Ramesses IV
Ramesses IV
| Ramesses IV | |
|---|---|
| Ramses IV, Rameses IV | |
 Limestone ostracon depicting Ramesses IV smiting his enemies. | |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign: | 1155-1149 BC, 20th Dynasty |
| Predecessor: | Ramesses III |
| Successor: | Ramesses V |
Royal titulary[show]
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| Consort(s): | Duatentopet |
| Children: | Ramesses V |
| Mother: | Tyti |
| Died: | 1149 BC |
| Burial: | KV2 |
| Monuments: | Temple of Khonsu at Karnak |
Heqamaatre Ramesses IV (also written Ramses or Rameses) was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. His name prior to assuming the crown was Amonhirkhopshef. He was the fifth son of Ramesses III and was appointed to the position of crown prince by the twenty-second year of his father's reign when all four of his elder brothers predeceased him. His promotion to crown prince:
- 'is suggested by his appearance (suitably entitled) in a scene of the festival of Min at the Ramesses III temple at Karnak, which may have been completed by Year 22 [of his father's reign]. (the date is mentioned in the poem inscribed there)'
As his father's chosen successor the Prince employed three distinctive titles: "Hereditary Prince", "Royal scribe" and "Generalissimo"; the latter two of his titles are mentioned in a text at Amenhotep III's temple at Soleb and all three royal titles appear on a lintel now in Florence, Italy. As heir-apparent he took on increasing responsibilities; for instance, in Year 27 of his father's reign, he is depicted appointing a certain Amenemopet to the important position of Third Prophet of Amun in the latter's TT 148 tomb. Amenemope's Theban tomb also accords prince Ramesses all three of his aforementioned sets of royal titles. Due to the three decade long rule of Ramesses III, Ramesses IV is believed to have been a man in his forties when he took the throne. His rule has been dated to either 1151 to 1145 BC or 1155 to 1149 BC.
Family:
It is now believed that Ramesses IV's mother was most likely Queen Tyti from recently discovered notes published in the 2010 issue of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. They reveal that Tyti—who was both a king's daughter, a king's wife and a king's mother in her own right—was identified in Papyrus BM EA 10052 (i.e. the tomb-robbery papyri) to be a queen of Ramesses III, Ramesses IV's father. The 2010 JEA article authors--including Aidan Dodson--write that since Ramesses VI's mother is known to be a certain lady named Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis:
- "only Ramesses IV and Ramesses VIII remain as candidates [for the mother of Ramesses IV]. Given that Ramesses VIII only reigned briefly some 25 years after his father’s death, it is hardly likely that the decoration of QV52, with the mwt-nsw (i.e. king's mother) title intimately mixed with Tyti’s other titles, could have been delayed this late to refer to him. This leaves Ramesses IV as the only credible primary 'subject' of the mwt-nsw title in the tomb. As for which--if any--of the other sons of Ramesses III were borne to Tyti, no unequivocal data is available, other than the fact that Amenhirkhopeshef B, buried in QV55, was ms n Hmt-nTr mwt-nTr Hmt-nsw-wrt, paralleling Tyti's titles so closely that he may with some confidence be proposed as her son."
Thus the identity of Ramesses IV's mother has been resolved in favour of Queen Tyti who was once erroneously thought to be the mother of another king in the mid-1980s: Ramesses XI. Ramesses IV was succeeded to the throne by his son Ramesses V.
Projects:
Ramses IV offering two Nu vases, British Museum.
 At the start of his reign, the pharaoh initiated a substantial building campaign program on the scale of Ramesses II by doubling the size of the work gangs at Deir el-Medina to a total of 120 men and dispatching numerous expeditions to the stone quarries of Wadi Hammamat and the turquoise mines of the Sinai. The Great Rock stela of Ramesses IV at Wadi Hammamat records that the largest expedition—dated to his Year 3, third month of Shemu day 27—consisted of 8,368 men alone including 5,000 soldiers, 2,000 personnel of the Amun temples, 800 Apiru and 130 stonemasons and quarrymen under the personal command of the High Priest of Amun, Ramessesnakht. The scribes who composed the text conscientiously noted that this figure excluded 900 men "who are dead and omitted from this list." Consequently, once this omitted figure is added to the tally of 8,368 men who survived the Year 3 quarry expedition, a total of 900 men out of an original expedition of 9,268 men perished during this massive endeavour for a mortality rate of almost 10%. This gives an indication of the harshness of life in Egypt's stone quarries. Some of the stones which were dragged 60 miles to the Nile from Wadi Hammamat weighed 40 tons or more. Other Egyptian quarries including Aswan were located much closer to the Nile which enabled them to use barges to transport stones long distances.
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Attestations:
Relief of Ramesses IV at the Temple of Khonsu in Karnak
Relief of Ramesses IV at the Temple of Khonsu in Karnak
Ramesses IV is attested by his aforementioned building activity at Wadi Hammamat and Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai as well as several papyri and even one obelisk. The creation of a royal cult in the Temple of Hathor is known under his reign at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai while Papyrus Mallet (or P. Louvre 1050) dates to Years 3 and 4 of his reign. Papyrus Mallet is a six column text dealing partly with agricultural affairs; its first column lists the prices for various commodities between Year 31 of Ramesses III until Year 3 of Ramesses IV. The final four columns contain a memorandum of 2 letters composed by the Superintendent of Cattle of the Estate of Amen-Re, Bakenkhons, to several mid-level administrators and their subordinates. Meanwhile, surviving monuments of Ramesses IV in the Delta consists of an obelisk recovered in Cairo and a pair of his cartouches found on a pylon gateway both originally from Heliopolis.
The most important document to survive from this pharaoh's rule is Papyrus Harris I, which honours the life of his father, Ramesses III, by listing the latter's many accomplishments and gifts to the temples of Egypt, and the Turin papyrus, the earliest known geologic map. Ramesses IV was perhaps the last New Kingdom king to engage in large-scale monumental building after his father as "there was a marked decline in temple building even during the longer reigns of Ramesses IX and VI. The only apparent exception was the attempt of Ramesses V and VI to continue the vast and uncompleted mortuary temple of Ramesses IV at the Assasif."
Death:
Despite Ramesses IV's many endeavours for the gods and his prayer to Osiris—preserved on a Year 4 stela at Abydos—that "thou shalt give me the great age with a long reign [as my predecessor]", the king did not live long enough to accomplish his ambitious goals.
After a short reign of about six and a half years, Ra
Ushabti of Ramses IV, Musée du Louvre.
messes IV died and was buried in tomb KV2 in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was found in the royal cache of Amenhotep II's tomb KV35 in 1898. His chief wife is Queen Duatentopet or Tentopet or Male who was buried in QV74. His son, Ramesses V, would succeed him to the throne.
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