1473 BC

Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut assumes full kingship alongside Thutmose III

She became senior king without removing the boy whose regnal years she went on using to date her own reign.

What happened in Year 7

Late in Thutmose III's seventh regnal year — conventionally around 1473 BCE — Hatshepsut relinquished her queenly titles, adopted the united crowns and took the fivefold titulary of an Egyptian king.

The evidence places the transformation between the beginning and end of that seventh year. It does not preserve a coronation day that can be converted to a modern date.

Egyptian absolute chronology varies by several years; UCL summarises her dates as approximately 1479/1473–1458/1457 BCE.

"Started to rule" is ambiguous

She had been governing already. Thutmose III inherited the throne as a child around 1479 BCE, and Hatshepsut ran the government as his regent for roughly six years before adopting full kingship.

Why she did so is not securely known; the political and religious motives commonly proposed are interpretations.

Her marriage to Thutmose II and her descent from Thutmose I are background, not events of 1473.

Two kings, not a deposition

She did not depose Thutmose III. Egypt formally had two kings: Hatshepsut held senior precedence and full royal powers while he remained the legitimate co-ruler, and the existing regnal count continued.

Royal imagery followed the change — she acquired the conventional insignia and representational forms of a king — but it did not simply replace her with a masculine figure. The imagery shifted over time, and inscriptions could keep feminine grammatical forms even where she wears male royal regalia.

Calling her a usurper imports a disputed modern reading; contemporary monuments went on recognising Thutmose III.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~-1473.

What the sources leave uncertain

The approximately 1473 BCE date refers to Hatshepsut’s transformation from regent/queen into king, not the beginning of her involvement in government, which started around Thutmose III’s accession in 1479 BCE.
Evidence places the transformation between the beginning and end of Thutmose III’s seventh year; it does not preserve a securely convertible coronation day.
Egyptian absolute chronology varies by several years. UCL summarizes her dates as approximately 1479/1473–1458/1457 BCE.