Mentuhotep IV

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Mentuhotep IV
Mentuhotep IV (right) gives offerings to Min. From Wadi Hammamat
Mentuhotep IV (right) gives offerings to Min. From Wadi Hammamat
Pharaoh
Reign1997–1991 BC[1]
PredecessorMentuhotep III
SuccessorAmenemhat I
Royal titulary
Horus name
Nebtawy
Nb-t3.w(j)
Lord of the Two Lands[2]
G5
nbN16
N16
Nebty name
Nebtawy
Nb-t3.w(j)
Lord of the Two Lands
G16
nbN16
N16
Golden Horus
Neteru Nebu
NTrw-nbw
Gold of the gods
G8
R8A
S12
Prenomen  (Praenomen)
Nebtawyre
Nb-t3.w(j)-Rˁ
Lord of the
Two Lands is Ra[3]
M23L2
ra
nb		 N16
N16
Nomen
Mentuhotep
Mn-ṯw-ḥtp
Montu is Content[4]
G39N5
mn
n
T		 wHtp
t p
MotherImi (King's Mother)
Died1991 BC
Dynasty
11th dynasty

Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the

Turin Canon
for which there is no recorded king.

Family

King's Mother Imi

In Wadi Hammamat, a rock inscription (Hammamat M 191) with the royal name of Mentuhotep IV also mentions King's Mother Imi.[5] This monument only focus on the title King's Mother, presumably the mother of Mentuhotep IV. It does not include other titles like King's Wife, King's Sister or King's Daughter. Some have speculated that she was a concubine in the royal harem.

Mentuhotep III or Mentuhotep II

It is not certain who the father of Mentuhotep IV was. Most scholars suggest that he was the son and successor of Mentuhotep III. However, it is also possible that he was a son of Mentuhotep II, thus a brother or half-brother of Mentuhotep III. The fact that he has been omitted from several king lists indicate that there was a crisis in the order of succession. He also represents the last king of the eleventh dynasty, and his reign is poorly documented indicating turmoil.

Rock inscriptions

He is known from several inscriptions at several locations, despite his reign being omitted from the

Abydos king list
. The inscriptions show the organization and makeup of a large expedition during his reign.

Wadi el-Hudi

Also, he is attested by the inscriptions at Wadi el-Hudi.[6]

  • Wadi el-Hudi 1 dated to Year 1
  • Wadi el-Hudi 2 dated to Year 1
  • Wadi el-Hudi 3 dated to Year 1
  • Wadi el-Hudi 4 dated to Year 1

Ain Sukhna

At the Red Sea port of

Ain Sukhna expeditions went to places like the Wadi Maghareh in the Sinai. Products like turquoise and copper were transported to Memphis some 120 km across the sand tracks of the Eastern Desert. Or perhaps transported along the Red Sea coast further south to the port of Mersa Gawasis. Inscriptions dated to Mentuhotep IV have been found.[7]

Year 1, arrival of the king’s men; workforce: 3000, to bring back turquoise, copper,3 bronze (?) and all fine products of the desert.[8] [rnpt-zp 1: jwt mšʿ n nswt; ṯnw n mšʿ pn 3000 n s r jnt mfkȝt, bjȝ, ḥsmn (?), jnw nb(w) nfr(w) n ḫȝst]

Wadi Hammamat (Eastern Desert)

He is known from a few inscriptions in

12th Dynasty
, and Mentuhotep's immediate successor.

  • Hammamat G 52
  • Hammamat G 53
  • Hammamat G 54 dated to Year 2
  • Hammamat G 55
  • Hammamat G 56
  • Hammamat G 57 dated to Year 2
  • Hammamat G 58
  • Hammamat G 59
  • Hammamat G 60
  • Hammamat G 73
  • Hammamat G 140
  • Hammamat M 1
  • Hammamat M 40
  • Hammamat M 55
  • Hammamat M 105
  • Hammamat M 110 dated to Year 2 by Vizier Amenemhat {jrj-pꜥt; jmj-rꜣ njwt; ṯꜣtj; jmj-rꜣ kꜣt nsw n mḥ-jb jmn-m-ḥꜣt}
  • Hammamat M 113 dated to Year 2 by Vizier Amenemhat {jrj-pꜥt; jmj-rꜣ njwt; ṯꜣtj; jmj-rꜣ kꜣt nsw n mḥ-jb jmn-m-ḥꜣt}
  • Hammamat M 191
  • Hammamat M 192 dated to Year 2 by Vizier Amenemhat {jrj-pꜥt; jmj-rꜣ njwt; ṯꜣtj; jmj-rꜣ kꜣt nsw n mḥ-jb jmn-m-ḥꜣt}
  • Hammamat M 205 by Vizier Amenemhat {jrj-pꜥt; jmj-rꜣ njwt; ṯꜣtj jmn-m-ḥꜣt}
  • Hammamat M 241

Other attestations

A fragment of a slate bowl found at Lisht North was regarded for a long time to be inscribed on the outside with the official titulary of Mentuhotep IV, and on the inside with that of King Amenemhat I, his successor. Since the two inscriptions are incised in a different style of writing, according to Dorothea Arnold, this indicates that Amenemhat had his name added to an older vessel that already bore the name of Mentuhotep IV.[9] However, Peter Janosi showed that Mentuhotep IV is not mentioned on the bowl, the titulary preserved there fits better to Mentuhotep II.[10]

End of reign

It is assumed by some Egyptologists that Amenemhat either usurped the throne or assumed power after Mentuhotep IV died childless. There is currently no archaeological or textual evidence to prove that Mentuhotep was deposed by his vizier or that he chose Amenemhat to be his designated successor. Neither his

mummy
nor his burial place have been found.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-7864-2562-8
    .
  2. ^ Mentuhotep IV's titulary on Eglyphica.de
  3. ^ King List (chronological)
  4. ISBN 0-500-28628-0
  5. ^ "Hammamat M 191 | Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom".
  6. ^ Fakhry, Ahmed (1952). The Inscriptions of the Amethyst Quarries at Wadi el Hudi.
  7. ISBN 9782724703221
    .
  8. ^ Mahmoud Abd el-Raziq, Georges Castel, Pierre Tallet, Grégory Marouard (2012) The Pharaonic Site of Ayn Soukhna in the Gulf of Suez 2001-2009 Progress Report
  9. ^ Dorothea Arnold, Amenemhat I and the Early Twelfth Dynasty at Thebes. Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 26 (1991)
  10. S2CID 192546924
    .

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mentuhotep IV.
Preceded by Pharaoh of Egypt
Eleventh Dynasty
1998 BC – 1991 BC 		Succeeded by
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