Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq IV ruled Egypt's

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 22nd Dynasty

Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period.-Rulers:...

 between the reigns of Shoshenq III

Shoshenq III

King Usermaatre Setepenre or Usimare Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign and he celebrated his Heb Sed Jubilee in his regnal year 30...

 and Pami

Pami

Usermaatre Setepenre Pami was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 7 years. He was a member of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans who had been living in the country since the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt when their ancestors infiltrated into the Egyptian Delta from Libya...

. This Pharaoh's existence was first argued by David Rohl

David Rohl

New Chronology is the term used to describe an alternative Chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History in 1995...

but the British Egyptologist Aidan Dodson settled the issue in a seminal GM 137(1993) article. Dodson's arguments here for the existence of a new Tanite king called Shoshenq IV is accepted by all Egyptologists today including J. Von Beckerath and Kenneth Kitchen

Kenneth Kitchen

Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...

– the latter in the preface to the third edition of his book on the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt." While Shoshenq IV shared the same prenomen as his illustrious ancestor Shoshenq I

Shoshenq I

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I , , also known as Sheshonk or Sheshonq I , was a Meshwesh Berber king of Egypt—of Libyan ancestry—and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty...

, he is distinguished from Shoshenq I by his use of an especially long nomen–Shoshenq Meryamun Si-Bast Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon which featured both the Si-Bast and Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon epithets. These two epithets were gradually employed by the 22nd Dynasty Pharaohs starting from the reign of Osorkon II

Osorkon II

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, the capital of this Dynasty. After succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin,...

. In contrast, Shoshenq I's nomen reads simply as "Shoshenq Meryamun" while neither Shoshenq I, Osorkon I

Osorkon I

The son of Shoshenq I and his chief consort, Karomat A, Osorkon I was the second king of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty and ruled around 922 BC – 887 BC. He succeeded his father Shoshenq I who probably died within a year of his successful 923 BC campaign against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah...

 nor Takelot I

Takelot I

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot I was a son of Osorkon I and Queen Tashedkhons who ruled Egypt for 13 Years according to Manetho. Takelot would marry Queen Kapes who bore him Osorkon II...

 ever used any epithets beyond the standard 'Meryamun' (Beloved of Amun) form during their reigns. Aidan Dodson--in his 1994 book on the Canopic

Canopic jar

Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery...

 Equipment of the kings of Egypt--perceptively observes that when the Si-Bast epithet "appears during the dynasty of Osorkon II

Osorkon II

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, the capital of this Dynasty. After succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin,...

," it is rather infrequent while the Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon epithet is only exclusively attested "in the reigns of that monarch's successors"--ie: Shoshenq III, Shoshenq IV, Pami

Pami

Usermaatre Setepenre Pami was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 7 years. He was a member of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans who had been living in the country since the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt when their ancestors infiltrated into the Egyptian Delta from Libya...

 and Shoshenq V. This means that Shoshenq IV was a late Tanite era king who ruled Egypt after Shoshenq III. His prenomen

Fivefold Titulary

The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian Pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt. It symbolises worldly power and holy might and also acts as a sort of mission statement for the reign of a monarch .The full titulary, consisting of five names, did not...

 is explicitly attested on a published Year 10 stela (St. Petersburg Hermitage 5630) which bears his unique long form titulary. This stela mentions the Chief of the Libu

Meshwesh

The Meshwesh were an ancient Libyan tribe from beyond Cyrenaica where the Libu and Tehenu lived according to Egyptian references and who were probably of Central Berber ethnicity. Herodotus placed them in Tunisia and said of them to be sedentary farmers living in settled permanent houses as the...

, Niumateped, who is also attested in office in Year 8 of Shoshenq V. Since the title 'Chief of the Libu' is only first documented in use from Year 31 of Shoshenq III onwards, this new king again can only have ruled after Shoshenq III.

Burial

Like Shoshenq III, Shoshenq IV was not a son of his predecessor and the exact grounds for his claim to the throne are unknown. He ruled Egypt between Shoshenq III

Shoshenq III

King Usermaatre Setepenre or Usimare Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign and he celebrated his Heb Sed Jubilee in his regnal year 30...

 and Pami

Pami

Usermaatre Setepenre Pami was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 7 years. He was a member of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans who had been living in the country since the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt when their ancestors infiltrated into the Egyptian Delta from Libya...

 for either 12 or 13 Years based on different Egyptologists' interpretation of his reign. According to Dodson, excavation work in the looted NRT V Tanite tomb of Shoshenq III revealed the presence of 2 sarcophagi

Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...

: one inscribed for Usermaatre Setepenre Shoshenq III and the other being an anonymous sarcophagus. The unmarked sarcophagus, however, "was clearly a secondary introduction" according to its position in the tomb. In the tomb's debris, several fragments were found from one or two canopic jar

Canopic jar

Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery...

s bearing the name "Hedjkheperre-Setpenre-meryamun-sibast-Netjerheqaon." Since the epithet Netjerheqaon was never employed by the 22nd Dynasty kings until the reign of Shoshenq III

Shoshenq III

King Usermaatre Setepenre or Usimare Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign and he celebrated his Heb Sed Jubilee in his regnal year 30...

, this is clear evidence that Shoshenq IV was buried in Shoshenq III's Tanite tomb and must have succeeded this king; it also establishes that the king buried here was certainly not Shoshenq I.

NOTE: The original king Shoshenq IV in pre-1993 books and journal articles has been renamed Shoshenq VI

Shoshenq VI

Shoshenq VI is known to be Pedubast I's immediate successor at Thebes based upon the career of the Letter Writer to Pharaoh Hor IX, who served under Osorkon II and Pedubast I...

 by Egyptologists because he was a Theban

Thebes, Egypt

Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

 king who is only attested by Upper Egyptian

Upper and Lower Egypt

Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, namely Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Syene. The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united c....

documents. He was never a king of the Tanite 22nd Dynasty of Egypt.