Heqamaatre Setepenamun Ramesses IV (also written Ramses or Rameses) was the third
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
of the
Twentieth Dynasty
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...
of the
New Kingdom
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
of
Ancient Egypt. He was the second son of
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
and became
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
when his elder brother
Amenherkhepshef
Amenherkhepshef (also Amenherkhepshef D to distinguish him from earlier people of the same name) was an ancient Egyptian prince and a son of Ramesses VI with Queen Nubkhesbed. He lived in the mid 12th century BCE during the Twentieth Dynasty of ...
died aged 15
[A. J. Peden, The Reign of Ramesses IV, Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994.] in 1164 BC, when Ramesses was only 12 years old.
[A. J. Peden, The Reign of Ramesses IV, Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994.] 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 f his father's reign (the date is mentioned in the poem inscribed there)[A. J. Peden, The Reign of Ramesses IV, Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994.]
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 of
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
at
Soleb
Soleb is an ancient town in Nubia, in present-day Sudan. The site is located north of the third
cataract of the Nile, on the western side of the Nile. It was discovered and described by
Karl Richard Lepsius in 1844.
Necropolis
Soleb is also t ...
and all three titles appear on a
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
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 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 father
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
, Ramesses IV was only 21 when he became pharaoh.
[A. J. Peden, The Reign of Ramesses IV, Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994.] His rule has been dated to 1155 to 1149 BC.
Family
It is now believed that Ramesses IV's mother was most likely Queen
Tyti
Tyti was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty. A wife and sister of Ramesses III and possibly the mother of Ramesses IV.
Place of Tyti in the 20th Dynasty
It was once uncertain which pharaoh was her husband, but he can now be identifie ...
from recently discovered notes published in the 2010 issue of the ''
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
The ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA)'' is a bi-annual peer-reviewed international academic journal published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Covering Egyptological research, the JEA publishes scholarly articles, fieldwork reports, and rev ...
''. 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 named
Iset Ta-Hemdjert
Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert, simply called Isis in her tomb, was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Twentieth Dynasty; the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses III and the Royal Mother of Ramesses VI., pp.186-187
She was probably of Asian ori ...
or Isis:
only Ramesses IV and Ramesses VIII
Usermaatre Akhenamun Ramesses VIII (also written Ramses and Rameses) or Ramesses Sethherkhepshef Meryamun ('Set is his Strength, beloved of Amun') (reigned 1130–1129 BC, or 1130 BC), was the seventh Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Ki ...
remain as candidates or the son of Tyti
Or or OR may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* "O.R.", a 1974 episode of M*A*S*H
* Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew)
Music
* ''Or'' (album), a 2002 album by Golden Boy with Miss ...
Given that Ramesses VIII only reigned briefly some 25 years after his father’s death, it is hardly likely that the decoration of QV52
Tyti was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty. A wife and sister of Ramesses III and possibly the mother of Ramesses IV.
Place of Tyti in the 20th Dynasty
It was once uncertain which pharaoh was her husband, but he can now be identifie ...
, 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
Tyti was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty. A wife and sister of Ramesses III and possibly the mother of Ramesses IV.
Place of Tyti in the 20th Dynasty
It was once uncertain which pharaoh was her husband, but he can now be identifie ...
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 13-year-old
[ Manetho, Aegyptiaca, 1994.] son
Ramesses V
Usermaatre Sekheperenre Ramesses V (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the fourth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and was the son of Ramesses IV and Duatentopet.
Reign
Ramesses V's reign was characterized by the continued growth of ...
.
Projects
Ramesses IV came to the throne in difficult circumstances. Ramesses III, his father, was
assassinated by conspirators led by
Tiye
Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. I ...
, one of his secondary wives, to establish
Pentawer
Pentawer (also Pentawere and Pentaweret) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 20th Dynasty, a son of Pharaoh Ramesses III and his secondary wife, Tiye (20th dynasty), Tiye., p.193 He was involved in the so-called "harem conspiracy", a plot to kil ...
