New Kingdom
Thutmose IV (Menkheperure)
18th Dynasty · 1550-1295 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Thutmose IV, throne name Menkheperure, ruled relatively briefly but left one of the most famous inscriptions of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and shifted Egyptian foreign policy from confrontation to alliance with the powerful kingdom of Mitanni. Modern historians read his most celebrated monument, the Dream Stele, less as a simple religious anecdote than as a carefully constructed justification for an unexpected succession. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum.
Dynastic chronology: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
The dream stele
Thutmose IV is best known for the Dream Stele, a monument erected directly between the paws of the Great Sphinx at Giza. The inscription claims the sun god appeared to him in a dream and promised him the throne if he cleared the desert sand burying the Sphinx. He also shifted Egyptian foreign policy by securing a formal peace treaty with the Mitanni Empire, cementing the new alliance by marrying a Mitannian princess.
The Dream Stele as political legitimacy
Inscriptional evidence suggests Thutmose was not his father Amenhotep II's original heir, and that at least one elder brother predeceased their father under circumstances the historical record does not explain. Many Egyptologists therefore read the Dream Stele less as a straightforward religious account than as carefully crafted propaganda, using a claimed divine mandate to legitimize a succession that bypassed the expected line of inheritance. He also suppressed a minor uprising in Nubia during his reign, recorded in an inscription at Konosso, and continued the diplomatic realignment with Mitanni that would shape Egyptian foreign relations for the next two generations.
Sources for this profile
- Baker, D. D. (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume 1. Stacey International.
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- University College London. Kings of the New Kingdom.
- Reeves, N., & Wilkinson, R. H. (1996). The Complete Valley of the Kings. Thames & Hudson.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.