Thebes, Royal Palace, Hatshepsut’s room
Sitre was Hatshepsut’s wet-nurse and essentially her second mother since Hatshepsut was born. As with all wet-nurses, she came from a rich and ancient family of aristocrats. In Egypt, it was believed that a child adopted the characteristics of women whose milk he or she drank in childhood. Therefore, the selection of wet-nurses was a complicated process. Only a healthy woman who had already had children and was from a noble family, was sensitive, intelligent, and tender, could honor the role of being the mother of the Princess. Sitre, apart from the fact that she met all of these conditions, could also read, write, and behave well.
Sitre's daughter had died without making it to one year of age, due to diarrhea that would not stop, accompanied by hi
