Wooden Senet Game – An Ancient Egyptian Board Game
Our fascination with the mysterious world of ancient Egypt continues with the classic Senet travel game. Now it’s your chance to step into the shoes of Egyptian royalty and play the favorite game of the pharaohs. Interestingly, ancient Senet game boards were discovered in the tomb of King “Tut,” Tutankhamun.
Enjoy a piece of history while challenging your mind with this game of luck and strategy. Made of wood, it features a sliding storage drawer for the game pieces. This colorful set is a real eye-catcher, beautifully decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Give something different for an upcoming birthday or holiday. Senet is a thoughtful gift for anyone and is sure to be treasured and admired for years to come.
Classic wooden Senet game with storage drawer
Board dimensions: 16.5 x 5.25 x 1.965 inches
Includes 5 wooden throwing sticks and a modern die
Includes five green “silos” and five wooden cone pieces
Price € 39,—
Why is this game important?
Game boxes and depictions of senet are found in a number of tombs. Queen Nefertari is shown playing this game on the wall of her tomb, and King Tutankhamun was buried with no fewer than five game boxes. The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, which means an existence after death. To reach the afterlife, a person who died had to perform certain rituals and pass many obstacles. In the New Kingdom, the game senet, which means "passing," became associated with the journey to the afterlife. Some of the squares of the game corresponded to the hazards a person might meet on their journey to the afterlife, while other squares helped the players. Because of this connection, senet was not just a game; it was also a symbol for the struggle to obtain immortality, or endless life.
ca. 1550–1295 B.C. From Egypt, Abydos