Ramesses IV

Ramesses IV
Ramses IV, Rameses IV
Ramesses IV offering two Nu vases, British Museum.
Pharaoh
Reign	1155–1149 BC
Predecessor	Ramesses III
Successor	Ramesses V
Royal titulary Horus name Horus Kanekhet Ankhemmaat Nebkhabused mi Itef Ptah Tatenen K3-nḫt-ˁnḫ-m-m3ˁ.t-nb-ḥ3bw-sd-mj-jt.f-Ptḥ-T3-ṯnn Horus, the strong bull, hisMaatlives, master of theHeb-Sedlike his fatherPtah-Tatenen Nebty name Mekemetwaf Pedjut-9 Mk-kmt-wˁf-pḏwt-9 The protector of Egypt, he who vanquishes the 9 bows(the enemies of Egypt) Golden Horus Wser Renput Wer Nekhetu Wsr-rnpwt-wr-nḫtw The golden falcon, rich in years, whose victories are great Prenomen (Praenomen) Usermaatre Heqamaatre Setepenamun Wsr-m3ˁ.t-Rˁ-stp.n-Jmn Rich in Maat like Ra, the chosen one of Amun After the second year Heqamaatre Setepenamun Ḥq3-m3ˁ.t-Rˁ-stp.n-Jmn Ruler of the Maat like Ra, the chosen one of Amun Nomen Ramesisu Heqamaat Meriamun Rˁ-msj-sw-ḥq3-m3ˁt-mrj-Jmn Rahas fashioned him, ruler of theMaat,beloved ofAmun
Consort	Duatentopet(half-sister)
Children	Ramesses V
Father	Ramesses III
Mother	Tyti
Born	1176 BC
Died	1149 BC (aged 27)
Burial	KV2;Mummy found in theKV35 royal cache(Theban Necropolis)
Monuments	Temple ofKhonsuatKarnak
Dynasty	Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt

Usermaatre Heqamaatre SetepenamunRamesses IV(also writtenRamsesorRameses) was the thirdpharaohof theTwentieth Dynastyof theNew KingdomofAncient Egypt.He was the second son ofRamesses IIIand becamecrown princewhen his elder brotherAmenherkhepshefdied aged 15in 1164 BC, when Ramesses was only 12 years old.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 titles are mentioned in a text at the temple ofAmenhotep IIIatSoleband all three titles appear on alintelnow 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 Amenemope 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.Despite the 31-year reign of his fatherRamesses III,Ramesses IV was only 21 when he became pharaoh.His rule has been dated to 1155 to 1149 BC.

Family

It is now believed that Ramesses IV's mother was most likely QueenTytifrom recently discovered notes published in the 2010 issue of theJournal of Egyptian Archaeology.They reveal that Tyti—who was 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 namedIset Ta-Hemdjertor Isis:

only Ramesses IV andRamesses VIIIremain as candidates [for the son of Tyti]. Given that Ramesses VIII only reigned briefly some 25 years after his father’s death, it is hardly likely that the decoration ofQV52,with themwt-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 themwt-nswtitle 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,wasms 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 QueenTytiwho 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 13-year-oldsonRamesses V.

Projects

Fragment of the "Journal of the Necropolis" concerning the change of reignRamesses IIIto Ramesses IV.Museo Egizio,Turin.

Limestoneostracondepicting Ramesses IV smiting his enemies.

Statue of Ramesses IV, nomen and prenomen cartouches on shoulders, currently housed in the British Museum

Ramesses IV came to the throne in difficult circumstances. Ramesses III, his father, wasassassinated by conspiratorsled byTiye,one of his secondary wives, to establishPentawer,her own son and Ramesses IV's half-brother, on the throne.Ramesses IV, however, was able to secure himself on the throne, and had the conspirators arrested and executed.

At the start of his reign, the pharaoh initiated a substantial building program on the scale ofRamesses IIby doubling the size of the work gangs atDeir el-Medinato a total of 120 men and dispatching numerous expeditions to the stone quarries ofWadi Hammamatand the turquoise mines of theSinai.The Great Rockstelaof 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, 800Apiruand 130 stonemasons and quarrymen under the personal command of the High Priest of Amun,Ramessesnakht.The scribes who composed the text also noted that this figure included 900 men "who are dead and omitted from this list."Consequently, once this omitted figure is included to the tally of 8,368 men who served in the Year 3 quarry expedition, a total of 900 men out of an original expedition of 8,368 men perished during this endeavour for a mortality rate of 10.7%. Some of the stones which were dragged 60 miles to the Nile from Wadi Hammamat weighed 40 tons or more.Other Egyptian quarries includingAswanwere located much closer to the Nile which enabled them to use barges to transport stones long distances.

