MORTUARY TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT, EGYPT

Learning can be a challenging endeavor especially so when it involves unlearning and relearning lessons. Perhaps the real pain point lies in differing levels of comprehension and maturity. While in middle school, I had a cool history cum geography teacher. Being an ex-archeologist, his exciting excavation adventures would sometimes spark discussions in the classroom. In addition to archeological excavations, we were made aware of certain exorcism rituals practiced by archeologists in my birth country. History classes became much more interesting due to his willingness to share untaught confirmation biases.

In my case, experiential learning works best for me. Nothing beats seeing, tasting, feeling, smelling, hearing, or even digesting information in real-time. Visiting the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut located on the west bank of the Nile was one such unforgettably thought-provoking experience. Back in school, Ramesses II appeared many times in textbooks but never had I heard of Hatshepsut until my arrival in Egypt.

Hatshepsut was the most fascinating and successful female pharaohs throughout my trip to Egypt. Her hieroglyphics presence and statues even in Karnak Temple, a place where outstanding pharaohs boasted about their lifetime accomplishments were vandalized. Some seemingly jealous rival wanted to erase the existence of her reign. Many Egyptologists predicted that it was possibly the handy work of her half-stepson, Thutmose III. She must have been either great at bruising his ego or truly despicable to inspire such a degree of hatred. As it happened thousands of years ago, it's too complicated to be conclusive for sure.

Firstly, my guide told me that the mortuary temple used to be a place filled with lush gardens. Most of us, myself included were conditioned to just accept that desert was a naturally occurring phenomenon so for years no one did anything to reverse dire consequences that could actually be a solution to famine. As the result of countless trials and errors, current evidence now suggests that we could divert our attention to more effective or better farming methods for example crop rotation, planned grazing, and desalination of seawater to prevent over exhausting the land to the point of desertification.

Secondly, the practice of incestuous relationships. Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose II to keep the royal bloodline pure, an excuse to concentrate power and legitimize claim within the royal family was so pervasive that it went on for more than 5000 years. This pervasive evil is still evident in some parts of the world today. From time to time, articles of a father raping his daughter will appear in the newspaper. Human beings were so stubborn that they refused to learn from history. Hatshepsut was unaware that a toxic chemical substance in her skincare, benzopyrene found naturally in coal tar and shale oil to relieve her skin problem, a genetic side effect caused by generations of incests eventually lead to her death. Benzopyrene caused bone cancer after years of exposure.