Hatshepsut was the longest reigning of the rare female pharaohs, serving as co-regent from 1479 and somewhere along the line becoming pharaoh in her own right, to her death in 1458 BCE. She is the earliest queen regnant known to history. Hatshepsut claimed that the Temple of Karnak preferred her to her brothers as heir to the throne and often dressed as a man, down to wearing a false beard, to prove she could rule as a pharaoh. She later had her daughter Neferure do likewise although the girl did not survive to succeed to the throne.
