:35.040
then she and her advisors know[br]that they've got room to run.

0:40:35.360,0:40:36.560
They've been given some reigns.

0:40:36.640,0:40:38.880
They can really[br]start to move now.

0:40:39.040,0:40:42.799
And her first image of kingship[br]we see we another cartouche name

0:40:42.960,0:40:46.320
added, and she shows herself as[br]a female wearing a dress,

0:40:46.400,0:40:49.760
wearing masculine ram's[br]horns and a masculine wig.

0:40:49.760,0:40:52.399
So, she is already,[br]like Neferusobek,

0:40:52.640,0:40:55.520
changing her image to[br]include the masculine in

0:40:55.520,0:40:58.799
addition to the feminine,[br]kind of like the, I don't know,

0:40:58.880,0:41:00.560
the pantsuit of 1985

0:41:00.560,0:41:01.120
(audience members laugh)

0:41:01.120,0:41:03.600
With the shoulder pads, right?

0:41:03.760,0:41:05.279
Make you look all manly.

0:41:05.680,0:41:08.420
Give you a little fluffy bow[br]tie to go along with that.

0:41:08.420,0:41:08.940
(audience members laugh)

0:41:08.940,0:41:12.720
She is crowding year 7, from[br]what we can tell, and again,

0:41:12.720,0:41:15.680
the Egyptological debate[br]about this is quite fierce.

0:41:16.080,0:41:18.240
The reasons for[br]this are unclear.

0:41:18.640,0:41:22.240
This is the most frustrating[br]part of Egyptology for me.

0:41:22.560,0:41:25.040
They don't let us[br]into their secrets.

0:41:25.120,0:41:26.960
They're not going to tell us[br]what's actually happening.

0:41:27.040,0:41:29.120
We don't get a view[br]of the realpolitik.

0:41:29.200,0:41:33.759
She tells us, "My father Amun-Ra[br]wanted me to be king.

0:41:34.000,0:41:38.560
My father Thutmose I bred me[br]and wanted me to be king."

0:41:38.560,0:41:39.759
Very useful things to say.

0:41:39.840,0:41:43.600
She's fitting herself in that[br]patrilineal lineage, no problem.

0:41:43.680,0:41:46.720
But we don't know[br]why, in year 7,

0:41:46.960,0:41:48.959
she felt the need[br]to formalize this,

0:41:48.960,0:41:50.400
because she had[br]all the power.

0:41:50.560,0:41:53.120
Was there another entourage[br]of Thutmose III who's

0:41:53.120,0:41:54.080
trying to push her out?

0:41:54.160,0:41:56.960
Was there another regent[br]that was trying to push her

0:41:57.040,0:41:58.879
out with another entourage?

0:41:58.880,0:42:01.760
Was there a problem with[br]Thutmose III himself?

0:42:01.760,0:42:04.799
Was he lying on his deathbed[br]with some sort of disease?

0:42:04.800,0:42:06.720
Because in Egypt, it's not,[br]if you get malaria,

0:42:06.720,0:42:08.080
it's when you get malaria.

0:42:08.640,0:42:09.920
Did he fall off his chariot?

0:42:10.400,0:42:11.600
Was something going on?

0:42:11.680,0:42:12.799
We have no idea.

0:42:13.120,0:42:15.840
But in year 7 probably[br]when Thutmose III is

0:42:15.840,0:42:17.920
around nine years old,[br]she is crowned alongside

0:42:18.080,0:42:19.600
him and now it is irrevocable.

0:42:19.680,0:42:21.040
There's no going back from this.

0:42:21.440,0:42:24.799
This system is completely[br]locked down for her.

0:42:25.200,0:42:27.920
And yet, this is a pattern[br]that we'll see again with

0:42:27.920,0:42:30.799
Cleopatra, she never goes alone.

0:42:31.200,0:42:33.759
She's always got this[br]kid following her.

0:42:33.840,0:42:36.799
Now, there is a more crass[br]part of my feminism that I

0:42:36.800,0:42:38.240
will share with you right now.

0:42:38.960,0:42:42.000
Because there's no woman that,[br]if a woman rules alone

0:42:42.080,0:42:44.080
in this entire lineup,[br]she rules for a very short

0:42:44.240,0:42:46.879
period of time, one, two,[br]four years, something like that.

0:42:46.960,0:42:48.560
But if she rules for[br]a long period of time,

0:42:48.560,0:42:51.600
like Cleopatra or Hatshepsut,[br]or other women we could compare

0:42:51.760,0:42:55.040
her to around the globe,[br]we see that there's always

0:42:55.120,0:42:58.560
a male accompaniment, some[br]sort of presence alongside

0:42:58.800,0:43:01.840
the female on the throne[br]that allows her to be there.

0:43:01.920,0:43:04.480
So, the crass feminist part[br]of me is like, why didn't she

0:43:04.480,0:43:06.480
just have the kid assassinated[br]and then we could at least talk

0:43:06.640,0:43:09.680
about one woman that did it,[br]that ruled Egypt for a

0:43:09.680,0:43:11.520
long period of time,[br]and wouldn't that be great?

0:43:11.600,0:43:14.880
Well, she knows, and I know,[br]that if she had Thutmose

0:43:14.880,0:43:16.799
III assassinated, well,[br]however she felt about

0:43:16.880,0:43:19.520
him and maybe she loved him[br]very, very much, I don't know,

0:43:19.920,0:43:23.920
if she had him assassinated,[br]her means to power is gone,

0:43:23.920,0:43:25.280
even as king probably.

0:43:25.440,0:43:27.439
She would have been a[br]swept aside as well.

0:43:27.600,0:43:31.760
You need a male at the center of[br]an authoritarian wheel of power.

0:43:32.000,0:43:34.319
You need that,[br]because just in terms

0:43:34.320,0:43:37.600
of biological economy,[br]the harem exists for

0:43:37.680,0:43:38.560
a reason, right?

0:43:38.640,0:43:40.080
I can have one baby a year.

0:43:40.080,0:43:43.120
Two is probably gonna kill me,[br]though it didn't kill Cleopatra.

0:43:43.200,0:43:44.640
But I can have one baby a year.

0:43:44.640,0:43:47.300
A guy can have[br]365 babies a year.

0:43:47.300,0:43:47.820
(audience members laugh)

0:43:47.820,0:43:49.680
That biological[br]economy is something,

0:43:49.680,0:43:51.040
and I cannot compete with.

0:43:51.200,0:43:54.319
He will always win in[br]terms of the basics of

0:43:54.400,0:43:57.440
power and succession,[br]keeping the status quo,

0:43:57.440,0:43:58.720
keeping things risk averse.

0:43:58.720,0:44:00.160
A woman can't compete with that.

0:44:00.320,0:44:03.520
She removes that boy,[br]then they're gonna replace her

0:44:03.680,0:44:05.840
with another boy, another man.

0:44:06.080,0:44:08.240
So, she knows she's got[br]to keep him with her,

0:44:08.240,0:44:09.680
and she never rules alone.

0:44:09.680,0:44:14.080
And by year 16, she starts[br]to depict him with her,

0:44:14.240,0:44:16.799
almost like twinsies,[br]as you see here.

0:44:16.880,0:44:19.120
Same crown, same look,[br]sometimes different crowns,

0:44:19.120,0:44:22.080
but almost the exact same face,[br]almost the exact same body type.

0:44:22.240,0:44:24.879
So similar that the[br]Egyptologists, we know,

0:44:24.960,0:44:26.960
you look at their statues[br]and you're like, 'It's

0:44:26.960,0:44:28.080
Thutmosied,' we say.

0:44:28.080,0:44:29.279
We sound very clever[br]when we say this.

0:44:29.280,0:44:31.200
'cause we're like,[br]"It could be Hatshepsut,

0:44:31.200,0:44:33.200
it could be Thutmose[br]III, who's to know?"

0:44:33.200,0:44:34.720
So, we say, 'Thutmosied.'

0:44:34.720,0:44:38.560
It's a cool Egyptological[br]speak for we have no idea.

0:44:38.640,0:44:41.200
But how Hatshepsut did[br]this to us, she's the one.

