King Tutankhamun was buried with no fewer than five senet game boxes. Senet was an ancient Egyptian board game popular with all classes. Archaeological evidence reveals that senet was played by both royalty (as demonstrated by this elaborate ivory set) and commoners (crude boards scratched in rock). The course of the game was thought to...
This ivory artifact, discovered inside a tomb of a young girl called Hapy, shows three pygmies in a dancing stance. Each one of them is standing on a round base with anklets on their legs. As this is a child’s toy, a system of strings threaded through holes and around a pulley makes the figures...
These six board game pieces were associated with a game called ‘Mehen’ coil, because it was played on a circular limestone board that took the form of a coiled snake, its skin divided into squares. Three playing pieces represent recumbent lions, and three recumbent lionesses. The game of the snake, or Mehen, was a board...
