Ramses IV

Ramesses IV
Ramses IV, Rameses IV
Ramesses IV offering two Nu vases, British Museum.
Pharaoh
Reign	1155-1149 BC (20th Dynasty)
Predecessor	Ramesses III
Successor	Ramesses V
Royal titulary
Consort	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 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. 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.

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 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 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.