Quick Facts
- Reign c. 1401–1391 BCE (about 10 years)
- Dynasty 18th Dynasty
- Predecessor Amenhotep II (father)
- Successor Amenhotep III (son)
- Known for The Dream Stele at the Great Sphinx; a peace treaty with the Mitanni Empire
- Where to see his era The Great Sphinx and Dream Stele, Giza; Valley of the Kings (KV43)
Between the paws of the Great Sphinx at Giza stands a granite slab carved with an unusual origin story: a young prince fell asleep in the Sphinx’s shade, dreamed that the sun god Ra-Horakhty promised him the throne if he cleared the sand burying the statue, and woke up believing his path to kingship was divinely sealed. That prince was Thutmose IV — and whichever came first, the dream or the political need for one, the story did exactly the work he needed it to do.
An Unexpected Heir Writes His Own Legitimacy
Thutmose IV was born to Amenhotep II with several brothers ahead of him in line, and nothing about his early life suggests he was raised as the expected heir. The Dream Stele account — of Ra-Horakhty’s promise, contingent on clearing the Sphinx’s sand — reads less like a private vision and more like a public argument: in a succession that could otherwise be challenged, a stele claiming direct divine backing was hard to contest.
The Dream Stele Itself
The stele is one of Egypt’s more striking artifacts, both for its content and its physical presence. Carved from granite, it stands 3.6 meters tall and weighs around 15 tons, set as the back wall of a small chapel Thutmose IV built between the Sphinx’s paws. Beyond the succession story, it also reinforces a broader idea in Egyptian religion: that the Sphinx itself was a manifestation of the sun god, and that legitimate kingship flowed from solar worship as much as from bloodline.
Diplomacy Over War
Thutmose IV’s roughly ten-year reign leaned toward stability rather than conquest. His signature achievement was a treaty with the Mitanni Empire — Egypt’s long-standing rival in the Near East — sealed by his marriage to a Mitanni princess, a classic ancient diplomatic move that traded a royal daughter for a durable peace. He also promoted solar worship, restored the Sphinx itself, and continued Egypt’s tradition of temple building, though on a scale well short of what his son would later achieve.
Family and What Came After
Thutmose IV’s marriages to Iaret and Mutemwiya produced Amenhotep III, who would preside over Egypt’s wealthiest and most artistically ambitious era, and, a generation further on, Akhenaten, who would try to unmake much of what his grandfather’s dynasty had built. Thutmose IV’s own reign reads almost as a hinge point: a shift from the military expansion of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II toward the diplomacy and monumental peace that defined Amenhotep III’s Egypt.
Tomb KV43
Thutmose IV was buried in KV43 in the Valley of the Kings — discovered in the 20th century, already looted by the time archaeologists reached it, but still decorated with scenes from the Book of the Dead and other funerary texts that illustrate how royal burial practice was evolving mid-dynasty.
Setting the Tone for a Golden Age
Thutmose IV rarely makes anyone’s list of Egypt’s great pharaohs, and his reign is genuinely modest next to the names around it. But the shift he represents — from succession by force to succession by claimed divine mandate, from constant campaigning to negotiated peace — set the tone for the golden age his son would rule over.
Visiting Today
The Great Sphinx and Dream Stele are included in the general Giza Plateau admission; the plateau is open daily. The Dream Stele itself sits in a roped-off area between the Sphinx’s paws and is viewed from a designated platform rather than up close. His tomb, KV43, appears occasionally on the Valley of the Kings’ rotating list of included tombs — check the board at the entrance gate on the day.