Part of the king's program included the extensive enlargement of his father'sTemple of KhonsuatKarnakand the construction of a large mortuary temple near theTemple of Hatshepsut.Ramesses IV also sent several expeditions to the turquoise mines in the Sinai; a total of four expeditions are known prior to his fourth year. The Serabit el-Khadim stela of the Royal Butler Sobekhotep states: "Year 3, third month of Shemu. His Majesty sent his favoured and beloved one, the confident of his lord, the Overseer of the Treasury of Silver and Gold, Chief of the Secrets of the august Palace, Sobekhotep, justified, to bring for him all that his heart desired of turquoise (on)his fourth expedition."This expedition dates to either Ramesses III or IV's reign since Sobekhotep is attested in office until at least the reign of Ramesses V.Ramesses IV's final venture to the turquoise mines of the Sinai is documented by the stela of a senior army scribe named Panufer. Panufer states that this expedition's mission was both to procure turquoise and to establish a cult chapel of king Ramesses IV at the Hathor temple ofSerabit el-Khadim.The stela reads:

Year 5, second month of Shomu [i.e., summer]. The sending by His Majesty <to> build the Mansion of Millions of Years of Ramesses IV in the temple of Hathor, Lady of Turquoise, by Panefer, the Scribe of the Commands of the Army, son of Pairy, justified.

While little is known regarding the route that the mining missions took from Egypt to Serabit el-Khadim, A. J. Peden, who wrote a biography of Ramesses IV in 1994, states that there were "two obvious routes" to reach this site:

The first was a straightforward march from a Delta base, such as Memphis, east south-east and then south into Sinai. Surviving a march in this inhospitable land would have presented formidable logistical obstacles, perhaps forcing an alternative route to be adopted. This would involve a departure from the Delta to a site near the modern port of Suez. From here they could have proceeded by boat to the ports of Abu Zenima or El-Markha on the west coast of the Sinai peninsula and from there it is a short journey inland of only a day or two to the actual site of Serabit el-Khadim.

Attestations

Relief of Ramesses IV at the Temple of Khonsu inKarnak

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 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 fromHeliopolis.

The most important document to survive from this pharaoh's rule isPapyrus Harris I,which honours the life of his father, Ramesses III, by listing the latter's many accomplishments and gifts to the temples ofEgypt,and theTurin papyrus,the earliest knowngeologic 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."

Levant

At Beirut, a 12th century burial shaft included a bone amulet with the cartouche of Ramesses IV.

Death

Ushabtiof Ramses IV,Musée du Louvre.

Despite Ramesses IV's many endeavours for the gods and his prayer toOsiris—preserved on a Year 4stelaatAbydos—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.Ramesses IV's highest known date in the archaeological records is a Year 7, IIIAkhetday 23ostraconwhich, under the Egyptian dating system, meant that this ruler had a reign of just more than 6 full years.

After a short reign of about six and a half years, Ramesses IV died and was buried in tombKV2in theValley of the Kings.His mummy was found in the royal cache of Amenhotep II's tombKV35in 1898.His chief wife is QueenDuatentopetor Tentopet or who was buried inQV74.His son,Ramesses V,would succeed him to the throne.

Originally, Ramesses IV had a tomb built for him in theValley of the Queens,QV53.

In April 2021 his mummy was moved from theMuseum of Egyptian Antiquitiesto theNational Museum of Egyptian Civilizationalong with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed thePharaohs' Golden Parade.

Gallery

• 
  Ring featuring ducks with Ramesses IV's name
• 
  Relief of Ramesses IV at theTemple of Khonsu
• 
  The Mummy ofRamesses IV

Further reading

• Gabriella Dembitz, Les inscriptions de Ram sắc s IV de l'allée processionnelle nord-sud à Karnak révisées. Karnak Varia (§6), in: Cahiers de Karnak 16 (2017), 167-178.
• David F. Wieczorek, A Rock Inscription of Ramesses IV at Gebelein, a previously unknown New Kingdom expedition, in: Études et Travaux XXVIII (2015), 217-229.