Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 24 views

    Enigmatic Ancient Egyptian Game Table Was The Missing Link

    Uploaded by

    Dorian Taddei
    An ancient Egyptian senet game table housed in a US museum provides insight into the evolution of the iconic senet board game. The table, which was previously unpublished, dates to between the 17th-18th dynasties and shows an orientation of markings that was a transition between earlier and later senet boards. This suggests the table was from a period when the change in board orientation occurred. The finding of this table helps address a gap in understanding the evolution of senet board design over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Enigmatic Ancient Egyptian Game Table Was The Missing Link

    Uploaded by

    Dorian Taddei
    24 views2 pages
    An ancient Egyptian senet game table housed in a US museum provides insight into the evolution of the iconic senet board game. The table, which was previously unpublished, dates to between the 17th-18th dynasties and shows an orientation of markings that was a transition between earlier and later senet boards. This suggests the table was from a period when the change in board orientation occurred. The finding of this table helps address a gap in understanding the evolution of senet board design over time.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    Enigmatic Ancient Egyptian Game Table Was the Missing Link

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    An ancient Egyptian senet game table housed in a US museum provides insight into the evolution of the iconic senet board game. The table, which was previously unpublished, dates to between the 17th-18th dynasties and shows an orientation of markings that was a transition between earlier and later senet boards. This suggests the table was from a period when the change in board orientation occurred. The finding of this table helps address a gap in understanding the evolution of senet board design over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    24 views2 pages

    Enigmatic Ancient Egyptian Game Table Was The Missing Link

    Uploaded by

    Dorian Taddei
    An ancient Egyptian senet game table housed in a US museum provides insight into the evolution of the iconic senet board game. The table, which was previously unpublished, dates to between the 17th-18th dynasties and shows an orientation of markings that was a transition between earlier and later senet boards. This suggests the table was from a period when the change in board orientation occurred. The finding of this table helps address a gap in understanding the evolution of senet board design over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Home Articles Interviews Blogs Publications More Sign up Sign in

    EN GR

    Share More News: Ancient Egypt


    MOST POPULAR
    +
    −
    Nazca archaeological sites in dan
    near Ica, Peru
    ‘Invasores’ (‘invaders’) have taken pos
    of two large tracts of land in a protec
    area.

    Mystery Solved: The Skeleton Lak


    India
    Senet game board and playing
    pieces (New Kingdom) on display at A massive hailstorm must have killed
    the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum group of people whose remains -scat
    in San Jose, California. RC 1261, et around the shores of Rookpund Lake
    al. puzzled archaeologists for over half a
    century.

    'Cowboy builders' blamed for Rom


    crumbling Colosseum
    An ambitious attempt to save Rome's
    Colosseum from collapse is being
    - + by Archaeology Newsroom
    undermined by the authorities' cost-
    decision to employ ordinary builders
    than specialists to perform the delica
    11 Enigmatic ancient Egyptian game table was the missing overhaul, restoration experts have cl
    02
    '20 link in iconic board game evolution Prominent educational institution
    13:31 19th century Athens
    The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum senet table revisited
    Varvakeion plays an important part a
    An enigmatic ancient Egyptian game table housed in a US museum was the missing link in the public buildings of 19th century A
    constantly appearing in various state
    iconic board game evolution, according to an American ancient gaming expert.
    documents and writings by architects
    present article examines the reasons
    Of all ancient Egyptian games, senet is probably the most well-recorded as well as popular.
    interest.
    Known from physical objects as well as artistic representations dating from the Early
    The Zominthos Archive has been
    Dynastic Period (c. 3.000 BC) till the 26th Dynasty, both from Egypt itself and abroad (the
    217 tripod vessels are recorded on th
    Levant, Cyprus, Nubia), and associated with secular and symbolic functions, archaeologists
    that was found, with an ideogram ne
    connect senet with ideals rooted deep into the ancient Egyptian worldview. As a form, symbols depicting numbers.
    senet is known as a rectangular board divided into 30 squares in a 3 x10 allocation.