0:44:41.200,0:44:43.360
And Thutmose III he[br]seems to follow along

0:44:43.600,0:44:46.160
with this portraiture,[br]which is interesting

0:44:46.240,0:44:47.359
in and out of itself.

0:44:47.760,0:44:50.560
So, now she's got the kingship,[br]she's got the nine-year-old

0:44:50.560,0:44:53.279
who's growing up, becoming[br]a 16-year-old, and a strong

0:44:53.520,0:44:55.439
man right next to her.

0:44:55.520,0:44:57.840
He's probably training with[br]the army off to the north,

0:44:57.840,0:44:59.600
maybe she's in the south,[br]we actually don't know

0:44:59.600,0:45:00.720
a lot of these details.

0:45:00.800,0:45:03.280
But what we do see[br]is that more jobs,

0:45:03.360,0:45:05.520
more professions are[br]created under her than

0:45:05.600,0:45:06.480
at any other time.

0:45:06.640,0:45:09.520
The Egyptologists know that[br]we have to commit all kinds

0:45:09.520,0:45:10.880
of crazy things to memory.

0:45:11.040,0:45:15.680
Statues, stela, tombs,[br]coffins, what's in what museum,

0:45:15.760,0:45:17.040
where is this, where is that.

0:45:17.120,0:45:19.760
And we know that when[br]Hatshepsut takes the throne,

0:45:19.840,0:45:23.600
this stuff explodes in[br]quantity and quality.

0:45:24.160,0:45:26.880
That means that she[br]has to give to get.

0:45:27.040,0:45:29.680
That means that when she[br]takes this power position,

0:45:29.680,0:45:32.000
she and her entourage know[br]that the elites are like,

0:45:32.000,0:45:34.720
"You know, this is great, this[br]is a very aberrant situation."

0:45:34.720,0:45:37.040
And you're like, 'Yeah, okay,[br]what would you like?' 'Well,

0:45:37.040,0:45:39.279
my son would love to[br]be in the treasury.'

0:45:39.280,0:45:40.080
'Okay, got it.

0:45:40.160,0:45:40.799
What would you like?'

0:45:40.800,0:45:42.240
"Okay, well,[br]my son would

0:45:42.400,0:45:45.360
love to be one of[br]the overseers of the

0:45:45.440,0:45:46.880
scribes of the House of Amun."

0:45:46.880,0:45:47.600
'you got it.'

0:45:47.600,0:45:50.880
And so, the jobs are created[br]like candy, in a sense.

0:45:50.960,0:45:53.600
There's another Egyptologist[br]named David Warburton,

0:45:53.600,0:45:56.799
who argues that it's during[br]Hatshepsut's reign when Egypt's

0:45:56.960,0:46:01.040
treasury, Egypt the crown,[br]loses more power than in any

0:46:01.120,0:46:02.880
other time in the long term.

0:46:03.040,0:46:05.759
Because the treasury is[br]giving out more funds than

0:46:05.840,0:46:07.360
it had ever given out before.

0:46:07.440,0:46:11.440
That's a little more debatable,[br]because Hatshepsut kept such

0:46:11.600,0:46:15.279
good control of the money and[br]created more income streams.

0:46:15.440,0:46:17.439
She knew that she needed[br]to bring in more money,

0:46:17.440,0:46:18.319
so what do you do?

0:46:18.320,0:46:20.880
You start a little war,[br]you invade a little Nubia,

0:46:20.960,0:46:23.440
and you bring a lot[br]of gold into Egypt.

0:46:23.440,0:46:25.520
So, she knew to[br]do that right off.

0:46:25.760,0:46:29.520
She also knew to place people in[br]control of that money only had

0:46:29.600,0:46:33.839
her to depend on, and who had[br]no other conflicting interests.

0:46:33.920,0:46:38.160
So, she picks a dude like this,[br]Senenmut, who's not a patrician,

0:46:38.320,0:46:41.920
not one of the old families,[br]and she elevates him to

0:46:42.000,0:46:44.560
a station that everyone[br]is like, 'Whoa, really?'

0:46:44.640,0:46:45.759
She's like, 'Yeah, really.'

0:46:45.760,0:46:46.720
And he's like,[br]'What would you

0:46:46.720,0:46:47.900
like, my lady?'

0:46:47.900,0:46:48.420
(laughs)

0:46:48.420,0:46:50.560
Because he's not gonna try[br]to work with other people.

0:46:50.640,0:46:52.240
They're all mad that[br]she's doing this.

0:46:52.320,0:46:54.240
And she's picking a[br]number of new men who

0:46:54.320,0:46:55.760
will answer only to her.

0:46:55.920,0:46:57.360
Very, very cleverly done.

0:46:57.520,0:47:00.160
She has control of the[br]temple like no one else.

0:47:00.400,0:47:03.759
This woman grew up in the[br]temple, it's in her bones.

0:47:04.000,0:47:07.839
She knew that when she had[br]herself marked for kingship,

0:47:07.840,0:47:10.400
she had to do so in a[br]way that was overtly

0:47:10.480,0:47:11.920
displayed to her people.

0:47:12.160,0:47:16.320
So, she tells us in the text,[br]where she is marked for rule,

0:47:16.480,0:47:19.360
that the bark of Amun-Ra is[br]brought out on a festival

0:47:19.440,0:47:22.319
day in public in front of[br]all of her elites, and that it

0:47:22.560,0:47:24.720
moves decisively towards her.

0:47:24.960,0:47:27.520
And then she throws herself on[br]the ground, raises up her arms

0:47:27.520,0:47:30.080
and says, 'Oh my father Amun,[br]what would you have me do?'

0:47:30.320,0:47:32.160
No one can speak against that.

0:47:32.400,0:47:35.440
Once the god Amun-Ra has[br]chosen her to be king,

0:47:35.520,0:47:37.120
then it is again irrevocable.

0:47:37.200,0:47:39.759
It is something that[br]cannot be overturned.

0:47:40.160,0:47:43.200
She sends out expeditions[br]to crazy faraway places that

0:47:43.200,0:47:46.879
Egyptologists don't even know[br]where they are, maybe Eritrea,

0:47:46.960,0:47:49.200
maybe Yemen, the debate goes on.

0:47:49.440,0:47:51.600
She shows the details[br]of those expeditions.

0:47:51.680,0:47:54.240
She doesn't go herself,[br]she sends other men, but it's

0:47:54.320,0:47:57.759
still considered a miracle of[br]kingship that she's doing this.

0:47:57.920,0:48:01.279
Incense trees brought back[br]roots and all, the misshapen

0:48:01.440,0:48:04.400
chieftainess of Punt depicted[br]in all of her glory next to

0:48:04.480,0:48:06.240
her husband, the chief.

0:48:06.320,0:48:10.080
And she builds structures that[br]are avant-garde and at the same

0:48:10.160,0:48:13.680
time they're conservative[br]in the most holy places on

0:48:13.840,0:48:16.720
the Egyptian landscape,[br]not just in ancient Thebes,

0:48:16.720,0:48:18.160
but all over the country.

0:48:18.320,0:48:21.759
This was a woman who left[br]Egypt better than she found it.

0:48:21.760,0:48:24.560
And yet, throughout all of this,[br]she cannot make

0:48:24.800,0:48:26.800
Egypt fit to her.

0:48:26.960,0:48:30.320
She has to fit to Egypt and[br]she has to fit the patriarchy.

0:48:30.400,0:48:33.120
So, she starts out[br]depicting herself as a

0:48:33.120,0:48:36.399
female, a female king,[br]putting the Neme's headdress on,

0:48:36.400,0:48:37.759
putting the kilt of kingship on.

0:48:37.760,0:48:39.600
Actually here she[br]just has a dress.

0:48:39.840,0:48:41.759
And this is not enough.

0:48:42.000,0:48:45.520
So, we see her trying to figure[br]this out, trying to crack it.

0:48:45.600,0:48:47.120
This is my favorite[br]statue of hers,

0:48:47.120,0:48:48.640
the Metropolitan[br]Museum of Art

0:48:48.720,0:48:49.440
in New York.

