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Mentuhotep IV
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	1998–1991 BC,  11th dynasty
Predecessor	Mentuhotep III
Successor	Amenemhat I
Royal titulary Prenomen:  Neb-tawy-re Lord of the Two Lands is Re[1] Nomen:  Mentu-hotep Montu is Content[2]
Died	1991 BC

Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the 11th Dynasty. He seems to fit into a 7 year period in the Turin Canon for which there is no recorded king, and is known from a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments.

Despite being obscure (he is absent from the official king lists in Abydos), the inscriptions show the organization and makeup of a large expedition. The leader of an expedition to Wadi Hammamat, during the second year of Mentuhotep IV’s reign, was his vizier, Amenemhat, who is assumed to be the future king Amenemhet I, the first king of the 12th Dynasty, and Mentuhotep's immediate successor. It is assumed by some Egyptologists that Amenemhet 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 Amenemhet to be his designated successor.

References

Further reading

• W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0-7156-3435-6, 25-26