Ancient Egyptian Games: What Kind of Games They were playing؟

Did it occur to you how the Egyptians used to spend their free time?  Did they spend it like the modern Egyptian man now?  We all know playing backgammon over coffee, tahtib and other games. Do these games have ancient Egyptian roots?  Let's get to know each other

Checkers game:

 The game appeared to be drawn on the walls of the tombs of Bani Hassan during the rule of the 12th Dynasty and was called (Asb), and this may have been a distortion of the Babylonian word Aso (deep).  The entire toy arrived in ivory from Sohag during the rule of the modern state and is preserved in the Egyptian Museum. It is likely that the field king (Tuchrata) gave it to his brother-in-law Amenhotep III on the occasion of his marriage to his daughter.  The game consists of three columns, the middle column contains 12 squares, while the two sides are each 4 squares.

 Each of the players has five conical or animal pieces, such as the head of a lion, a dog, or a dwarf fox (Bs), and there is a dice piece or something similar (picture and writing) that runs the game and the one who finishes passing his piece is the winner.

snake game:

 It is a mental game with a religious dimension related to the two gods, Horus and Set, in their war, and there are examples of it in the London Museum.  The game deals with the faces of a model of a snake whose body is grooved and twisted in a spiral manner in a dish with its head in the center and its tail in the ocean.

 There are small balls that enter the spiral of the snake for players to be hit by small statues of lions and lionesses, and the goal is to reach the balls to the center of the snake's head without using the hands.  The balls and pieces were collected in an ebony box.  This game is almost like billiards with the difference in the ways the balls are hit and where they settle.

The Senet game:

 In the tomb of Nefertari there are scenes depicting Queen Nefertari playing the game of senet, a symbolic ritual game that scholar Douglas attempted.  a.  White explained, translated and interpreted it in writing (The Senet Game in Ancient Egypt).

 The word Senet means (crossing) and it is intended for the soul to cross into the other world, and the game consists of a paper divided into 30 squares (10 rows and three squares in each row). The game symbolizes the human relationship with the cosmic forces, especially with (Ra - Hor Akhni), which is the birth of the sun every year.  The day of its resurrection and its union with (Ra-Hoor), which is a symbol of its resurrection and appearance

 The game is related to the legend of the solar calendar and its emergence, which says that the two gods Nut (the sky) and Jab (the earth) got married against the will of (Ra), so he cursed them and punished them by not having children on any day of the year whose days were 360 ​​days.

 And when the goddess of heaven asked for the help of the god of wisdom and the moon (Tut Uthut), he responded to them and went to visit the goddess of the moon and played senet with her and stipulated that if he beat her, he would take a small part of the light of each day of the year, which is one part out of 72 parts of that day, i.e. in proportion (  1/ 72).

 And when the game ended and he beat it, it became clear to her that he had obtained five additional days, despite the small amount he took from each day. Thus, the goddess of the moon gave up for Thoth five whole days, bringing the number of her days to 355, which is the number of days in the lunar calendar.

 As for him, he took the five days and added them to the annual solar calendar, and they became 365 days, which are the days of the solar calendar, but he made these five days at the end of the year and called them (the days of the Nasee) that is (those above the year) and dedicated them to the sun god Ra (and thus the difference between the solar and lunar calendar became ten days  After they were equal, and in these five days the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb gave birth to their five sons (Ozer, Set, Iza, Nephth, Hor (Horus)).

 There is more than one model of the game throughout the ages, and the oldest model found in Al-Mahasna is made of burnt clay and its surface was divided into 18 squares in three rows (i.e. each row contains six squares.

 But the game was based on 30 squares placed in three rows (each row contains ten squares), which is the model that appeared in the tomb of Nefertari, drawn on the walls, which was found as it is in the furniture of King Tutankhamun without finding the playing pieces.  Another model was found in Tia's tomb.

 The game runs according to tight religious symbols, and it symbolizes the struggle between the two opponents to win a peaceful access to the other world (Ayaru fields), and this explains its appearance in tombs and in the Book of the Dead.

 The thirty squares of the game include symbols of the nature of each square, such as (the high priest Jigeni, representing the moon god, which is the beginning of each month and year, the wizard Aso, who represents Osiris, the star Nate, who represents Nut, the sky goddess, and so on...).

 The game comes to an end when the player can dodge his opponent and reach the 27th square, which includes the water sign, which means that the player throws his opponent into the water and throws him to death with the jackals (Anbu), then the symbols of the emperor, the tower and the chariot that symbolize Horus, meaning salvation.

Pharaohs games for children:

 Girls’ ball game: Boys sometimes play it, and it was played in five ways:

• Five girls receive the ball from a sixth girl opposite them.

• Two girls are on the back of the third and the two girls are playing with little balls which fail to go down and carry the other two girls and so on.

• A group of girls tie a ball at the ends of their braids as they form a circle in which they are held together by a mirror or sticks, jumping and clapping hands.

• One group plays with several balls, one stands on one leg, another rides on the other's back, and so on.

• Girls sit in each other's arms and who fails (except for the lower one) becomes the one below.

Goose footsteps game: Two boys meet with their legs outstretched and their hands outstretched on the legs. The children jump between the four legs and whoever fails sits in their place and so on.

 The Donkey Game: The child carries one or more children on his back and walks with him in the form of a donkey, and when he gets tired, he takes turns with the portable children, and so on.

 Stealth game: A child puts his face on the stone of his colleague, and the children take turns hitting him. If he knows who hit him, the hitter loses and takes his place, and so on.

 Uprooting game: The boys try to take off one or two pointed tools with a stick and at a lightning speed.  Whoever succeeds more than once is the winner.

 Interlocking game: Two children are sitting on the floor with their back together, arms crossed and trying to get up quickly.

 Written by: Tamer Ahmed Abdel Fattah, Egypt

 Researcher in the history of Egyptian civilization - an electronic tourism marketer

English translation: Radwa Shalaby