0:48:49.680,0:48:51.680
And she's androgynous.

0:48:51.840,0:48:54.799
She's male, and she's female,[br]she has breasts, but she

0:48:54.800,0:48:56.960
doesn't have nipples,[br]so is she wearing a shirt?

0:48:56.960,0:48:58.319
But I don't see any trace of it.

0:48:58.400,0:49:02.720
So, she's topless,[br]but she's this gracile

0:49:02.960,0:49:05.040
heart-shaped beautiful thing.

0:49:05.280,0:49:06.720
How are we to understand this?

0:49:06.800,0:49:08.800
Male and female simultaneously.

0:49:08.960,0:49:12.959
Well, only one such statue was[br]made, and then she quickly moves

0:49:13.040,0:49:15.120
on to statues like this.

0:49:15.200,0:49:17.280
This is what most of[br]her statues look like.

0:49:17.760,0:49:20.640
Strong biceps,[br]broad shoulders and

0:49:20.800,0:49:24.960
chest, square jaw,[br]indistinguishable from a man.

0:49:25.200,0:49:26.960
She has to fit,[br]the patriarchy

0:49:27.040,0:49:28.160
cannot fit her.

0:49:28.400,0:49:32.160
And as her nephew, Thutmose III,[br]is getting older and haunting

0:49:32.320,0:49:35.759
her steps, she has to become[br]more masculine, one could argue.

0:49:35.760,0:49:38.240
Did she dress like this in[br]public, in the festivals?

0:49:38.240,0:49:40.640
Did she tie on the royal[br]beard and strap down her

0:49:40.640,0:49:43.040
breasts and wear a shirt[br]that's skin-colored?

0:49:43.280,0:49:44.240
Who are we to say?

0:49:44.240,0:49:44.799
Why not?

0:49:44.800,0:49:46.080
This is what she's depicting.

0:49:46.160,0:49:47.280
Quite possibly.

0:49:47.360,0:49:49.200
Did she dress like[br]that in the palace?

0:49:49.280,0:49:51.760
From the existence of[br]this statue, I think not.

0:49:52.080,0:49:54.160
But anything is possible.

0:49:54.160,0:49:56.080
Until we get our time[br]machine invented,

0:49:56.240,0:49:59.040
we will continue to discuss[br]these things for some time.

0:49:59.440,0:50:03.040
So, she depicts herself[br]as the father, sorry,

0:50:03.200,0:50:07.440
as the daughter of Amun-Ra,[br]building her kingship for him.

0:50:07.600,0:50:10.080
She rules for about[br]22 years altogether.

0:50:10.240,0:50:12.319
When she dies,[br]from all we can see,

0:50:12.320,0:50:13.920
she's buried in state.

0:50:14.400,0:50:17.440
We have to use a lot of[br]circumstantial evidence to

0:50:17.440,0:50:20.880
figure this out, but there[br]is a detritus of her death.

0:50:20.960,0:50:23.359
Even though her tomb was[br]pretty thoroughly robbed,

0:50:23.600,0:50:26.160
you find little, little[br]things, a canopic char here,

0:50:26.240,0:50:30.400
a little shabti fragment[br]there, a sarcophagus here.

0:50:30.800,0:50:33.920
There is enough there to[br]suggest that Hatshepsut was

0:50:33.920,0:50:37.840
buried in state, as a king,[br]in the Valley of the Kings,

0:50:37.920,0:50:39.759
by her nephew, Thutmose III.

0:50:39.920,0:50:42.240
And Thutmose III[br]finished temples of

0:50:42.240,0:50:44.880
hers, finished chapels,[br]made sure that everything

0:50:45.520,0:50:46.720
was good for her.

0:50:46.880,0:50:48.399
And so,[br]everything's fine, right?

0:50:48.400,0:50:50.480
She's gonna be our[br]successful female.

0:50:50.560,0:50:51.840
Well, no she's not.

0:50:51.920,0:50:55.920
Because about 20 to 25 years[br]later, after her death,

0:50:56.480,0:51:00.080
he says, "Come here,[br]you, chief of artisans.

0:51:00.080,0:51:01.200
"Go, send the guys out.

0:51:01.200,0:51:03.440
"I need Hatshepsut's names[br]and images removed from

0:51:03.440,0:51:05.200
this temple, this temple,[br]this temple,' which he

0:51:05.200,0:51:06.000
names all the temples.

0:51:06.000,0:51:06.960
They're like, 'What?

0:51:07.160,0:51:07.680
Really?'

0:51:07.680,0:51:10.480
"I want you to take plaster[br]and I want you to replace those

0:51:10.560,0:51:13.359
names with the name of my father[br]and the name of my grandfather."

0:51:13.360,0:51:14.080
'Yes, sir.'

0:51:14.080,0:51:15.360
"You, come here.

0:51:15.360,0:51:17.120
"Sledgehammers, send them out.

0:51:17.120,0:51:19.360
"I need you to smash these[br]statues up to tiny bits.

0:51:19.360,0:51:20.319
"Throw them out in a hole.

0:51:20.320,0:51:21.600
"I don't want you to[br]do anything with those.

0:51:21.600,0:51:23.279
"Oh, wait,[br]but the big colossals,

0:51:23.280,0:51:24.399
"I don't want you[br]to break those up.

0:51:24.400,0:51:25.440
"Those are too valuable?

0:51:25.440,0:51:26.640
Just switch out the names."

0:51:26.640,0:51:29.440
'Huh?' 'Take out her name,[br]put in my father's name.'

0:51:29.440,0:51:30.160
'Got it.'

0:51:30.320,0:51:31.520
And they go out[br]and they do this.

0:51:31.520,0:51:34.080
Now, they don't do a great job[br]so that we Egyptologists can

0:51:34.080,0:51:36.640
come in after the fact and say,[br]'Oh, look, there's a t there.'

0:51:36.640,0:51:38.080
Remember the Smurfette?

0:51:38.327,0:51:41.520
And then you see the daughter[br]of Ra is still there even though

0:51:41.520,0:51:42.880
it's talking about Thutmose III.

0:51:42.880,0:51:44.720
You're like, 'Hmm,[br]something's going on.'

0:51:44.720,0:51:46.480
Or you can see that[br]there's an erasure,

0:51:46.480,0:51:47.680
and you can see the[br]traces of what the

0:51:47.760,0:51:48.720
old name could be.

0:51:48.880,0:51:50.319
In some cases,[br]they relied so

0:51:50.400,0:51:53.520
much on plaster[br]that the old carving

0:51:53.520,0:51:54.480
is as clear as day.

0:51:54.560,0:51:56.480
So, we can put[br]this back together.

0:51:56.560,0:52:00.480
But the end result is that[br]Hatshepsut is not a part

0:52:00.480,0:52:01.600
of our cultural memory.

0:52:02.080,0:52:03.680
We can't pronounce her name.

0:52:03.840,0:52:05.600
She was too successful.

0:52:06.480,0:52:08.320
Success is a problematic thing.

0:52:08.480,0:52:09.520
Think about it this way.

0:52:09.760,0:52:12.080
You have a really[br]good successful idea.

0:52:12.240,0:52:14.400
It's gonna bring your company[br]a lot of business and you

0:52:14.480,0:52:15.760
tell your boss this idea.

0:52:15.760,0:52:18.480
And then you hear that the[br]boss went to a CEO meeting,

0:52:18.480,0:52:20.480
and then all of a sudden,[br]your idea is bandied about

0:52:20.480,0:52:21.760
it as his or her idea.

0:52:21.840,0:52:22.879
You're like, 'Damn it!

0:52:22.960,0:52:23.520
'that's

0:52:23.680,0:52:24.640
My idea.'

0:52:24.720,0:52:26.240
Well, it was successful.

0:52:26.480,0:52:28.880
You're doing what people[br]would expect to work.

0:52:28.960,0:52:31.120
What has worked before,[br]what will work after.

0:52:31.280,0:52:33.520
Success is very transferable.

0:52:33.680,0:52:35.120
It is very abstract.

0:52:35.360,0:52:38.080
It's failure that[br]everyone remembers and

0:52:38.160,0:52:39.279
assigns your name to.

