Despite Mentuhotep's obscurity (he is absent from the official king lists in Abydos), the inscriptions show the organization and makeup of a large expedition during his reign. 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 Amenemhat I, the first king of the 12th Dynasty, and Mentuhotep's immediate successor.
A fragment of a slate bowl found at Lisht North was regarded for a long time to be inscribed on the outside with the official titulary of Mentuhotep IV, and on the inside with that of King Amenemhat I, his successor. Since the two inscriptions are incised in a different style of writing, according to Dorothea Arnold, this indicates that Amenemhat had his name added to an older vessel that already bore the name of Mentuhotep IV. However, Peter Janosi showed that Mentuhotep IV is not mentioned on the bowl, the titulary preserved there fits better to Mentuhotep II.
It is assumed by some Egyptologists that Amenemhat 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 Amenemhat to be his designated successor. Neither his mummy nor his burial place have been found.
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