, 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 of
Ramesses II
Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...
by doubling the size of the work gangs at
Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina ( arz, دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of ...
to a total of 120 men and dispatching numerous expeditions to the stone quarries of
Wadi Hammamat
Wadi Hammamat ( en, Valley of Many Baths, ''India way; gateway to India'') is a dry river bed in Egypt's Eastern Desert, about halfway between Al-Qusayr and Qena. It was a major mining region and trade route east from the Nile Valley in ancien ...
and the turquoise mines of the
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
. The Great Rock
stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
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
Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile C ...
and 130 stonemasons and quarrymen under the personal command of the High Priest of Amun,
Ramessesnakht
Ramessesnakht was High Priest of Amun during many years in the 20th Dynasty. He was appointed as the High Priest at Thebes under Ramesses IV. He served in office until the reign of Ramesses IX. It was during Ramessesnakht's tenure that the ...
. 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 including
Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
were 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's
Temple of Khonsu
The Temple of Khonsu is an ancient Egyptian temple. It is located within the large Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, in Luxor, Egypt. The edifice is an example of an almost complete New Kingdom temple, and was originally constructed by Ramesses III o ...
at
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...
and the construction of a large mortuary temple near the
Temple of Hatshepsut
The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''Ḏsr-ḏsrw'' meaning "Holy of Holies") is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, ...
. 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 of
Serabit el-Khadim
Serabit el-Khadim ( ar, سرابيط الخادم ; also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim, Serabit el-Khadem) is a locality in the southwest Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, where turquoise was mined extensively in antiquity, mainly by the ancient Egypt ...
. The stela reads:
Year 5, second month of Shomu .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
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 from
Heliopolis.
The most important document to survive from this pharaoh's rule is
Papyrus Harris I
Papyrus Harris I is also known as the Great Harris Papyrus and (less accurately) simply the Harris Papyrus (though there are a number of other papyri in the Harris collection). Its technical designation is ''Papyrus British Museum EA 9999''. At 41 ...
, which honours the life of his father, Ramesses III, by listing the latter's many accomplishments and gifts to the temples of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, and the
Turin papyrus, the earliest known
geologic map
A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bedding planes and structural features such as faults, folds, are shown with st ...
. 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
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
—preserved on a Year 4
stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
at
Abydos—that "thou shalt give me the great age with a long reign
s my predecessor
S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''.
History ...
, the king did not live long enough to accomplish his ambitious goals.
[Clayton, Chronicle, p.167]
After a short reign of about six and a half years, Ramesses IV died and was buried in tomb
KV2
Tomb KV2, found in the Valley of the Kings, is the tomb of Ramesses IV, and is located low down in the main valley, between KV7 and KV1. It has been open since antiquity and contains a large amount of graffiti.
Contemporary plans of the tomb
T ...
in the
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
. His mummy was found in the royal cache of Amenhotep II's tomb
KV35
Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.
Layout and history
It has a dog's leg shape, ...
in 1898.
His chief wife is Queen
Duatentopet
Duatentopet or Tentopet was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty, the wife of Pharaoh Ramesses IV
Heqamaatre Setepenamun Ramesses IV (also written Ramses or Rameses) was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom o ...
or Tentopet or Male who was buried in
QV74. His son,
Ramesses V
Usermaatre Sekheperenre Ramesses V (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the fourth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and was the son of Ramesses IV and Duatentopet.
Reign
Ramesses V's reign was characterized by the continued growth of ...
, would succeed him to the throne.
[Van Dijk, p.307]
Originally, Ramesses IV had a tomb built for him in the
Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens ( ar, وادي الملكات ) is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times. It was known then as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning "the place of beauty". It was most famous for being the burial site ...
,
QV55.
In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...
to the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is a large museum ( ) in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo, Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artefacts, presenting Egyptian ...
along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the
Pharaohs' Golden Parade
The Pharaohs' Golden Parade ( ar, موكب المومياوات الملكية, arz, موكب المميات الملكيه, cop, Ϯϫⲓⲛⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̀ⲛⲓⲫⲁⲣⲁⲱ ⲛ̀ⲛⲟⲩⲃ, Tiḏinouōnh nnipharaō nnoub) was an eve ...
.
See also
*
List of megalithic sites
File:Ring with Ducks-E 11607-Egypte louvre 128.jpg, Ring featuring ducks with Ramesses IV's name
File:Karnak Khonsou 080525.jpg, Relief of Ramesses IV at the Temple of Khonsu
The Temple of Khonsu is an ancient Egyptian temple. It is located within the large Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, in Luxor, Egypt. The edifice is an example of an almost complete New Kingdom temple, and was originally constructed by Ramesses III o ...
References
Further reading
* Gabriella Dembitz, Les inscriptions de Ramsès 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.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramesses 04
12th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
Ancient Egyptian mummies
Ramesses III