0:52:39.440,0:52:41.980
That's why you guys can[br]pronounce Cleopatra like that.

0:52:41.980,0:52:42.500
(audience members laugh)

0:52:42.500,0:52:45.600
And Hatshepsut you're[br]like, 'Hatshe-, Hat-'

0:52:45.600,0:52:48.480
(audience members laugh)

0:52:48.480,0:52:51.680
Okay, Nefertiti, Dynasty 18.

0:52:54.000,0:52:55.839
Her story is being[br]written right now.

0:52:55.840,0:52:59.520
And Egyptologists in the room[br]know that if we all went to a

0:52:59.520,0:53:03.040
bar full of Egyptologists and[br]we just threw out and said,

0:53:03.040,0:53:05.120
'Is Nefertiti Smenkhkare?'

0:53:05.120,0:53:06.000
Then people,[br]like people

0:53:06.240,0:53:07.760
would come to[br]blows, right?

0:53:07.760,0:53:08.480
(audience members laugh)

0:53:08.480,0:53:11.040
People get really[br]upset over this stuff.

0:53:11.040,0:53:12.640
And indeed,[br]the evidence is

0:53:12.720,0:53:14.160
coming out of the[br]ground right now,

0:53:14.240,0:53:15.280
like as we speak.

0:53:15.360,0:53:16.960
They're finding new stuff.

0:53:17.120,0:53:19.120
And so, it's,[br]just take all

0:53:19.120,0:53:20.240
of that with a[br]grain of salt,

0:53:20.240,0:53:21.360
but that doesn't[br]mean we can't discuss

0:53:21.520,0:53:24.879
Nefertiti as a female[br]king, because I think we can.

0:53:24.880,0:53:27.520
I think most Egyptologists[br]would accept her as such.

0:53:27.680,0:53:30.240
What's cool and interesting[br]to me is that when you hear

0:53:30.240,0:53:32.560
the name Nefertiti and you[br]see her bust from Berlin,

0:53:32.640,0:53:33.759
you think of beauty.

0:53:33.920,0:53:35.840
She's a pretty face, right?

0:53:36.000,0:53:38.400
You don't think of her[br]as a ruler, as anything

0:53:38.640,0:53:43.520
formidable or something[br]associated with authority in

0:53:43.520,0:53:47.200
any way, but indeed, she was,[br]so let's see how this works out.

0:53:47.680,0:53:51.520
She is married to this[br]guy named Amenhotep IV,

0:53:51.760,0:53:56.560
who is born into Egypt's[br]greatest success, its

0:53:56.640,0:53:58.640
wealthiest time period,[br]when you don't even

0:53:58.720,0:53:59.520
have to go to war.

0:53:59.600,0:54:02.960
The tribute just comes to you,[br]when what can be produced by the

0:54:02.960,0:54:06.400
craftsman is of a quality that[br]you cannot possibly believe.

0:54:06.480,0:54:08.880
Everyone's eating well,[br]everyone is getting good

0:54:09.040,0:54:10.960
money, everyone is happy.

0:54:11.120,0:54:13.439
This guy comes into power,[br]he starts out his reign

0:54:13.520,0:54:16.240
depicting himself much like[br]his father did before him,

0:54:16.320,0:54:18.880
and then all of a sudden,[br]boom, he starts depicting

0:54:18.880,0:54:19.840
himself like this.

0:54:20.000,0:54:22.880
And he changes his[br]name to Akhenaten.

0:54:22.960,0:54:24.720
And he changes the religion.

0:54:24.720,0:54:27.760
And he starts funneling money[br]away from the other relig-,

0:54:27.760,0:54:30.080
like the Amun-Ra Temple,[br]and the Ptah Temple,

0:54:30.080,0:54:31.040
and all these other places.

0:54:31.120,0:54:34.319
He funnels that money to a[br]new god, a god named Aten.

0:54:34.400,0:54:38.160
And he starts to depict[br]himself as male and female.

0:54:38.240,0:54:39.360
Do you see the breasts?

0:54:39.520,0:54:42.479
You can't see the hips in this[br]one but there are hips too.

0:54:42.560,0:54:45.200
He starts to depict himself[br]as animal and human.

0:54:45.200,0:54:47.680
If you saw it from the side,[br]you would see a prognathism

0:54:47.680,0:54:48.720
of the lower face.

0:54:48.960,0:54:52.080
He starts to depict himself[br]strangely elongated.

0:54:52.160,0:54:54.080
And I would argue that[br]he's depicting himself

0:54:54.320,0:54:55.680
as a being of light.

0:54:55.840,0:54:59.360
He is changing the way[br]kingship is depicted,

0:54:59.360,0:55:02.400
he is changing the way the chief[br]priest, that would be the king,

0:55:02.640,0:55:05.920
is connecting with all of the[br]divinities, and Nefertiti

0:55:06.000,0:55:07.600
comes along for the ride.

0:55:07.760,0:55:11.280
He changes her depiction[br]in very much the same way.

0:55:11.440,0:55:14.480
Same prognathism,[br]the same elongated features,

0:55:14.640,0:55:19.680
exaggerated eyes and chin,[br]a very strange visage to behold.

0:55:19.840,0:55:22.880
And here he is with[br]all his servants now

0:55:23.040,0:55:25.439
bent down around him,[br]worshipping the sun

0:55:25.520,0:55:27.440
god over his head,[br]giving offerings to

0:55:27.440,0:55:30.000
that sun god, the Aten,[br]and its rays are bathing

0:55:30.080,0:55:31.840
him in its golden light.

0:55:31.920,0:55:33.600
He is the only one[br]that should have direct

0:55:33.920,0:55:36.080
connection with that sun god.

0:55:36.560,0:55:39.360
Around year 5,[br]he decides to

0:55:39.600,0:55:43.040
pick up and move[br]away from Memphis,

0:55:43.040,0:55:45.920
Heliopolis, Thebes,[br]and go to this out in

0:55:45.920,0:55:48.560
the middle of nowhere[br]place where he says it

0:55:48.560,0:55:51.520
is sacred to no god or[br]goddess, and build this

0:55:51.680,0:55:52.960
new city from scratch.

0:55:53.040,0:55:54.799
He calls it Akhetaten.

0:55:54.960,0:55:56.480
His name is Akhenaten.

0:55:56.560,0:55:59.200
It's like king and[br]city are almost one.

0:55:59.360,0:56:03.440
And in about ten years or less,[br]he builds from the ground up

0:56:03.920,0:56:07.200
new temples, new palaces,[br]new administrative structures.

0:56:07.280,0:56:09.359
He makes all of his elites[br]come and they're gonna build

0:56:09.440,0:56:11.280
all of their estates as well.

0:56:11.360,0:56:14.800
This is an incredibly[br]energetic and dedicated

0:56:14.960,0:56:16.800
king to his new coat.

0:56:16.880,0:56:19.920
And Nefertiti comes[br]along for the ride.

0:56:20.080,0:56:22.160
She is his great royal wife.

0:56:22.240,0:56:25.920
And when she comes to Akhetaten,[br]she is given a new name.

0:56:26.080,0:56:29.520
And her name is[br]Neferneferuaten Nefertiti.

0:56:29.600,0:56:30.700
There will be an exam after,

0:56:30.700,0:56:31.220
(audience members laugh)

0:56:31.220,0:56:32.560
It's gonna get way worse.

0:56:33.040,0:56:34.080
Way worse.

0:56:34.960,0:56:37.600
This is one reason why it's so[br]hard to find Nefertiti in the

0:56:37.600,0:56:40.080
evidence, because Akhenaten[br]seems to have renamed her

0:56:40.560,0:56:41.840
each step of the way.

0:56:41.840,0:56:44.160
And she gets to keep a[br]small part of herself as

0:56:44.160,0:56:45.360
she goes to the next step.

0:56:45.440,0:56:47.440
You'll see what I mean in a bit.

0:56:48.080,0:56:50.560
They show these images[br]of family togetherness.

