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Senet General
Information The
ancient Egyptians (both royal and commoner) adored board games very much and one of the most popular examples of such is that
of Senet. It was a ancient game with many meanings: that of distraction and that of a symbolic, ritualistic meaning. Concerning
the former meaning, some illustrations show two people playing the game; concerning the latter, other representations show
one person playing alone with an invisible opponent, as shown in the picture of Nefertiti, below. The
ancient Egyptians played this game from as early as the pre-dynastic period just until the first few centuries after Christ.
Although it is not exactly clear how this game was played, we can formulate a possible set of rules because of what Egyptologists
and archeologists learned from tomb paintings, illustrating rulers playing this game, as well as from text written on papyrus. The
layout of the board looks like this (minus the numbers--they are only to show the direction that the players follow): The
Board This
game was also known as the Game of Thirty Squares, in that, on the top of the board there are 30 squares--24 of which are
left blank, while 5 have hieroglyphic pictures on them. The hieroglyphic symbols on each of the last 4 squares are as follows:
a row of three long-necked instruments, representing nfr, meaning beautiful or
good in ancient Egyptian; three rows of zigzagged lines, representing water (landing on this square might have been a good
or a bad thing: water could mean purification or it could me chaos); a line of three ibis; Nephthys and Isis, facing each
other (which could mean that if one landed on this square, one was protected by both goddesses); and the last square depicts
a figure of what looks like Re'. There is also another square (#15) that has written on it the ankh symbol, which probably
marked the starting point of the game. The direction in which each play was to move might have been in the shape of a backwards
"S". Player
Pieces The
pieces one used to distinguish players were either of the following: pawns, knucklebones or sticks. The number of player pieces
varied, depending on which tomb painting you look at. Some illustrations show the players using five pieces, some using seven,
while others show them using as many as ten. The discarded game pieces were stored in a drawer that opened from the base of
the Senet board. Rules
of the Game Below
are links to various rules of the game. It should be noted that Tim Kendall's rules (from the 1970s) seem to be the most sound
and acceptable in that they are based on archeological and textual data. Another person to create rules to the game of Senet
was RC Bell. His rules are commonly cited and are based on the rules of Tabula--a Roman version of what we know as backgammon.
However, since no one knows exactly how Senet was played, it would be erroneous to think of these rules are similar to those
of backgammon. Yet
another ancient Egyptian board game was that of Dogs (or Hounds) and Jackals. This game was also called the game of fifty-eight
points because there are 58 holed poked into the board's surface. Also on the face of the board is an image of a palm tree.
Because this game was more complex than the game of Senet, adults played, rather than children. Typically,
the game board rests atop a piece of furniture that had carved legs resembling those of an animal. A Dogs and Jackals board
found in the tomb of Reny-Seneb was fashioned of ebony and ivory and dates ca. 1800 BCE or Dynasty XII. Within the drawer
at the base of the rectangular board were found 10 pawns: 5 with the heads of dogs and 5 with the heads of jackals. These
player pieces (rather, sticks) were typically made of ebony. Since there are only two animals represented fro each set of
player pieces, the game allows only two players to play the ancient game. For these pawns there are 58 holes poked into the
surface of the board in which to stick them (29 holes on the dog side; 29 holes on the jackal side). Some of these holes were
inlaid with ivory, probably giving them a more important role in the game. Other holes on the board were left unfilled and
were probably meant to be a means of a shortcut to any of the players, according to some sources. R.C.
Bell's Rules to the Game PLAYERS: The
game is designated to two players: one player represents the 5 dog-headed sticks and the second player represents the 5 jackal-headed
sticks. The goal is to reach the five holes labeled 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29, on your side of the board to win the game. MOVING: Using
three coins or spare change or whatever you have, the rules for moving are as follows: *one
head facing up = move one pace *two
heads facing up = move two paces *three
heads facing up = move three paces ******one
cannot move four paces in this game, apparently****** *three
tails facing up = move five paces and you receive another turn PLAY
THE GAME:
Mehen
This
game, also known as the game of snake, was another game in ancient Egyptian times, was played by everyone, and held religious
significance. The latter statement is evident because it is mentioned in the Coffin and Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian
history, Mehen is the serpent god who protected Re' during his nighttime voyage through the Underworld. On a more interesting
note, the game and the god seem to have been deliberately synchronized: it is relatively impossible to decipher which one
influenced the other; if Mehen (the deity) inspired the game of if Mehen (the game) inspired the creation of the deity.
The
board was composed of squares (or rectangles, depending on your perspective) that coiled up into a ball, which resembles a
coiled serpent. From the known Mehen board games found (about 14), the number of squares varies. However, one thing remains
the same: the squares lack distinguishing marks or images, unlike the game of Senet. Just
as the rules to the game of Senet are unknown, so are those of Mehen and for the same reason: there are no surviving documents
that can tell us what they are. From what has been found in paintings in tombs and from the game itself, we can guess the
function of the game: to win, one must be the first player to reach the center. Furthermore, we can guess that the game was played with six (or two, according to some Egyptologists) marbles or stones that at most six (or two) players moved all the way around the board into the center, which represents the serpent's eye. These game pieces (six pieces to a person, thus 36 in all...or 12 in all, if there are only two players) were in the form of dangerous and predatory animals, such as lions/lionesses (the more prominently represented pieces), dogs, or hippos. If, in fact, Mehen permitted up to six players, then, unlike Dogs and Jackals and Senet, this game was the only known multi-player ancient Egyptian board game. The
first findings of the game of snake can be dated around ca. 3000 BCE, or earlier, until ca. 2300 BCE. From 2300 BCE until
700 BCE, representations of this game seem to disappear, but reappear after 700 BCE. The best representations appear during
the A
game that seems to resemble the game of snake is the Hyena Game. One reports that around the 1920s Baggara Arabs of the Would you like to try your hand at Mehen? Click here to be directed to a brilliant website that offers rules to the game and it allows you to download the game onto your computer (it is about 1 MB). If you would like to know the rules of the game, click here. You will be directed to a help file that is from the same website. Here, you will find a list of other games. Look for the sign, that I have placed at the bottom, and you will be on your way to playing the most "forbidden" games of ancient times...
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