When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt

Cooney (Egyptology, Univ. of California Los Angeles; The Woman Who Would Be King) explores the premise that "the ancient Egyptians brilliantly used female power…to keep a culture going for more than 3,000 years" through the prism of six queens who assumed kingship to varying degrees at times of dynastic crisis. Included are profiles of Merneith of Dynasty I (3000–2890 BCE), Neferusobek of Dynasty XII (1985–1773 BCE), Hatshepsut and Nefertiti of Dynasty XVIII (1550–1295 BCE), Tawosret of Dynsty XIX (1295–1186 BCE), and Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 BCE). Despite ancient Egyptian society promoting greater gender equality than its contemporaries, each of these queens was compelled to manifest certain masculine trappings in order to succeed. Most intriguing is the author's persuasive explanation of the recent theory that Nefertiti morphed from queen to co-king, and ultimately sole king, evinced through changes in her titles and iconography.