[Illustration: Stele sculptured with a scene representing Ptolemy II, Philadelphus, making offerings to Ȧmsu, or Menu, Uatchet, etc., about B.C. 260. [Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 25, No. 954.]] =Ptolemy III, Euergetes I, B.C. 246=, conquered the greater portion of Western Asia. He was a patron of the arts and learning, and he repaired and rebuilt many of the ancient temples. To commemorate his victories and the benefits which he conferred on Egypt, the priesthood assembled at Canopus in the ninth year of his reign, and passed a Decree conferring special honours on the king and his queen =Berenice=. It was ordered that the Decree be cut in the Greek and Egyptian languages on stelae to be set up in the most prominent places in temples of the first, second, and third class throughout Egypt, in order that all men might read of the king’s bounty. The Egyptian version was inscribed in two kinds of writing, viz., in hieroglyphics and in demotic. The Decree also ordered that one day be added to the calendar every fourth year, thus anticipating the =leap-year= of modern times. For a cast of the =Decree of Canopus= see Bay 28, No. =957=. Ptolemy III began to build the temple of =Edfû= (see =Plate XLIX=), B.C. 237, which was finished by Ptolemy XI, B.C. 57. Objects inscribed with his name are not common. (For a =gold ring= which was made in his reign see Table-case J, Fourth Egyptian Room.) =Ptolemy IV, Philopator I, B.C. 222 or 221=, added a hall to the temple which the Nubian king, =Ergamenes=, built at Dakkah, and dedicated a temple to Homer. He defeated Antiochus the Great at the Battle of Raphia, but did nothing further to break his power. He organized =elephant hunts= in the Sûdân, and transported the animals by sea to Egypt for military purposes; a Greek inscription set up by Alexandros, general of the elephant hunts of Ptolemy IV, is in Bay 26, No. =958=. [Illustration: PLATE XLIX. View of the Temple of Edfû, taken from the top of the pylon. The temple was begun B.C. 237 and finished B.C. 57, and its construction occupied 180 years, 3 months, and 14 days.] [Illustration: PLATE L. Granite monolithic shrine dedicated to the goddess Isis of Philae by Ptolemy IX (?), Euergetes II, B.C. 147-117. [Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 30, No. 962.]]