Ramesses IV - Family

Family

It is now currently believed that Ramesses IV's mother was most likely Queen Tyti from recently discovered notes published in the 2010 issue of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. They reveal that Tyti—who was both a king's daughter, a king's wife and a king's mother in her own right—was identified in Papyrus BM EA 10052 (i.e. the tomb-robbery papyri) to be a queen of Ramesses III, Ramesses IV's father. The 2010 JEA authors write that since Ramesses VI's mother is known to be a certain lady named Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis:

"only Ramesses IV and Ramesses VIII remain as candidates . Given that Ramesses VIII only reigned briefly some 25 years after his father’s death, it is hardly likely that the decoration of QV 52, with the mwt-nsw (i.e. king's mother) title intimately mixed with Tyti’s other titles, could have been delayed this late to refer to him. This leaves Ramesses IV as the only credible primary 'subject' of the mwt-nsw title in the tomb. As for which--if any--of the other sons of Ramesses III were borne to Tyti, no unequivocal data is available, other than the fact that Amenhirkhopeshef B, buried in QV 55,24 was ms n Hmt-nTr mwt-nTr Hmt-nsw-wrt, paralleling Tyti’s titles so closely that he may with some confidence be proposed as her son."

Thus the identity of Ramesses IV's mother has been resolved in favour of Queen Tyti who was once erroneously thought to be the mother of another king in the mid-1980s: Ramesses XI. Ramesses IV was succeeded to the throne by his son Ramesses V.