Chess History And Reminiscences
purest quality.
2. A fragment of the Cartouche or oval bearing the royal name, and
once attached to the Throne; the hieroglyphics are very elegantly
carved in relief, with a scroll pattern round the edge, and around
one margin, and a palm frond pattern around the other. About one
fourth of the oval remains, by means of which our distinguished
Egyptologist, Miss Amelia B. Edwards, L.L.D., has been able to
complete the name and identify the throne. On one side is the
great Queen's throne name, Ru-ma-ka. On the other the family name,
Amen Knum Hat Shepsu, commonly read Hatasu. With all its
imperfections it is unique, being the only throne which has ever
been disinterred in Egypt.
3. A female face boldy, but exquisitely carved in dark wood, from
the lid of a coffin, the effigy strongly resembling the face of
the sitting statue of Hatasu in the Berlin Museum: the eyes and
double crown are lost.
4. The Signet: This is a Scarabaeus, in turquoise bearing the
Cartouche of Queen Hatasu, once worn as a ring.
5. The Draught Box and Draughtmen: The box is of dark wood,
divided on its upper side by strips of ivory into 30 squares, on
its under side into 20 squares, 12 being at one end and 8 down the
centre; some of these contained hieroglyphics inlaid, three of
which still remain, also a drawer for holding the draughts.
These draughts consist of about 20 pieces, carved with most
exquisite art and finish in the form of lions' heads--the
hieroglyphic sign for "Hat" in Hatasu. Also two little standing
figures of Egyptian men like pages or attendants, perfect, and
admirable specimens of the delicate Egyptian art. These may have
been markers, or perhaps the principle pieces. Two sides of
another draught box, of blue porcelain and ivory, with which are
two conical draughts of blue porcelain and ivory and three other
ivory pieces.
6. Also parts of two porcelain rings and porcelain rods, probably
for some unknown game.
7. With the above were found a kind of salvo or perfume spoon in
green slate, and a second in alabaster.
The coffin of Thotmes I and the bodies of Thotmes II and III, were
found at Dayr el Baharee in 1881, that of their sister, Queen
Hatasu, had disappeared but her cabinet was there, and is now in
the Boulack Museum, and I have no doubt whatever, says Miss
Edwards, "that this throne and these other relics are from
that tomb."
HIEROGLYPHICS OF ANCIENT EGYPT
NOTE. The name which occurs most frequently on the finest monuments
of Egyptian art is Ramses, which immediately recalls the names of
Rhamses, Ramesses, or Ramestes, and Raamses, (Exod. i., 11)
occuring in Hebrew, Greek and Roman writers, and when we find this
name with all its adjuncts, distinguishing some of the finest
remains of antiquity from the extremity of Nubia to the shores
of the Mediterranean, we are immediately led to ask whether this
must not have been the title of Sesostris. The Flaminian obelisk
at Rome, its copy, the Salustian, the Mahutean, and Medicean, in
the same place; those at El-Ocsor, the ancient Thebes, and a
bilingual inscription at Nahr-el-Kelb, in Syria, all bear this
legend. The power and dominions of this Prince, must therefore
have been of no ordinary magnitude; and such was in fact that of
the Rhamses, whom the priests at Thebes described to Germanicus
as the greatest conqueror who ever lived (Tacit. Annal. 11
p. 78 ed, Elzevir, 1649). But none of the ancient historians give
this name to Sesostris. He is however called Sethos by Manetho who
tells us (Joseph, contra, Apion, 1 p. 1053) that he was also
called Rhamesses, from his grandfather Rhampses, and thus affords
a clue by which all doubt is removed; and as Sethos, Sesostris and
Sessosis, are virtually the same name, and confessedly belong to
the same person, so was the Rhamses of Tacitus and the REMSS of
these hieroglyphical inscriptions, no other than that mighty
conqueror. His grandfather is called Rhameses Meiammun by Manetho
(15th King of the 18th dynasty) and that name appears in the
great palace of Medinet Abu and some other buildings in the ruins
of Thebes, but the one is always named Ramses Ammon-mei and has
distinctive titles different from those of the other. This is alone
sufficient to identify them; for as the Ptolemies were distinguished
by their surnames Philadelphus, Epiphanes, Soter &c., so were the
ancient Egyptian Kings by their peculiar titles, as is manifest
from the double scrolls by which their names are usually expressed.
>From the tomb of Ramses Mei-ammun, in the Biban-el-muluk,
Mr. Belzoni brought the cover of his sarcophagus of red granite,
ornamented with a recumbent figure of the deceased King in the
character of Osiris. It is now preserved in the Fitz-William
Museum at Cambridge, to which it was presented by that justly
regretted traveller.
CORRECTION. The 16th King of the 18th dynasty he must have been
if they were seventeen, for Sesostris in the tables is 1st King
of the 19th dynasty.
------
It is not unreasonable to infer that Egbert and even Offa, at
about the end of the Eighth century may have known chess,
which had become popular during their times, in Arabia, Greece,
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