Thutmose IV

Thutmose IV was the eighth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for about 10 years in the 14th century BC. He was the son of Amenhotep II and Tiaa, but he was not the crown prince and had to usurp the throne from his elder brother. He is best known for his restoration of the Great Sphinx of Giza and his commission of the Dream Stele, which recounts a dream he had that promised him the kingship if he cleared the sand around the Sphinx. He also established peaceful relations with the Mitanni empire of northern Syria and married a Mitannian princess to seal the alliance. He built a large obelisk in Thebes, which is now in Rome, and a mortuary temple in western Thebes. He also left memorials in Memphis, where he spent his youth. He showed some personal devotion to the Aton, the sun disk, which would later become the focus of his grandson Akhenaten’s religious revolution. He died around the age of 20 and was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His son Amenhotep III succeeded him and became one of the most prosperous and powerful pharaohs of Egypt.