    From as early as the Old Kingdom, it is represented in tomb paintings. During the New
    Kingdom, the game is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, as the deceased is playing RELATED
    against an unknown opponent, while it clearly represents the “passing” of the soul through
    the underworld. Representations are found in various spaces connected with eternal life; RELATED BY TAG

    from tombs to temples (an example in the photo gallery here). Most actual senet game Turkish tourism drive threatens a
    sites
    boards and game boxes come from that period. Examples from the Levant and Cyprus are
    by Archaeology Newsroom
    also of that period (corresponding to the Late Bronze Age). It is actually been stated that
    Cyprus has given more game tables identifiable with senet than Egypt itself. Project resumed in Luxor to prote
    temples from subterranean wate
    Despite its rich archaeological record, however, senet remains a mystery. Despite by Archaeology Newsroom
    information given from Egyptian written sources (Book of the Dead mentioned above, Turin RELATED BY CATEGORY
    Papyrus 1.775 and especially the Great Game Text) its complete rules remain obscure. Seafarers in Ancient Greece
    What experts can track, however, is its evolution. Earlier examples of senet, dating till the by Archaeology Newsroom
    17th Dynasty show to have a different orientation than the actual New Kingdom ones while Canaanite temple unearthed at L
    drawings on squares become more and more complicated as we proceed into the New by Archaeology Newsroom
    Kingdom. What was missing from the archaeological record was an example highlighting
    RELATED BY GEOLOCATION
    whether the change in orientation happened before, after or at the same pace to the Byzantine Coin Hoard Found in D
    change in markings. Bakhit
    by Archaeology Newsroom
    Enter the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum Senet Table, an out of context example acquired by
    Cat Domestication in Egypt Pushe
    San Jose California’s Rosicrucian Museum (U.S.) in 1947 through an auction in London.
    By 2,000 Years
    Previously unpublished, the object has been studied by Walter Crist, an expert in ancient
    by Archaeology Newsroom
    gaming, who recently published it in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. According to
    Crist, the board itself is in the shape of a small table, measuring 32 cm long by 13.5 cm wide
    and 12.1 cm high. A panel runs the length of the main board which, based on the
    orientation of the hieroglyphs on the playing face, forms the rear side of the table, while
    two rectangular supports running across the width of the main playing board are placed
    perpendicular to the panel running along with it.

    What is more important, however, is the orientation of hieroglyphs marked on the top
    surface of the table (bearing the senet pattern). Here Crist observes that “the hieroglyphs
    are drawn so that they are upright when the board is positioned with them at the top left,
    with the long vertical panel at the back, indicating that the orientation of the board is that
    seen more commonly during the Middle Kingdom, while the hieroglyphs themselves are
    more typical of the Eighteenth Dynasty”.

    The above element, compared with decoration in known senet examples allowed Crist to
    understand the importance of the Rosicrucian Senet. In fact, there were two senet
    examples sharing a style of hieroglyphs/markings with the Rosicrucian senet: one dating to
    the reign of Hatshepsut and housed at the British Museum and the other, of the era of
    Thutmose III, housed at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden (AH 34a). Still, the
    Rosicrucian senet differs from these two examples in one important aspect: based on its
    marked squares, it has the Middle Kingdom/Second Intermediate Period orientation rather
    than the New Kingdom one, which is found in the two Thutmosid examples above.

    The above observations led the researcher to support that the senet board in the
    Rosicrucian Museum demonstrates a transitional stage in the pattern of decoration
    between the Middle Kingdom/Second Intermediate Period and the middle of the 18th
    Dynasty. As such, it represents the missing link in the evolution of the game from the time
    of Egypt’s liberation from the Hyksos up to the first Thutmosids, when it becomes more
    complicated before its orientation changes.

    NOTES
    1. Crist, W. 2020. "Passing from the Middle to the New Kingdom: A Senet Board in the Rosicrucian M
    useum" JEA
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0307513319896288 (29/01/2020)

    You might also like