But the attack was not physical.

但攻擊並非針對生理。

This royal had been dead for 20 years.

這位法老已經過世 20 年了。

The attack was historical, an act of 'damnatio memoriae,' the damnation of memory.

這是一次歷史性的攻擊，是一次「除憶詛咒」，也就是記憶抹殺之刑。

Somebody smashed the pharaoh's statues, took a chisel and attempted to erase the pharaoh's name and image from history.

有人粉碎了法老的雕像，用鑿子試圖將法老的名字和形象從歷史上抹去。

Who was this pharaoh, and what was behind the attack?

這位法老是誰？這次攻擊背後又有何故事？

Here's the key: the pharaoh, Hatshepsut, was a woman.

關鍵在於：這位法老——哈特謝普蘇特——是位女性。

In the normal course of things, she should never have been pharaoh.

在正常的狀況下，她永遠不可能當上法老。

Although it was legal for a woman to be a monarch, it disturbed some essential Egyptian beliefs.

雖然女性成為君主是合法的，但此舉擾亂了埃及的核心信仰。

Firstly, the pharaoh was known as the living embodiment of the male god, Horus.

第一，法老被視為神在凡間的化身，代表男性神祇「荷魯斯」。

Secondly, disturbance to the tradition of rule by men was a serious challenge to 'Maat,' a word for "truth," expressing a belief in order and justice, vital to the Egyptians.

第二，打破了男性統治的傳統是對「瑪特女神」的嚴重挑戰，瑪特意為真理，代表對於秩序與正義的信仰，對埃及人而言至關重要。

Hatshepsut had perhaps tried to adapt to this belief in the link between order and patriarchy through her titles.

哈特謝普蘇特可能嘗試迎合信仰，藉由她的頭銜在秩序和父權之間立足。

She took the name Maatkare, and sometimes referred to herself as Hatshepsu, with a masculine word ending.

她使用了「真理太陽之魂」作為登基之名，有時候也會稱呼自己為「哈特謝普蘇」，以字尾變化突現陽性特徵。

But apparently, these efforts didn't convince everyone, and perhaps someone erased Hatshepsut's image so that the world would forget the disturbance to Maat, and Egypt could be balanced again.

但是很顯然地，這些努力並未使所有人信服。或許某些人抹去哈特謝普蘇特的形象，是為了讓世界忘記她對於瑪特女神的不敬，使埃及可以再次回歸平衡。

Hatshepsut, moreover, was not the legitimate heir to the throne, but a regent, a kind of stand-in co-monarch.

此外，哈特謝普蘇特並非合法的王位繼承人，而是位攝政，類似於垂簾聽政的共同執政者。

The Egyptian kingship traditionally passed from father to son.

埃及的王權在傳統上由父傳子。

It passed from Thutmose I to his son Thutmose II, Hatshepsut's husband.

圖特摩斯一世傳位給兒子圖特摩斯二世，也就是哈特謝普蘇特的丈夫。

It should have passed from Thutmose II directly to his son Thutmose III, but Thutmose III was a little boy when his father died.

圖特摩斯二世本應直接傳位給兒子圖特摩斯三世，但圖特摩斯三世在父王過世時只是個小男孩。

Hatshepsut, the dead pharaoh's chief wife and widow, stepped in to help as her stepson's regent but ended up ruling beside him as a fully fledged pharaoh.

哈特謝普蘇特身為先王的正妻及未亡人，以攝政的身分輔佐繼子，最後卻與繼子平起平坐，成為一位完全掌權的法老。

Perhaps Thutmose III was angry about this.

或許圖特摩斯三世對此很憤怒。

Perhaps he was the one who erased her images.

他有可能就是抹除她形象的人。

It's also possible that someone wanted to dishonor Hatshepsut because she was a bad pharaoh.

另一個可能是有人想要羞辱哈特謝普蘇特，因為她是位失格的法老。

But the evidence suggests she was actually pretty good.

然而有證據顯示她其實做得還不錯。

She competently fulfilled the traditional roles of the office.

她成功地依循傳統扮演好了法老的角色。

She was a great builder.

她是個偉大的建設者。

Her mortuary temple, Djeser-Djeseru, was an architectural phenomenon at the time and is still admired today.

她的葬祭殿「聖中之聖」是當時的建築奇蹟，至今仍為人讚賞。

She enhanced the economy of Egypt, conducting a very successful trade mission to the distant land of Punt.

她促進埃及的經濟，與遙遠的「龐特」(非洲東海岸) 進行了成功的貿易來往。

She had strong religious connections.

她創造很強的宗教連結。

She even claimed to be the daughter of the state god, Amun.

她甚至自稱是埃及國神「阿蒙神」的女兒。

And she had a successful military career, with a Nubian campaign, and claims she fought alongside her soldiers in battle.

同時，她在與努比亞的戰役中屢建功勳，宣稱自己與士兵們並肩作戰。

Of course, we have to be careful when we assess the success of Hatshepsut's career, since most of the evidence was written by Hatshepsut herself.

當然，我們必須謹慎對待這些所謂「成功」的法老事業，因為這些紀錄大多是由她自己寫下的。

She tells her own story in pictures and writing on the walls of her mortuary temple and the red chapel she built for Amun.

她用圖片和文字述說自己的豐功偉業，這些紀錄存在於她葬祭殿的牆上，以及她為阿蒙神建造的紅色神廟。

So who committed the crimes against Hatshepsut's memory?

所以到底是誰抹煞了有關哈特謝普蘇特的記憶？

The most popular suspect is her stepson, nephew and co-ruler, Thutmose III.

最廣為人知的嫌疑犯是她的繼子、姪子和共同統治者圖特摩斯三世。

Did he do it out of anger because she stole his throne?

他真的是因為氣她竊取王權而這麼做嗎？

This is unlikely since the damage wasn't done until 20 years after Hatshepsut died.

這其實不太可能，因為破壞是在女法老逝世 20 年後才發生的。

That's a long time to hang onto anger and then act in a rage.

以憤怒之下的行為來說，這時間未免拖得太長。

Maybe Thutmose III did it to make his own reign look stronger.

或許圖特摩斯三世這麼做是為了讓自己的統治看起來更強大。

But it is most likely that he or someone else erased the images so that people would forget that a woman ever sat on Egypt's throne.

但最有可能的原因是他或其他人消除記錄，好讓世人忘記曾經有女人統治過埃及。

This gender anomaly was simply too much of a threat to Maat and had to be obliterated from history.

這次性別異常對瑪特女神簡直是莫大威脅，所以必須從歷史中抹去。

Happily, the ancient censors were not quite thorough enough.

幸好，古代的審查不太徹底。

Enough evidence survived for us to piece together what happened, so the story of this unique powerful woman can now be told.

留下足夠的證據讓我們拼湊出事情經過，如今才可以訴說這位一代女法老的故事。