0:56:50.560,0:56:53.360
Nefertiti is depicted[br]about the same scale as

0:56:53.520,0:56:54.960
her husband Akhenaten.

0:56:55.040,0:56:56.480
They're cuddling[br]their daughters,

0:56:56.480,0:56:57.520
they're showing[br]new and different

0:56:57.760,0:56:58.640
kinds of scenes.

0:56:58.640,0:57:01.040
And Egyptologists for the[br]longest time have looked at this

0:57:01.120,0:57:05.040
as puppies and rainbows and this[br]beautiful togetherness and maybe

0:57:05.120,0:57:07.920
even the first monotheism in all[br]of human history, though that is

0:57:08.000,0:57:09.680
still very much up for debate.

0:57:09.840,0:57:13.600
But there is a much darker[br]underbelly to all of this.

0:57:13.920,0:57:16.000
Well, he married two[br]of those daughters and

0:57:16.080,0:57:18.160
had children with them,[br]and elevated each of them

0:57:18.320,0:57:19.360
to a great royal wife.

0:57:19.360,0:57:20.720
So, that creeps you[br]out right there,

0:57:20.720,0:57:23.200
though that's not[br]culturally aberrant for them.

0:57:23.520,0:57:26.240
He also co-ops his elite.

0:57:26.240,0:57:29.279
And here you see the elite[br]reaching up and the king

0:57:29.360,0:57:31.600
and his queen, Nefertiti,[br]just throwing down

0:57:31.840,0:57:33.280
solid gold necklaces.

0:57:33.360,0:57:35.360
How do you get a bunch[br]of people to leave their

0:57:35.520,0:57:38.160
families and their lives in[br]the traditional capitals and

0:57:38.320,0:57:40.000
move away the middle of nowhere?

0:57:40.080,0:57:41.440
Well, you bribe them.

0:57:41.600,0:57:44.560
And then they coerce other[br]people to do the same.

0:57:44.640,0:57:49.440
And so, here we see just[br]this co-option happening

0:57:49.520,0:57:52.880
before our eyes, but in a[br]more idealistic sort of sense.

0:57:53.040,0:57:55.839
But what's really interesting[br]in the work that's coming

0:57:55.840,0:57:58.320
out right now by a number[br]of bioarcheologists,

0:57:58.320,0:58:00.880
one of them a former[br]student of mine from

0:58:00.960,0:58:04.720
UCLA, Anne Austin,[br]they're finding graveyards

0:58:04.960,0:58:07.520
filled with the laborers[br]who constructed the city

0:58:07.680,0:58:08.720
from the ground up.

0:58:08.960,0:58:12.560
And the graveyards for the[br]skilled laborers are fine.

0:58:12.640,0:58:15.440
They get great goods,[br]they're just doing okay.

0:58:15.520,0:58:19.360
But the graveyards for those who[br]are not so skilled, who are just

0:58:19.440,0:58:22.640
hauling stones and doing what[br]they're told, are horrific.

0:58:22.800,0:58:26.000
They're working wounded, they're[br]working malnourished, they're

0:58:26.080,0:58:27.680
working with acute fractures.

0:58:27.760,0:58:31.120
And even worse than that, they[br]have found a graveyard filled

0:58:31.120,0:58:34.480
with hundreds of children,[br]separated from any sort of

0:58:34.560,0:58:38.000
adult figures of any kind,[br]also working with all kinds

0:58:38.000,0:58:42.080
of injuries, malnourished,[br]and with acute injuries as well.

0:58:42.160,0:58:45.040
And the people who work in[br]this graveyard are emotionally

0:58:45.120,0:58:48.800
affected themselves with each[br]burial that they find.

0:58:49.200,0:58:52.880
This has been so disruptive[br]to our understanding of what

0:58:52.960,0:58:56.560
Akhenaten's regime was that it's[br]actually made most Egyptians

0:58:56.560,0:58:57.839
that I know very uncomfortable.

0:58:57.840,0:59:00.560
And when this work was first[br]presented at a conference,

0:59:00.560,0:59:04.720
at a bioarcheology conference,[br]Egyptians left, some, not all,

0:59:04.960,0:59:08.080
left the room and said you can't[br]present the kingship this way.

0:59:08.560,0:59:11.600
This is serious stuff because[br]it's turning on its head what

0:59:11.680,0:59:15.040
the foundation of Akhenaten's[br]kingship actually was.

0:59:15.520,0:59:19.520
This was a demanding king,[br]a king who was quite

0:59:19.760,0:59:21.200
brutal to his people.

0:59:21.600,0:59:24.000
And Nefertiti came[br]along for the ride.

0:59:24.000,0:59:25.520
And indeed,[br]I think most

0:59:25.760,0:59:29.440
Egyptologists now[br]see this new king,

0:59:29.600,0:59:31.759
co-king alongside[br]Akhenaten with the

0:59:31.760,0:59:34.560
name, the row's off[br]the top, Ankhkheperure

0:59:34.800,0:59:38.080
Neferneferuaten, as Nefertiti.

0:59:38.240,0:59:41.040
She's not identifiable as[br]Nefertiti any longer, but that

0:59:41.040,0:59:42.880
Neferneferure is still there.

0:59:43.040,0:59:45.839
And so, people are like,[br]'Oh, okay, Ankheperure,

0:59:45.840,0:59:47.440
that's her as co-king.'

0:59:47.760,0:59:49.600
This is a weird and crazy thing.

0:59:49.600,0:59:52.400
And this is a breaker[br]of all of our patterns.

0:59:52.480,0:59:55.040
She's not stepping in as[br]a regent for a boy king.

0:59:55.200,0:59:57.520
She's stepping in[br]alongside her husband.

0:59:57.520,0:59:59.120
I just told you you're[br]not supposed to have

0:59:59.200,1:00:01.520
those parallel power[br]structures, right?

1:00:01.520,1:00:03.040
It's supposed to be a linear.

1:00:03.120,1:00:05.200
Well, he must feel[br]very vulnerable.

1:00:05.760,1:00:08.640
This is potentially the only[br]person that he can trust.

1:00:08.960,1:00:12.240
He pulls in somebody to help[br]him to continue this rule,

1:00:12.400,1:00:15.200
happens to be his great[br]royal wife, now no longer,

1:00:15.280,1:00:16.800
and now a co-king.

1:00:17.120,1:00:20.799
And one Egyptologist,[br]Nicholas Reeves, even

1:00:21.040,1:00:23.520
believes that the mask[br]and all of the burial

1:00:23.520,1:00:26.000
equipment of Tutankhamen,[br]including the three nesting

1:00:26.080,1:00:28.799
coffins, was not made for[br]Tutankhamen, but was made

1:00:28.880,1:00:32.000
for a certain Ankheperure.

1:00:32.160,1:00:34.880
And indeed, he's shown,[br]and I stood next to the case

1:00:35.120,1:00:36.560
when they opened the glass

1:00:36.640,1:00:39.440
And I got to see the mask and[br]the shoulder from that far

1:00:39.600,1:00:41.200
away, so I'm a believer too.

1:00:41.280,1:00:44.080
And he's shown this to[br]Dieter Arnold, Mark Gabolde,

1:00:44.080,1:00:48.000
and Ray Johnson, they also[br]buy it that this is re-curved,

1:00:48.080,1:00:51.200
and that the traces of the[br]old name are Ankheperure.

1:00:51.440,1:00:52.720
Which is the coolest thing ever.

1:00:52.720,1:00:55.600
Makes all the[br]Egyptologists go, 'Ah!'

1:00:55.840,1:00:58.640
Because this could have[br]been made for Nefertiti.

1:00:58.960,1:01:01.520
This that it's burned into[br]your mind's eye, right?

1:01:01.600,1:01:03.600
That you can see without[br]even, without me even

1:01:03.760,1:01:04.479
showing you this.

1:01:04.480,1:01:07.040
That could have been made[br]for Nefertiti as co-king

1:01:07.280,1:01:08.880
for her husband, Akhenaten.

1:01:08.880,1:01:11.520
And I'm not gonna go into this,[br]but I have interesting ideas

1:01:11.600,1:01:14.960
about the double cobra uraeus,[br]which is also unusual and

1:01:15.040,1:01:17.279
not something that you see[br]on other burial equipment.

