The significance of gaming: A discussion on board games and their societal importance in Ancient Egypt.
Today’s world is filled with games, from board games to mobile games, consoles, and technologies solely devoted to playing games. The act of gaming is not a modern creation, specifically that of board games. Chess, Backgammon, and Checkers are examples of board games that have combatted boredom and brought people together, have created connections and sometimes also ignited arguments likely since the earliest games were played to the modern day. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence that we have of board games is that of Mehen (Crist, 2021), whilst this may be the earliest example we have, it does not include other forms of gaming that would not have required a board to play.
Ancient Egyptian board games possess multiple different purposes for the player, and contain meanings outside of just leisure, which will be discussed throughout by looking at the games of Senet and Mehen.
Games allow for connection and communication between people. Games lay outside what we would consider to be a usual human interaction, this allows for communications in a different environment, across social boundaries (Crist, Voogt, and Dunn., 2016) these factors could have allowed games to have been important and of use in not only Ancient Egypt, but throughout the world up to the modern day, these could allow for better communication between people. The simplicity of games such as these could allow for communication, or interaction at least, between those with language barriers, which is incredibly useful, and shows how powerful of a tool gaming can be.
One of the places in which board games thrived in the past, was Ancient Egypt, where a variety of games were played, Senet being one of the most popular, the name of the board game itself, ‘Senet’ means ‘Passing’ (Crist, 2019). From the archaeological evidence we have it appears that the game was played between the First Dynasty and the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (Crist, 2021), it may have been played earlier or later than this, but more concrete evidence would be needed to confirm different dates. The game is played on a grid of three by ten squares, with black and white gaming pieces, and throwing sticks and knucklebones which were used to be able to determine the number of moves and were thrown as you would with dice (Piccione, 1980). The game was a type of racing game, was played in a boustrophedon route, meaning that you started playing in the top left corner, down, back up, and down again, ending on the bottom right square (Crist, 2019). Understanding the game itself, and how it was played, allows us to be able to have a better understanding of the significance of the game, and the societal importance of gaming in Ancient Egypt.
It appears that the game of Senet was of importance to those who resided in Ancient Egypt, there are many examples of these game boards being found in tombs, even in Tutenkhamun’s tomb (Crist, 2019). This is significant because the journey after death within the afterlife was important to those in Ancient Egypt, the ancient Egyptians would have believed that they would need to complete a journey after death to the afterlife, and that the items placed in tombs would be used in this journey, this journey has a connection with the game of Senet, with ‘Senet’ meaning ‘Passing’ (Crist, 2019), which, along with the symbolic squares of the board, and the journey which is taken on the board when playing, could be taken to symbolise this journey in the afterlife as discussed by Piccione (1980) who also tells us that the game originally had no connections with religion, but as their religious beliefs developed, they placed their ideas of the afterlife and religion upon the game (Piccione, 1980). The archaeological evidence for Senet game boards in ancient egyptian tombs such as that of those in Tutankhamun’s tomb (Crist, 2019) shows the importance of the game, and furthers our understanding of the connections between the ancient egyptians religious beliefs and the playing of the game of Senet.
The game of Mehen is another interesting game from Ancient Egypt. The rules for this game are also not known, despite the examples and depictions we have of the game such as that in the tomb of Hesyre (Piccione, 1990), but there is a lot that we do know about it. The game of Mehen would have consisted of the game board itself, which can vary with the amount of spaces in different examples, as well as six different coloured sets of six marbles, and six draughtsmen which were in the shape of three lions and three lionesses (Piccione, 1990). The word ‘Mehen’ means ‘The coiled one’, referencing the god of the same name (Shore, 1965). This god took the form of a giant snake, residing in the underworld and protecting the god Ra in its coils (Piccione, 1990).
The importance of the game of Mehen is shown through depictions found in tombs, highlighting the link between the afterlife and the playing of games such as Mehen and Senet. The links between the god of ‘Mehen’ and the game itself as described previously (Shore, 1965) which has been depicted in tombs mirrors Senet’s symbolic connections to the underworld which was also discussed previously (Crist, 2019) as well as Senet’s physical presence in tombs.
The multiple game boards with connections to the underworld and religion in ancient Egypt shows that the games were important in representing ideas or beliefs connected to death and the afterlife, and may have also been used during events, such as celebrating the death of the deceased (Piccione, 1990)
In conclusion, Ancient Egyptian board games possess multiple meanings and purposes for the players, depending on the game, and the context of the situation the game is being played in. Through looking at the game boards of Senet and Mehen, how they are played, and the religious and spiritual connotations, I have shown that it is clear that these games were important to the people of ancient Egypt, especially in relation to religion and the afterlife.
Bibliography:
Crist, Walter. “Debunking the Diffusion of Senet” Board Game Studies Journal 15, no. 2 (2021): 13-27. doi:10.2478/bgs-2021-0002.
Crist, Walter. “Passing from the Middle to the New Kingdom: A Senet Board in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 105, no. 1 (2019): 107-113. doi:10.1177/0307513319896288.
Crist, Walter., Alex de Voogt., and Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi. “Facilitating Interaction: Board Games as Social Lubricants in the Ancient Near East” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 35, no 2 (2016): 179-196. doi:10.1111/ojoa.12084.
Piccione, Peter A. “In Search of the Meaning of Senet” Archaeology 33, no. 4 (1980): 55-58.
Piccione, Peter A. “Mehen, Mysteries, and Resurrection from the Coiled Serpent” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 27 (1990): 43-52. doi:10.2307/40000072.
Sheposh, Richard. “Ancient Egyptian Funerary Practices” Salem Press Encyclopedia (2026) https://research.ebsco.com/c/5k32y6/search/details/u62qn52ir5?limiters=FT%3AY&q=ancient+egyptian+funerary+practices&searchMode=boolean
Shore, A. F. “A ‘Serpent’-Board from Egypt” The British Museum Quarterly 26. No. 3/4 (1963): 88-91. doi:10.2307/4422781.