Thutmose IV (Menkheperure)
1400 BCE–1390 BCE · New-Kingdom
Thutmose IV (throne-name Menkheperure) was the son of Amenhotep II, best known for the Dream Stele he set between the paws of the Great Sphinx at Giza. The stele records the god's promise that he would gain the kingship if he cleared the sand engulfing the monument; it functions as a royal legitimation text, a claim of divine election, rather than a neutral record. He pursued diplomacy with the kingdom of Mitanni.
Did you know?
He dug the Sphinx out of the sand — 1,100 years after it was carved
The Great Sphinx was carved beside Khafre's pyramid at Giza around 2500 BCE. About eleven centuries later, around 1400 BCE, the young Thutmose IV had it cleared from the sand that had buried it to the neck, and set up a stele between its paws recording that in a dream the sun-god had promised him the throne if he freed the monument.
Meet Khafre →How we know
Great Sphinx conventionally attributed to Khafre (reign c. 2558–2532 BCE), carved c. 2500 BCE; Thutmose IV (reign c. 1400–1390 BCE) cleared it and erected the Dream Stele c. 1400 BCE. Gap: 2500 − 1400 = 1,100 years (~11 centuries).
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Thutmose IV (Menkheperure)’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
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