THE KING'S PROWESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 51, 2 March 1937, Page 7

THE KING'S PROWESS

No little interest and some amusement has been aroused by the inscribed stele, or stone slab, of the ancient Egyptian King Amenhotep II recently discovered at Giza, on which the monarch transcends the customary royal asumption of credit for achievement by an intimate, personal touch in his description of his prowess as an oarsman and athlete. The stele, which was found in the course of Professor Selim Hassan's excavations in the neighbourhood.of the. Sphinx at Giza, records that Amenhotep, when visiting Giza as a young man to pay homage to his ancestors Khufu and Khephren, had rowed a boat for three miles against the stream with an oar twenty ells long without fatigue, while hi 3 boatmen were tired after lowing for half a mile. As a horseman and archer he was no less remarkable. He had trained his horses, to draw his chariot at a gallop without sweating, and shooting from his chariot he had pierced with an arrow copper targets which were as thick as his hand. The stele upon which is the inscription also bears above a representation of the king making offerings to a figure which is said to be identifiable as the god Ra. It was set up in the second year of Amenhotep's reign (1447 8.C.). The expedition of which Professor Selim Hassan is in charge is engaged in clearing the whole area ' adjacent to the Sphinx. "'■■; : ...

The Italian Government'has bestowed on four leading German officials high decorations as a reward for "meritorius service in the cause of ItaloGerman relations." • ■'.