Passing through the Netherworld

An interesting edition of the ancient Egyptian game senet was published by the Kirk Game Company in 1978.

What makes it interesting is that the set includes a booklet by Egyptologist Timothy Kendall, a frequently cited authority on senet who has also written a set of rules for the game.

The booklet doesn't appear to have been published seperately, so isn't available via inter-library loan. However, I found a few copies available via Amazon.com. Unfortunately, none of the dealers would send the game outside the United States. Undeterred, I asked an overseas chum if I could have the game sent to his address for forwarding.

Arrangements in place, I ordered the game for the bargain price of $14.50, and a few dollars for shipping -- in all, £12.50 (these games go for around $40.00 on Amazon, or £50 and up on Ebay).

From the back of the box:

Played from the earliest historical period (ca 3200 BC) well into Graeco-Roman times, senet was by far the most popular board game of pharonic Egypt. It was so important an aspect of daily life, in fact, that most Egyptians could not bear the thought of being without it, even in the world beyond the grave, and thus it very early became standard funerary equipmeent. By the mid-Nineteenth Dynasty (ca. 1250 BC) senet sets were such an outstanding feature of tomb regalia that the game itself was conceived as a complex funerary allegory and a simulation of one's imagined progression, after death, through the underworld. The encounters of a player with his opponent were seen as the encounters of his soul with the inimical forces of the nether regions and the satisfaction granted to the victor was his attainment of resurrection and eternal life. Now, re-created from a body of little-known evidence, this ancient game is presented here for the interest and amusement of all, whether games enthusiasts or Egyptologists, or both.

Researched, prepared and designed by Timothy Kendall
Department of Egyptian and Ancient Near East
Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Mass.

The game arrived promptly -- just two weeks from ordering to arrival on my doorstep -- carefully packaged by the original seller, and forwarded without delay by what turned out to be a friend of a friend, but I was a bit shocked too see that the postage on the box used for forwarding was $47.50 -- three times the cost of the game itself!

Nontheless, I'm looking forward to studying Kendall's booklet to find out a bit more about the background of senet.

There's a nice-looking mobile version of senet available (for both Android and iOS) with stylized graphics and evocative music which, as noted in this review, also uses Kendall's rules: