<em>Set of Gaming Pieces</em>, ca. 1539-1295 B.C.E. Faience, Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.94E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.37.93E_37.94E_mummychamber.jpg)

Set of Gaming Pieces, ca. 1539-1295 B.C.E. Faience, Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.94E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.37.93E_37.94E_mummychamber.jpg)

Set of Gaming Pieces, ca. 1539-1295 B.C.E. Faience, Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.94E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.37.93E_37.94E_wwgA-2.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Is senet a game that can be played?

Yes! The concept behind the game is related to the challenges a soul would face on their journey to the afterlife. Scholars believe that living people would also play the game as a form of entertainment just like people today play board games.

Where can I find the playing rules?

Scholars aren't completely sure of the exact rules, but the basics are:

Player would throw a few sticks with marked and unmarked sides. The number of marks facing up determined how many spaces the player would move.

Presumably "normal" spaces would count for one move and the decorated spaces indicated a different scenario related to the type of challenge the space represented.

Is Senet related to Mancala?

Senet is not related to mancala. Mancala actually originates in West Africa.

Senet is more like many of the board games we play today with dice and pieces that much move from space to space through the board (which, in the case of senet, is three rows of ten squares each).

The game is meant to be a representation of the journey to the afterlife. Marked squares indicate monsters and other perils the deceased might face.

Thank you!

Do we know the rules for the game senet?

We don't know the exact rules for Senet, though scholars have a few guesses as to how it was played. We do know that it could have involved throwing sticks, knuckle bones, or teetotums (similar to dreidels) to determine the number of spaces the player would move on the board. The last five spaces on the board are marked to indicate that they are somehow different or special.

Was it played against a person?

Yes! Theoretically it was meant to be played between the deceased and a deity, but it was often played between living opponents.

Is this an Egyptian game?

Yes! It is! This object actually has two sides each with a board for playing the Egyptian games, senet and twenty squares.

Players would play by throwing marked sticks that determine the number of spaces they moved.

What's this?

It's a two-sided board and the side that we are seeing shows a game known as 20-squares since scholars aren't sure what it was called in antiquity.

The game originated in Mesopotamia and spread to Egypt from there. It seems that it got its start as a way of telling fortunes, but was also just played for fun.

Set of Gaming Pieces

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

The game of senet reflects the belief that the deceased encountered demons on the road to the underworld who blocked gateways. The Egyptian word senet means “passing,” a reference to avoiding the demons when passing through the gateways. The game board represents the zones through which the deceased had to travel to reach the place of judgment. A New Kingdom text suggests the game was played between the deceased and an unnamed opponent, the stakes being the deceased’s continued existence. But there is also evidence that senet was popular among the living.

MEDIUM Faience

DATES ca. 1539-1295 B.C.E.

DYNASTY XVIII Dynasty (possibly)

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

EXHIBITIONS

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.94E

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

CAPTION Set of Gaming Pieces, ca. 1539-1295 B.C.E. Faience, Greatest height: 1 in. (2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.94E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.37.93E_37.94E_mummychamber.jpg)

IMAGE group, CUR.37.93E_37.94E_mummychamber.jpg.

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Is senet a game that can be played?

Where can I find the playing rules?

Scholars aren't completely sure of the exact rules, but the basics are:

Player would throw a few sticks with marked and unmarked sides. The number of marks facing up determined how many spaces the player would move.

Presumably "normal" spaces would count for one move and the decorated spaces indicated a different scenario related to the type of challenge the space represented.

Is Senet related to Mancala?

Senet is not related to mancala. Mancala actually originates in West Africa.

Senet is more like many of the board games we play today with dice and pieces that much move from space to space through the board (which, in the case of senet, is three rows of ten squares each).

The game is meant to be a representation of the journey to the afterlife. Marked squares indicate monsters and other perils the deceased might face.

Thank you!

Do we know the rules for the game senet?

Was it played against a person?

Yes! Theoretically it was meant to be played between the deceased and a deity, but it was often played between living opponents.

Is this an Egyptian game?

Yes! It is! This object actually has two sides each with a board for playing the Egyptian games, senet and twenty squares.

Players would play by throwing marked sticks that determine the number of spaces they moved.

What's this?

It's a two-sided board and the side that we are seeing shows a game known as 20-squares since scholars aren't sure what it was called in antiquity.

The game originated in Mesopotamia and spread to Egypt from there. It seems that it got its start as a way of telling fortunes, but was also just played for fun.

Collection Menu

Set of Gaming Pieces

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

TAGS

TAGS

Monday	Closed
Tuesday	Closed
Wednesday	11 am–6 pm
Thursday	11 am–10 pm
Friday	11 am–6 pm
Saturday	11 am–6 pm
Sunday	11 am–6 pm

Collection Menu

Set of Gaming Pieces

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

TAGS

TAGS

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