Bassir: Hatshepsut Dies of Cancer at 50

By: Ali Abu Dashish:

CAIRO, Nov. 5 (SEE)- Archaeologist Dr. Hussein Abdel-Bassir, Director of the Antiquities Museum at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, announced that the renowned Pharaonic Queen ‘Hatshepsut’ died of cancer at the age of 50 and was also diagnosed with diabetes.

This came during a seminar entitled “Pharaonic Queens; Love and Power Drama’ at the Faculty of Tourism, Alexandria University.

Bassir stressed the greatness of ancient Egyptian women and their prominent societal role.

“Pharaonic women were the first females to sovereign. They also had sacred duties at homes, temples and in the royal palace as supporting wives and guardians to uprising kings and queens,” noted Bassir.

Bassir said that this seminar lies within the framework of the library’s archaeological awareness scheme to disseminate factual archaeological science amongst Egyptian youth in cooperation with the Antiquities Museum.

The session was moderated by Dr. Essam Al-Kurdi and attended by a number of professors and students from Alexandria University.

Translated by: Norhan Mahmoud