1:01:17.280,1:01:18.320
What's going on here?

1:01:18.880,1:01:21.600
A graduate student of mine,[br]Nicholas Brown, we argue

1:01:21.600,1:01:22.640
about this all the time.

1:01:23.520,1:01:25.360
We'll continue to[br]argue about it.

1:01:26.960,1:01:29.279
I encourage my graduate[br]students to argue with me.

1:01:29.280,1:01:30.480
It makes life more fun.

1:01:30.880,1:01:34.080
Did Nefertiti then[br]become sole king after

1:01:34.240,1:01:35.520
the death of Akhenaten?

1:01:35.600,1:01:38.000
And this was where the[br]Egyptologists really start to

1:01:38.080,1:01:39.600
throw the blows at each other.

1:01:39.680,1:01:43.759
Because I would say, you know,[br]40% believe that, yeah,

1:01:43.840,1:01:46.640
Nefertiti is there stepping[br]in as sole king after the

1:01:46.640,1:01:48.960
death of Akhenaten in a[br]time period of crisis.

1:01:48.960,1:01:50.160
And other people[br]are like, 'Look,

1:01:50.160,1:01:51.359
there's just no[br]evidence for it.'

1:01:51.440,1:01:52.960
I'm not gonna talk[br]about the tomb.

1:01:52.960,1:01:55.600
If you guys wanna talk about[br]that in the Q&A, we can, but

1:01:56.160,1:01:57.760
I'm gonna leave that for now.

1:01:57.920,1:02:01.680
And I told you I'm skipping[br]Tawosret because I ain't

1:02:01.680,1:02:04.480
got no time, and she's[br]all Game of Thronesey,

1:02:04.480,1:02:06.320
so you can read the book.

1:02:06.400,1:02:09.100
This woman was pretty[br]badass so check her out.

1:02:09.100,1:02:09.620
(audience members laugh)

1:02:09.620,1:02:12.560
Came in as a regent for a[br]son who was not her own, and

1:02:12.960,1:02:14.960
a kid with a club foot to boot.

1:02:15.040,1:02:18.319
But let's quickly talk[br]about Cleopatra so we

1:02:18.320,1:02:21.440
can have some questions,[br]and hopefully answers.

1:02:21.520,1:02:25.200
So, Cleopatra of the[br]Ptolemaic dynasty also

1:02:25.440,1:02:27.040
does not rule alone.

1:02:27.200,1:02:29.600
She also rules her[br]almost 22 years,

1:02:29.680,1:02:31.359
like Hatshepsut[br]before her.

1:02:31.520,1:02:35.680
She rules alongside Ptolemy XII,[br]who needs a co-ruler and

1:02:35.760,1:02:39.120
brings Cleopatra VII[br]into the situation.

1:02:39.280,1:02:41.920
She rules alongside,[br]though in many ways

1:02:42.000,1:02:45.759
quite unwillingly,[br]her brother Ptolemy XIII,

1:02:45.840,1:02:48.480
and he dies in battle[br]fighting against her.

1:02:49.200,1:02:53.440
Then she moves on to Ptolemy[br]XIV, whom she has assassinated.

1:02:53.600,1:02:57.600
So, now that she's killed all[br]of her Ptolemaic companions

1:02:57.680,1:03:00.320
and has no one else to bed[br]with and to rule with,

1:03:00.480,1:03:03.759
Cleopatra is so canny,[br]she still knows she

1:03:03.840,1:03:05.760
cannot rule alone.

1:03:06.240,1:03:09.279
Egypt is no longer happily[br]ensconced in its own little

1:03:09.280,1:03:11.760
bubble of geographic[br]protection, however.

1:03:11.920,1:03:15.040
It is now perched on the edge[br]of the Mediterranean Sea from

1:03:15.040,1:03:17.040
its capital city of Alexandria.

1:03:17.120,1:03:20.080
It is part of a globalized[br]Mediterranean world.

1:03:20.160,1:03:22.960
So, she's gotta look to[br]a globalized partner,

1:03:23.040,1:03:25.120
and she launches upon,[br]or he launches upon

1:03:25.280,1:03:27.280
her, Julius Caesar.

1:03:27.680,1:03:28.960
We all know the story.

1:03:29.120,1:03:32.720
She snuck into his chambers[br]as he's in the Palace of

1:03:32.800,1:03:36.720
Alexandria in a bedroll,[br]her brother is sieging

1:03:36.800,1:03:38.640
the city, it's perfect.

1:03:38.720,1:03:40.959
She gets in and they hang[br]out for a couple of months

1:03:41.120,1:03:44.799
And she's going to give birth to[br]Caesarion, known as Ptolemy XV,

1:03:44.800,1:03:46.880
the Egyptologist,[br]sometime after that.

1:03:47.520,1:03:49.280
This works out[br]quite well for her.

1:03:49.600,1:03:53.040
She's got a Roman warlord[br]to rule and partner with.

1:03:53.120,1:03:54.720
He's a sperm donor to boot.

1:03:54.720,1:03:56.480
She doesn't even have[br]to marry the guy.

1:03:56.640,1:03:59.440
He doesn't want to marry her,[br]she doesn't want to marry him,

1:03:59.440,1:04:00.480
that wouldn't quite work.

1:04:00.480,1:04:04.000
But as a partnership of[br]rule, this is quite useful.

1:04:04.240,1:04:06.100
But we all know what happens.

1:04:06.100,1:04:06.620
(laughs)

1:04:06.620,1:04:09.120
She's in Rome when[br]he is murdered on the

1:04:09.120,1:04:10.240
steps of the Senate.

1:04:10.400,1:04:12.880
She has to hightail it[br]back to Alexandria and

1:04:12.880,1:04:16.160
figure out what to do,[br]and she needs another partner.

1:04:16.240,1:04:18.240
She knows she cannot rule alone.

1:04:18.320,1:04:21.600
And so, she launches[br]upon Mark Antony.

1:04:22.080,1:04:24.160
She shows up,[br]he apparently writes

1:04:24.160,1:04:26.480
her multiple times,[br]'Meet me in Anatolia,

1:04:26.480,1:04:28.400
meet me at Tarsus,'[br]and, 'Come and visit.

1:04:28.400,1:04:30.400
'come and,' and she's like,[br]she's playing hard to

1:04:30.400,1:04:31.439
get, 'No, no, no.'

1:04:31.440,1:04:33.200
And finally,[br]she shows up

1:04:33.760,1:04:34.960
dressed to[br]the nines,

1:04:34.960,1:04:36.480
dressed as a[br]goddess in this

1:04:36.560,1:04:39.520
barge that is covered[br]with gold, just showing

1:04:39.600,1:04:40.720
her wealth and her riches.

1:04:40.800,1:04:43.600
The Romans go crazy writing[br]about them, saying, "Look at

1:04:43.600,1:04:46.240
this woman who wastes money,[br]look at all of the success,

1:04:46.240,1:04:48.799
this is what kingship gives[br]you, this is horrible."

1:04:48.880,1:04:51.440
Well, Cleopatra knew[br]exactly what she was doing,

1:04:51.600,1:04:53.680
depicting herself as a goddess.

1:04:53.920,1:04:57.280
Nothing less than a goddess,[br]as a beholder of great wealth.

1:04:57.360,1:04:59.279
She wants these Roman[br]warlords to work with

1:04:59.280,1:05:01.520
her and do what she says,[br]she needs to make sure

1:05:01.600,1:05:04.560
that they see that she's[br]holding many cards herself.

1:05:04.880,1:05:05.759
They need the money.

1:05:05.840,1:05:07.760
They're constantly fighting[br]each other in a civil

1:05:07.760,1:05:08.960
war that never ends.

1:05:09.120,1:05:11.680
They need cash,[br]she's got some cash,

1:05:11.920,1:05:13.680
perfect partnership.

1:05:13.920,1:05:16.800
Better in terms of age[br]as well, and she launches

1:05:16.960,1:05:18.960
up with Mark Antony.

