Game papyrus
The front of the papyrus illustrates four different board games. The largest part is taken up by a game most similar to today's backgammon and ludo, the so-called "Senet" game. The back of the papyrus contains a “handbook”, a cursive-hieroglyphic description of the game pieces and the rules of movement.
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
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Thebes (?)
Acquisition: Drovetti, Bernardino
Acquisition Date: 1824
Johannes Jüngling (JJ)
hieroglyphs, hieratic
Drawing, Manuel/Handbook
board games
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
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Yes
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Cat. 1775
(col. 1.1) [… We]⸢n⸣nefer lord-of-justification, the council-of-the-thirty,
(col. 1.2) […] that I enter the hall of thirty,
(col. 1.3) […] draughtsmen lying on my preferred place,
(col. 1.4) […] Neith, whose arms are on the altar.
(col. 2.1) I shall open the per-nefer with (?) Maat, [I] shall take […] to the chapel (?) of the thirty, I shall fasten the djed-symbol to the tit-symbol while I see Wadjet in [her] incarnations
(col. 2.2) next to the house of Mut. My haty-heart is sensible; it is [not] oblivious. My ib-heart is open when analysing his gambit against me. [His] draughtsmen shall turn around […]
(col. 2.3) His fingers are confused; his haty-heart – ⸢it⸣ departs […] from ⸢its⸣ place, [so that] he [may forget] his answer. As […] is revived in the [house] of Orion, so shall I live ⸢to⸣ […]
(col. 2.4) eternity. I shall pass by […] wind together with the ⸢sun-disk⸣ to the house of repeating ⸢life⸣, while 〈my〉 opponent is held back in the house of nets; he shall hang low (?) in the ⸢meshes⸣ […]
(col. 3.1) my figure on that-of-Mehen; I shall hold him back from the per-nefer; I shall take my draughtsmen so that I may find my house, while my opponent […]
(col. 3.2) I shall take my draughtsmen to my preferred place. I am guided […] in passing, made wise in ⸢their⸣ house […]
(col. 3.3) […] their […] I, the ⸢sensible⸣ (?) scribe, shall 〈not〉 be oblivious. After Mehen has instructed me, he shall give ⸢bread⸣ in the house of bread and ⸢libations⸣ in the house of pouring […]
(col. 3.4) my draughtsmen in the per-nefer. [I] seize […] my seven are with the wind, in front of my fingers like the jackals […]
(col. 4.1) […] barge […] my libations (?) in the house of water […]
(col. 4.2) […] ⸢draughtsmen⸣ in the house […] 〈my〉 opponent. [I] shall ⸢draw near⸣ […] 〈my〉 opponent and haul […]
(col. 4.3) […] in the per-nefer. […] shall be given to him […] his arms. ‘[You] are true of voice!’ […](JJ)
Johannes Jüngling (JJ)
hieratic, cursive hieroglyphs
Manuel/Handbook
Bark-of-Re, chapel, council, death, divine manifestation, heart, house, justification, knowledge, libation, Maat, number seven, place, religion, scribe, spell 017, travel, water
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
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No
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Devéria, T., Mémoires et fragments II, Bibliothèque Égyptologique 5 (Paris 1897), 94-96.
Donadoni-Roveri, A. M. (ed.), Egyptian Civlization. Daily Life (Milan 1988), 246, fig. 349.
Jacquet-Gordon, H. - Piankoff, A., The Wandering of the Soul, Egyptian Religious Texts and Representations 6 (New York 1974), pl. 46.
Piccione, P. A., The Historical Development of the Game of Senet and Its Significance for Egyptian Religion Volume One (Chicago 1990), 101-105. 110-154.
Pusch, E. B., Eine unbeachtete Brettspielart, in: Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 5, 1977, 200.
Pusch, E. B., Das Senet-Brettspiel im Alten Ägypten, Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 38, 1-2 (München 1979), 388. 392-400, pls 99-102.
Seyffarth, G., Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Literatur, Kunst, Mythologie und Geschichte des alten Aegypten. 2 Systema astronomiae Aegyptiacae quadripartitum (Leipzig 1833), pl. 3.
