On Thursday we played two ancient board games the royal game of Ur and the game of Senet these games where both interesting however I feel that these games lack something. these games don't really have a story to them except to be used as representing the passing of the soul to the afterlife meaning that these games have. It also felt a little weird playing these games (even though these were just a paper games.) But what I mean is that it just interesting to know that pharaohs and probably high priests were playing this game essentially (or theoretically) predicting their own soul passage through the underworld or teaching apprentices through this game play.
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| example of Ur image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worldhistory/royal_game_of_ur/ |
Hi George,
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting thought, to contemplate the connection that exists between contemporary players of ancient games like the one excavated from Ur, or the ancient Egyptian game of Senet. Timothy Kendall captures something of the sense of awe inspired by these games as he writes "as we play we can feel a closeness to the Egyptians that we rarely feel. As we throw the sticks, move our pieces through the thirty "houses" of the board, and hope for victory, we may keep in mind -- and be touched with awe -- that through some forty centuries all of the greatest figures in Egyptian antiquity are almost certain to have played this game in much the same way and to have hoped for the selfsame victory" (Kendall 1978, p. 6).