1:05:19.280,1:05:22.800
Now, Cleopatra,[br]I say she's a failure.

1:05:22.800,1:05:24.799
She does not leave Egypt[br]better than she finds it.

1:05:24.880,1:05:27.440
It becomes a province[br]of Rome after her death.

1:05:27.600,1:05:31.440
However, Cleopatra comes[br]the closest out of any of

1:05:31.520,1:05:34.320
the women that we're talking[br]about, in having it all,

1:05:34.560,1:05:37.040
in being the man in a[br]sense, at the center

1:05:37.120,1:05:38.240
of the wheel of power.

1:05:38.400,1:05:43.520
Because she has such a strong[br]womb and constitution, whoops,

1:05:43.600,1:05:47.279
she is able to, oh, I hate this[br]like my, hold on, National

1:05:47.280,1:05:48.560
Geographic made me do this.

1:05:48.560,1:05:49.680
And they wanted[br]it to be animated,

1:05:49.680,1:05:51.120
and I'm like, "Oh, okay.

1:05:51.120,1:05:52.320
Let's try again."

1:05:52.320,1:05:54.480
And every time,[br]I mess up the animation.

1:05:54.480,1:05:55.120
Here we go.

1:05:55.120,1:05:56.480
'do I do another?'

1:05:56.560,1:05:58.320
'yes, one more.'

1:05:58.380,1:05:58.900
Boom.

1:05:58.960,1:05:59.520
Okay.

1:05:59.600,1:06:03.040
So, she comes the closest[br]out of any of our women to

1:06:03.200,1:06:07.360
creating a legacy of her own[br]genetic lineage that is going to

1:06:07.440,1:06:09.840
pass on to future generations.

1:06:10.640,1:06:14.000
She even creates this big show[br]where she names each of her

1:06:14.080,1:06:17.279
children as leaders of different[br]parts of her Eastern empire.

1:06:17.440,1:06:20.960
One kid in charge of Cyrenaica,[br]Libya, one kid in charge of the

1:06:20.960,1:06:24.400
Levant, one kid in charge of[br]Cyprus, and so on and so forth.

1:06:24.560,1:06:27.040
And they don't seem to be[br]fighting with each other.

1:06:27.120,1:06:29.440
She seems to have created a[br]family that's not trying to

1:06:29.440,1:06:31.839
kill each other constantly,[br]which for the Ptolemies

1:06:31.920,1:06:33.120
is a serious win.

1:06:33.280,1:06:36.799
And it looks like she has it[br]all working out in her favor.

1:06:36.880,1:06:38.560
She doesn't have to[br]marry Mark Antony,

1:06:38.560,1:06:40.400
but he seems to be[br]staying in Egypt.

1:06:40.640,1:06:44.080
They have a real chance[br]of creating an Eastern

1:06:44.080,1:06:46.400
dynasty that can work[br]in opposition to that

1:06:46.400,1:06:48.240
Western dynasty that is Rome.

1:06:48.320,1:06:50.640
And yet,[br]it all goes

1:06:50.640,1:06:51.840
horribly wrong.

1:06:52.240,1:06:54.080
Mark Antony,[br]before this happens,

1:06:54.160,1:06:55.440
invades Parthia.

1:06:55.440,1:06:58.720
What do they say about[br]a land invasion of Asia?

1:06:59.200,1:07:00.240
A land war in Asia?

1:07:00.240,1:07:04.100
Anyone see 'The Princess Bride?'[br]Never have a land war in Asia!

1:07:04.100,1:07:04.620
(audience members laugh)

1:07:04.620,1:07:05.520
He tries that.

1:07:05.600,1:07:08.560
It goes horribly wrong,[br]and he never recovers

1:07:08.640,1:07:11.920
from it financially,[br]emotionally, physically.

1:07:12.160,1:07:14.799
And then they're on the[br]back foot when they try

1:07:15.040,1:07:19.440
to fight Octavian, soon[br]to become Caesar Augustus.

1:07:19.600,1:07:21.840
They're on the back foot,[br]they don't have maybe all

1:07:21.840,1:07:23.680
of the allies that they[br]could or all of the strong

1:07:23.840,1:07:26.400
allies that they could,[br]didn't prepare for it properly,

1:07:26.400,1:07:28.799
and certainly didn't strategize[br]well in terms of how the

1:07:28.880,1:07:30.080
battle should happen.

1:07:30.320,1:07:33.840
Should we be surprised that[br]Cleopatra as the woman hightails

1:07:33.840,1:07:36.160
it out of there as soon as she[br]sees what's going on?

1:07:36.640,1:07:39.440
The Romans write about this[br]and say, 'Look at that coward.

1:07:39.520,1:07:40.560
Look at her run.'

1:07:40.560,1:07:43.200
And Mark Antony only stays for[br]a little bit longer before he

1:07:43.440,1:07:45.680
also flees with his life intact.

1:07:45.760,1:07:48.799
But I guess he let a little[br]more of his soldiers die

1:07:48.960,1:07:51.760
before and that makes him[br]strong and powerful, I don't,

1:07:52.080,1:07:53.919
more manly, more noble.

1:07:54.880,1:07:56.319
But anyway,[br]this goes

1:07:56.320,1:07:57.280
horribly wrong.

1:07:57.440,1:07:59.520
If it didn't go horribly wrong,[br]I think we would talk

1:07:59.600,1:08:01.600
about Cleopatra very[br]differently, but we can't.

1:08:01.600,1:08:03.920
I can't write a revisionist[br]history, I can't make her

1:08:04.320,1:08:05.839
make a different choice.

1:08:06.240,1:08:10.160
As it is now,[br]she is meant to

1:08:10.560,1:08:12.959
wait out the year[br]in Alexandria trying

1:08:12.960,1:08:15.040
to save her children,[br]trying to figure out

1:08:15.280,1:08:18.000
how to get herself out[br]of this deep dark hole.

1:08:18.000,1:08:20.319
And given that she's had[br]all of her children with two

1:08:20.399,1:08:24.160
Roman warlords who have now[br]died in a civil war or some

1:08:24.319,1:08:28.720
other political aggression,[br]she has a target on her back

1:08:28.880,1:08:31.279
and on her children's backs[br]that she cannot remove.

1:08:31.359,1:08:33.120
There's nothing that[br]she can really do to get

1:08:33.200,1:08:34.800
herself out of this situation.

1:08:35.040,1:08:39.520
And the story is that[br]she then commits suicide.

1:08:39.680,1:08:43.759
It's a wonderful story[br]for the Romans to give us.

1:08:44.240,1:08:46.960
While this is happening,[br]her children, all but one,

1:08:46.960,1:08:48.560
are hunted down and murdered.

1:08:48.720,1:08:53.840
Caesarian, known as Ptolemy XV[br]to us, is heading down south to

1:08:53.840,1:08:55.920
flee and he receives a letter,[br]'You're gonna be made

1:08:56.000,1:08:57.200
king by Octavion.'

1:08:57.200,1:08:58.240
It's gonna be okay.

1:08:58.319,1:08:59.200
He comes back.

1:08:59.359,1:09:01.840
You may think it's naive,[br]but the Romans had allowed

1:09:01.920,1:09:04.639
the Ptolemies to rule this[br]place for some time.

1:09:04.720,1:09:07.040
So, I think maybe he thought[br]he could get away with it.

1:09:07.040,1:09:08.639
Well, he's murdered[br]on the way back.

1:09:08.880,1:09:11.840
Other sons and daughters[br]are murdered as well.

1:09:12.080,1:09:15.520
Cleopatra herself is[br]said to commit suicide.

1:09:15.680,1:09:18.880
This works very well for[br]Octavion's propaganda.

1:09:18.960,1:09:22.000
It's the reason that I am so[br]suspicious of anything the

1:09:22.080,1:09:26.720
Romans tell us about Cleopatra[br]and her manner of dying,

1:09:26.880,1:09:28.719
because there's no way to know.

1:09:28.800,1:09:30.720
We don't even know what[br]the manner of suicide is.

