The beautiful alabaster sarcophagus
discovered near Thebes in 1817 and now in Sir John Soane's Museum
in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London measures 9 feet 4 inches long.
This unique example, the finest extant, is well worth inspection
by visitors in London.
Herodotus says the shoes of Perseus measured an equivalent of
about 3 feet, English standard. Josephus tells of Eleazar, a Jew,
among the hostages sent by the King of Persia to Rome, who was
nearly 11 feet high. Saxo, the grammarian, mentions a giant 13
1/2 feet high and says he had 12 companions who were double his
height. Ferragus, the monster supposed to have been slain by
Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, was said to have been nearly
11 feet high. It was said that there was a giant living in the
twelfth century under the rule of King Eugene II of Scotland who
was 11 1/2 feet high.
There are fabulous stories told of the Emperor Maximilian. Some
accounts say that he was between 8 1/2 and 9 feet high, and used
his wife's bracelet for a finger-ring, and that he ate 40 pounds
of flesh a day and drank six gallons of wine. He was also
accredited with being a great runner, and in his earlier days was
said to have conquered single-handed eight soldiers.
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