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LAST WORD ON BARRIERS Eminent Egyptologist Asserts Starting Gate Antedates Aris Aristides tides by Thousand Years Sxlvators recent articles on Aristides and the Starting Gate has not satisfied Profes ¬ sor Albert Wangberg who writes an in ¬ teresting letter on the subject from Mauch Chunk Pa Professor Whangberg represents himself as an Egyptologist and claims to pos ¬ sess the largest and most ancient collection of papyri in this country His letter fol ¬ lows It was with deep interest that I read the erudite article of your contributor Salva tor in a recent issue of your valued periodi ¬ cal It grieves me deeply to be compelled to inform you however that since he has con ¬ fined his researches to the comparatively re ¬ cent period of Greek domination he has by no means touched upon the true origin of the barrier or socalled starting gate used in racing racingIn In the third roll of the papyri in my col ¬ lection which by the way is the most com ¬ plete in this country I find the account of a far more perfect device than the one which Salvator credits to Aristides This barrier it appears was introduced in Egypt during the reign of Rameses II about 1311 B C and was employed in contests of speed at the ancient Theban games gamesMy My eminence in my chosen profession of Egyptology makes it possible for me to give an account of this device from my papyrus without fear of contradicition in informed quarters It seems that Rameses II pos ¬ sessed a fine stable of animals whether they were horses in the modern sense or not re ¬ mains obscure and he much enjoyed watch ¬ ing them in contests of speed with the ani ¬ mals of neighboring monarchs monarchsIt It is recorded that he called a halt on a war of extermination which he had begun against the Shellabites in 1314 B C when it came to the time of year for the race meet ¬ ing at the Egyptian capital in order that the royal sport might in no way suffer from such minor considerations as international con ¬ flict flictAn An artisan who plied his trade in a hut on the banks of the Nile devised a starting gate following the fiasco of 1312 B C when the royal animals of Egypt were left at the post and the Canabites finished first and sec ¬ ond in the Isis Grand Prize The starter it is written was beheaded on the race course courseThis This artisan is variously referred to as Takihomen Antoken and Ptalamto in the papyri His device is described as follows Antokens invention was first used in the contests in the thirteenth year of the reign of Rameses II 1311 B C and except for the fact that one of the Shellabite ani ¬ mals was cut in two by its operation it was altogether successful Rameses than whom there is none higher in the eyes of Isis Memnon and all of the other gods of the Nile was much pleased It was simple to look upon merely a wall of granite mounted upon a platform Two thousand slaves were placed at each end of the platform and when the signal was given from the royal box they lifted the plat ¬ form quickly so that the animals could pass beneath Takihomen was richly rewarded for his ingenious service to the king and be ¬ came an important functionary in the court courtNo No doubt Salvator when he reads of this device will gladly grant that his researches have been rather cursory I find that Egyp ¬ tology assists one materially in speculating upon the relative speed of race horses and I have not made a losing wager in twentylive years Yours very truly trulyProf Prof ALBERT E WHANGBERG
