Like his father, Mentuhotep IV carried on with mining and quarrying in Wadi Hammamat and he is mainly known for the expedition there. The 19 inscriptions left behind by the expedition are the only attestations to the reign o Mentuhotep IV. The expedition in the second year of his reign, led by his vizier, Amenemhet , had a number of extraordinary descriptions in it of miracles -- including a rainstorm in the desert, and a gazelle giving birth on the stone that was to be quarried for the pharaoh's sarcophagus. The sarcophagus lid was quarried in Wadi Hammamat and sailed down the Nile to the tomb in Thebes.

Mentuhotep IV is credited with founding the city of Kuser on the shore of the Red Sea as a harbor for shipbuilding -- all in preparation for his journeys to Punt. Most of the building was overseen by Amenemhet, at the time Mentuhotep IV's vizier.

The fact that Mentuhotep IV is missing from some king lists and that his vizier came to the throne as Amenemhet I leads to the idea that his vizier may have usurped the throne. There doesn't appear to be any evidence of foul play, however. The turin kingliest has a gap of seven years in the list after Mentuhotep III, which may have been filled by his reign or the missing Inyotef IV and Iyibre-Khent.

This means, possibly, that Mentuhotep was considered illegitimate, or that the pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty decided to rewrite history to better support their claim to the throne. The missing kings -- Inyotef IV, Iyibre-khent, and another named Segerseni -- all assumed the royal titulary, (ie, they took on the titles of the king and wrote their names in cartouches and serekhs, as does the pharaoh) which indicates that they opposed his reign. They may have been from the royal family. Each must have thought they more rights to the throne than the son of Mentuhotep III.

However, a stone plate found in Lisht has both names on it -- Mentuhotep IV and Amenemhet I, which may indicate that the vizier assumed the role of co-regent during the last years of Mentuhotep IV's reign. Or, it might indicate that the pharaoh was specifying his successor in his vizier, Amenemhet.

pharaohs

Mentuhotep II
Mentuhotep III
Inyotef IV
Iyibre-Khent
Segerseni
Mentuhotep IV