Қытай ежелгі ойыны: Сенет тарихы

Ancient Egyptian board game

Senet or senat (; cf. Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ , 'passing, afternoon') is a board game from ancient Egypt that consists of ten or more pawns on a 30 square playing board. The earliest representation of senet is dated to 2620 BCE from the Mastaba of Hesy Re, while similar boards and hieroglyphic signs are found even earlier, including in the Levant in the Early Bronze Age II period. Even though the game has a 2,000 year history in Egypt, there appears to be very little variation in terms of key components. This can be determined by studying the various senet boards that have been found by archaeologists, as well as depictions of senet being played throughout Egyptian history on places like tomb walls and papyrus scrolls. However, the game fell out of use following the Roman period, 3100 BCE. The first unequivocal painting of this ancient game is from the Third Dynasty tomb of the high official Hesy ( 2686–2613 BCE). There are depictions of individuals such as Tutankhamun and Nefertari (wife of Ramesses II) playing senet in tomb art as well during the New Kingdom. Senet is depicted in ancient texts, including in Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, where the individual who has died plays the game against an invisible opponent. The game of senet is also depicted in a scene depicted on papyrus dating from roughly 1250–1150 BCE that shows a lion and a gazelle playing senet (in the possession of the British Museum). A game that could be senet is also referenced in the Roman era Egyptian literary work that has been given the title in modern times of Setne Khamwas and Si Osire. In this story, Naneferkaptah challenges Setne to a board game, with the winner taking a book he had been looking for as a prize. The game in this story is not explicitly stated; however, similarities such as the religious implications and structure of the game support the idea that it could be senet being depicted.

The oldest intact senet boards date to the Middle Kingdom, but graffiti on Fifth and Sixth Dynasty monuments could date as early as the Old Kingdom. However, there have been no actual senet boards that have been dated to the Fourth through Sixth Dynasties, just evidence that they did exist from depictions in tombs. In a painting from the Third Dynasty tomb of Hesy Re, a senet game is depicted along with other boardgames from this era. A study on a senet board in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, dating back to the early New Kingdom of Egypt, showed the evolution of the game from its secular origins into a more religious artefact. However, the archaeological context of this senet board in question is unknown—it was acquired by the Rosicrucian Museum in London in 1947, and due to poor archaeological practices of the time, the provenance at this point appears to not have been recorded. Senet was also adopted in Cyprus around the end of the third millennium BCE and continued until at least the Bronze Age.

Due to the game falling out of use during the Roman period, the exact detailed rules of play are not known. A complete senet game set would have contained a distinct set of pawns for each of the two players. At least by the New Kingdom, these pieces were in the form of hounds or dog headed figurines. Through most of the game's 2,000 year history, the senet boards themselves would indicate the direction of play, usually from the top left corner and indicated by the decorations on the spaces. The last five squares were often the most decorated on the board. The decorations on the last five squares were unique, usually having a mark related to goodness or an aquatic reference on them. These rules are based on snippets of texts that span over a thousand years, over which time gameplay is likely to have changed. Therefore, it is unlikely these rules reflect the exact course of ancient Egyptian gameplay. However, their rules have been adopted by sellers of modern senet sets. Various other Egyptologists have also tried to reconstruct the game; however, these are frequently discredited with more archaeological research/finds regarding the subject.