1:09:30.800,1:09:33.120
I once listened to a[br]whole academic discussion,

1:09:33.200,1:09:35.439
a panel discussion, about[br]whether it was an asp,

1:09:35.439,1:09:36.880
or whether it was this,[br]or whether it was that,

1:09:36.880,1:09:38.960
and there really is no[br]way to know how Cleopatra

1:09:39.040,1:09:41.279
committed suicide,[br]or I would argue

1:09:41.359,1:09:42.559
if she even did.

1:09:42.880,1:09:45.439
It makes the most sense[br]for Octavion to say, 'Oh,

1:09:45.439,1:09:48.240
she took a hero's way out,[br]committed suicide.'

1:09:48.399,1:09:52.399
Much the way they say Boudica[br]left us, or Zenobia left us.

1:09:53.040,1:09:55.440
It works for the hero's way out.

1:09:55.440,1:09:58.320
But for the Egyptian,[br]it's brutal, because it's

1:09:58.400,1:10:00.879
the mother abandoning her[br]children to their fates.

1:10:01.120,1:10:04.559
It's the mother not wanting to[br]have to be walked in chains in

1:10:04.640,1:10:07.440
a triumph, deciding to just,[br]'Screw it, I'm done with this,'

1:10:07.440,1:10:09.200
and just leave everybody behind.

1:10:09.440,1:10:12.000
From the Egyptian perspective,[br]to say that she committed

1:10:12.080,1:10:15.360
suicide is one of the most[br]brutally affected pieces of

1:10:15.440,1:10:17.760
propaganda that Octavion[br]could ever produce.

1:10:17.840,1:10:20.480
And it is the reason that[br]I am so suspicious of it.

1:10:20.560,1:10:22.320
Again, until I get[br]my time machine,

1:10:22.320,1:10:24.480
I'll never be able to[br]prove it true or false,

1:10:24.560,1:10:26.160
but this is where I fall.

1:10:26.640,1:10:29.200
So, it's 2 50, yah!

1:10:29.440,1:10:32.000
Where else did women[br]try to rule the world?

1:10:32.000,1:10:35.679
Well, nowhere like Egypt,[br]but there are other women.

1:10:35.760,1:10:39.200
Jezebel, Athalia, her daughter,[br]who tried to rule on behalf of

1:10:39.200,1:10:41.200
her son, both killed for trying.

1:10:41.360,1:10:44.800
Boudica and Zenobia both[br]fought Rome and died.

1:10:45.120,1:10:49.440
Empress Lu, Empress Wu Zhetian[br]fought for extend, sorry,

1:10:49.440,1:10:52.719
ruled for extended periods[br]of time in Imperial China,

1:10:52.960,1:10:56.719
also never ruled alone,[br]ruled alongside others.

1:10:56.720,1:10:58.000
And of course,[br]we know the many

1:10:58.160,1:11:00.799
female rulers of a[br]fragmented Europe,

1:11:00.880,1:11:02.880
including Elizabeth[br]I, Catherine the Great,

1:11:02.880,1:11:04.240
et cetera, et cetera.

1:11:05.920,1:11:08.480
Different situation in a[br]fragmented Europe where you

1:11:08.560,1:11:11.920
don't want a Spanish cousin to[br]come in just because he's male

1:11:12.160,1:11:15.280
and you would rather have the[br]female because she's British.

1:11:15.360,1:11:19.760
So, this is more a situation[br]where the fragmentation of

1:11:20.000,1:11:23.520
Europe works for the females,[br]in the females' favor.

1:11:23.920,1:11:28.000
In all of these cases, in Egypt[br]and elsewhere, almost all,

1:11:28.320,1:11:32.480
success is ignored and the[br]failure is aggrandized.

1:11:32.640,1:11:36.720
We have a cultural memory of[br]the failures, like Cleopatra.

1:11:36.800,1:11:39.840
Shakespeare writes[br]plays about Cleopatra.

1:11:39.920,1:11:43.040
We have epic poems[br]about Semiramis,

1:11:43.760,1:11:46.639
who also was a ruler of[br]the ancient Near East,

1:11:46.640,1:11:48.959
who apparently epically failed.

1:11:49.040,1:11:53.200
But those women who did it all[br]right, women like Neferusobek,

1:11:53.440,1:11:57.840
women like Hatshepsut, who left[br]Egypt better than they found it,

1:11:57.920,1:12:00.160
or the ones that are not part[br]of our cultural memory,

1:12:00.240,1:12:04.320
whose names were effectively[br]replaced, and to whom credit,

1:12:04.640,1:12:07.840
from whom credit was taken[br]away and given to the men

1:12:08.000,1:12:10.559
who who either preceded[br]them or came after them.

1:12:10.720,1:12:13.920
And so, in the end,[br]I usually end this

1:12:14.160,1:12:20.240
discussion with this.

1:12:20.240,1:12:20.800
(audience members laugh)

1:12:20.800,1:12:22.960
And I am trying,[br]so just a quick point,

1:12:22.960,1:12:25.360
and then I'll let you guys[br]ask me a couple questions.

1:12:25.840,1:12:28.880
I am trying to make this as[br]topical as I possibly can.

1:12:28.960,1:12:31.600
I'm trying to bring this[br]back to why do we still

1:12:31.760,1:12:33.280
distrust females in power?

1:12:33.360,1:12:37.120
What is it about the female[br]that sets us so on edge?

1:12:37.200,1:12:39.280
What was it about,[br]what is it about the

1:12:39.360,1:12:42.000
possible lies of a female[br]candidate that are so much

1:12:42.080,1:12:45.440
more powerful than the absolute[br]untruths of the male candidate?

1:12:45.760,1:12:47.040
What's going on here?

1:12:47.120,1:12:50.000
And why are we still[br]in this conundrum?

1:12:50.000,1:12:51.759
And this, I think,[br]is the reason.

1:12:52.160,1:12:55.280
That we assign women[br]a mercurial nature.

1:12:55.440,1:12:58.400
We assign women ups and[br]downs of emotionality

1:12:58.560,1:12:59.760
that cannot be controlled.

1:12:59.920,1:13:02.000
Now, I'm not gonna stand[br]up here and tell you this

1:13:02.080,1:13:04.240
is true, because I actually[br]don't believe it is.

1:13:04.400,1:13:06.000
I, first of all,[br]don't believe that we

1:13:06.080,1:13:07.360
only have male and female.

1:13:07.440,1:13:10.400
We are the ones that have[br]culturally constructed a binary.

1:13:10.640,1:13:13.040
When you talk about a[br]transgender and you talk about

1:13:13.120,1:13:16.400
the complications of sexuality,[br]you talk to a biologist and

1:13:16.480,1:13:18.640
talk about all of the sexual[br]expressions that are allowed for

1:13:19.600,1:13:21.760
us humans, it's extraordinary.

1:13:21.920,1:13:24.960
This is an oversimplified[br]agricultural system.

1:13:25.120,1:13:27.920
But this is what we live with,[br]this is what we have, and so,

1:13:28.000,1:13:30.320
then I'll look at this and[br]I would like to turn this

1:13:30.480,1:13:33.680
on its head and say, if we[br]assume that females are so much

1:13:33.760,1:13:37.440
more emotional than men, and if[br]cognitive scientists do tell us

1:13:37.520,1:13:40.639
that on the whole you and I can[br]read each other's faces better,

1:13:40.800,1:13:43.200
that we actually are more in[br]touch with our emotions,

1:13:43.280,1:13:46.400
less likely to, I don't know,[br]stalk an ex-spouse or pick up

1:13:46.400,1:13:48.639
a gun and kill up the whole[br]family and then kill ourselves

1:13:48.720,1:13:50.800
'cause we're not in touch[br]with our emotions, right?

1:13:51.040,1:13:53.360
If that is the case,[br]then I would encourage

1:13:53.360,1:13:55.920
all of us to look at this[br]emotionality more positively

1:13:56.240,1:13:59.280
and think of that emotionality,[br]whether wielded by men or

1:13:59.520,1:14:02.320
by women, as the ability[br]to feel something before

1:14:02.480,1:14:04.960
you decisively act upon it.

1:14:05.120,1:14:08.080
That this emotionality could[br]be the very thing that got,