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Bird, H. E. (Henry Edward), 1830-1908

"Chess History and Reminiscences"

C., and constructed Medinet Abu,
and is pronounced most likely to be the monarch represented on
its walls. His title is Ramses, and he is considered to have been
the grandfather of Sesostris 1st of the 19th dynasty, whose reign is
stated as from 1473 to 1418 B.C.
Some discussion arose in chess circles in 1872 in reference to
Mr. Disraeli's mention of chess in one of his books. Chapter 16 of
"Alroy" begins--"Two stout soldiers were playing chess in a
coffee-house," and Mr. Disraeli inserts on this the following note
(80). On the walls of the palace of Amenoph II, called Medinet
Abuh, at Egyptian Thebes, the King is represented playing chess
with the Queen. This monarch reigned long before the Trojan
war.
A writer, who styled himself the author of Fossil Chess, in
criticising the above, refers to Sir Gardiner Wilkinson's work,
"A popular account of the ancient Egyptians, which declares the
game to resemble draughts, the pieces being uniform in pattern."
The same critic further remarks, "In the same work may be
found some account of the paintings in the tomb of Beni Hassan,
presumably the oldest in Egypt, dating back from the time of
Osirtasen I, twenty centuries before the Christian era, and eight
hundred years anterior to the reign of Rameses III, by whom the
temple of Medinet Abuh was commenced, and who is the Rameses
portrayed on its walls.


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