Thutmose IV
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Thutmose IV |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | {{{Alt}}} |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Pharaoh of Egypt |
| DATE OF BIRTH | {{{Birth}}} |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ancient Egypt |
| DATE OF DEATH | {{{Death}}} |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Ancient Egypt |
| Preceded by: Amenhotep II |
Pharaoh of Egypt 18th Dynasty |
Succeeded by: Amenhotep III |
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| Thutmose IV | ||||||||||||||||
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| Reign | 1401 BC – 1391 BC or 1397 BC – 1388 BC |
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| Praenomen |
Menkheperure "Established in forms is Ra" |
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| Nomen |
Thutmose Thoth bore him |
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| Consort(s) | Tiaa, Mutemywia | |||||||||||||||
| Issues | Amenhotep III | |||||||||||||||
| Father | Amenhotep II | |||||||||||||||
| Mother | Tiaa | |||||||||||||||
| Died | 1391 BC or 1388 BC | |||||||||||||||
| Burial | KV43 | |||||||||||||||
Menkheperure Thutmose IV (d. 1391 BC; sometimes spelled Thutmosis) was the 8th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from Egypt from either 1401 BC to 1391 BC or 1397 BC to 1388 BC[1] and is ascribed a reign of 9 Years and 8 Months by Manetho. This figure is affirmed by a Year 8 stela from his reign in Nubia. Thutmose IV was once thought to have enjoyed a much longer reign of 34-35 years but this figure is not substantiated by the small number of monuments which he left behind as compared to those of his son Amenhotep III, and the complete absence of attested Year dates for him after his 8th Year.
Thutmose was born to Amenhotep II and Tiaa; little is known about his brief ten-year rule. He suppressed an uprising in Nubia in his 8th Year around 1393 BC and was referred to in stele as the Conqueror of Syria, but little else has been pieced together of his military exploits. Thutmose established good relations with Mitanni and finally married a Mitannian princess after much negotiations.
Like most Thutmosids he built on a large scale. He completed an obelisk started by Thutmose III, which at 32m (105 ft.) was the tallest ever erected in Egypt, at the Temple of Karnak.
Thutmose's most celebrated accomplishment was the restoration of the Sphinx at Giza and subsequent commission of the Dream Stele. According to Thutmose's account on the Dream Stele, while out on a hunting trip he stopped to rest under the head of the Sphinx, which was buried up to the neck in sand. He soon fell asleep and had a dream in which the Sphinx told him that if he cleared away the sand and restored it he would become the next Pharaoh. After completing the restoration he placed a carved stone tablet, now known as the Dream Stele, between the two paws of the Sphinx.
Some Egyptologists theorize that because Amenhotep II did not name Thutmose IV his co-ruler, he did not intend for him to be his successor and that the restoration of the Sphinx and text of the Dream Stele was meant to bestow legitimacy upon his unexpected kingship.
Thutmose's names in Egyptian hieroglyphs are shown above right. The technical transliteration of this name is dḥwty-ms, which could be realised as Djehutymes. However, his name is more often rendered Thutmose, Thutmoses, or Thutmosis after the Greek spelling of the name. His name means "Thoth bore him". Upon his ascension to the throne, Thutmose took a praenomen. Transliterated mn-ḫprw-r, and realised as Menkheperure, this name means "Established in forms is Ra".
[edit] Burial
Thutmose IV was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in tomb KV43, but his body was moved to the mummy cache in KV35, where it was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. An examination of his body shows that he was very ill and had been wasting away for the final months of his life prior to his death.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Jürgen von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, (1997) p.190
