Ancient Egyptian Games: Senet
Games were, and still are, very popular in Egypt. Today locals in almost every coffee shop in Egypt are playing backgammon everyday. I couldn’t believe how popular the game was when I walked around Cairo for the first time. They play at lightning speed too! Well, backgammon is very similar to an Ancient Egyptian game called ‘Senet’.
The earliest known reference to Senet can be found on a wall painting in the tomb of the Third Dynasty Pharaoh Hesy from about 2650 BC. A scene from the tomb of Nefertari ( 1295-1255 BC) shows her playing a game of Senet.
Rules:
Senet is played on a rectangular board with three rows of ten squares. The exact rules of the game are unknown but educated guesses have been made and two main sets of rules exist as put forward by historians Timothy Kendall and R.C. Bell. The basic premise is much like the modern backgammon: two players race to get all their pieces from one end of the board to the other.
“Other elements found with the gameboards were pawns. The Hesy painting shows a game with seven pawns for each player. Then, some time after 1600 – 1500 BCE, the players were represented with seven or five pawns. Some games have even been found with ten pawns per player.
The movement of pawns was probably decided by the throw of four, two-sided sticks (as depicted in the Hesy painting) or, later, knucklebones might have been used to determine the moves.
What was the function of Senet? A game or something more? In his book, Lhote notices that the first pictures show two human players whereas later the human player is depicted alone with an invisible opponent. It appears that Senet began as a simple game and later acquired a symbolic, ritual function.
Of course, the original rules of Senet are not known. No record of the rules on papyrus or tomb wall has ever been discovered. It is very difficult to reconstruct the game through the pieces and the tomb images.”
- Catherine Soubeyrand.
Catherine describes the history of the game and the two schools of thought on rules of the game. Read more at the The Game Cabinet
A couple of senet game boards with pieces from the Ancient Egyptian wing of the Royal Ontario Museum:
The Brooklyn Museum has a blue faience senet board and playing pieces made in Thebes. It was inscribed with the name of Amunhotep III and dates to the New Kingdom (1390-1353 B.C.E.).
In the Louvre is a wooden senet board dating to 1300 BC:
Some people have made their own boards:
There are even some big out door Senet boards:
Play Senet online:
Prefer a more portable Senet game? You can even play Senet on your iPhone with this Senet iPhone App.
Alternatively, you can get three ancient Egyptian games in one with Egyptian Triad. Play Senet, Hounds & Jackals and Mehen on the iPhone. What’s more, it is half the price of Senet Delux.
Make you own Senet game board and pieces out of paper with this free downloadable template:
More information on Senet:
Photograph and information on a New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, circa 1539-1295 BC Senet game from Thebes: Senet game in the Brooklyn Museum
Another item the Brooklyn Museum has in thier Egyptian collection is this Senet game from Thebes, dating to the New Kingdom (1390-1353 B.C.E.).
‘GAMING WITH THE GODS: The Game of Senet and
Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs’ by Peter A. Piccione, Ph.D.
In Search of the Meaning Of Senet by Peter A. Piccione, Ph.D.
Purchase Ancient Egyptian Games online
Image credits:
Senet board by Keith Schengili-Roberts, some rights reserved
Senet board by Keith Schengili-Roberts, some rights reserved
Faience Senet board by Keith Schengili-Roberts, some rights reserved
Wooden Senet board by Gérard Ducher, some rights reserved
Home made Senet game board by Ancient Game Cupboard, all rights reserved.
Paper Senet board by Enui, all rights reserved.
Outdoor Senet by Raymond Yee, all rights reserved.
Related posts:
- Ancient Egyptian Games: Aseb The ancient Egyptian game of Aseb, also known as ‘The...
- Ancient Egyptian Games: Hounds & Jackals Hounds and Jackals is a bit like Senet but instead...
- Ancient Egyptian Games: Mehen Faulkner’s Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian gives the translation of...
- Ancient Egyptian Games: Online For the final post in the series on Ancient Egyptian...
- Death in Sakkara – An Egyptian Adventure The BBC have an adventure game available to play online...
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this has good info but not everything i am looking for
Thanks Shaylene,
What were you looking for exactly? Perhaps I can answer your questions. Did you try the links at the bottom of the article?
Vincent
I LOVE SENET
I’m looking for more information about when, why, and how.
We love playing Senet! Thanks for including our board game in your article.
Jennifer
Antiquity Gamecrafters
I learned to play this game in Tomb Raider 4 -The Last Revelation-when Lara Croft plays Senet in the Tomb Of Semerket….
Hey i found senet amazing and fab fab fabulous go senet IT ROXS MY SOX
your game senet is wicked i like tutankhaman
You’re game, Senet, is about to get a huge spike in popularity due to it being featured on the popular TV show Lost in the upcoming May 11th episode. Get ready!
Thanks for the headsup. I’ve already noticed a flood of visitors from an ABC story on Lost.