and teach him all manner of things joyful to the mind” Homer, (1700 B.C.)
1.0 Introduction
This report will discuss the various aspects of one of Ancient Egyptian’s oldest recorded board game Senet and its relationship to the Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact. The board game Senet changed from a recreational pursuit in the time of the New Kingdom (1550 – 1069 B.C.) to become a religious-based-funeral-talisman for the recently deceased player. Casting sticks, the game’s accessories of chance, were used to decide the number of moves to win the game of Senet: passport for eternity. The fate of each recently deceased player depends on what amount of luck and probability was contained within each throw of the casting sticks (SENET, 2002, p.1). There is also the interconnecting relationship of the religious symbolism of the sun on both the board game Senet and the Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact. Therefore the representation of both the Greek Sun God Helios and the Ancient Egyptian Supreme Sun God Ra is the key for deciphering the true meaning behind Senet: passport for eternity. The Greek philosopher Plato reported his belief that Thoth, the Moon God of Time with the invention of the board game Senet in Phaidrus 274d (Aleff, P. H. 2005, p.10). This board game Senet was originally intended as a calendar application for the religious festival of Thoth.
Key terms: board game Senet / Ancient Cretan Phistos Disk Artifact / recently deceased player / casting sticks / Senet: passport for eternity / Greek Sun God Helios / Supreme Sun God Ra / Greek philosopher Plato / Thoth, the Moon God of Time / sunflower / sacred blue lotus blossom
2.0 Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact
This enigma of the twentieth century was unearthed within a rectangular clay compartment in the storeroom of the ruins of the Phaistos palace of the Minoans on the Mediterranean Island of Crete. The Italian archaeologist Dr. Luigi Pernier found this Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact on 3rd July 1908 along with “Kamares” - style pottery. This Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact has two spiral-like maze patterns with stamped fields of Ancient Cretan hieroglyphics of people, animals, plants and objects on both sides of this earthenware disk dated (1700 – 1600 B.C.). The layout of this Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact appears to correspond with the Ancient Egyptian funerary board game Senet’s concept of the spiritual journey of the recently deceased player through the maze of the afterlife. The stamped Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are clearly visible on the game board layout of this Senet set as well as two types of game pieces.
3.0 Religious Symbols Of The Sun
There is Ancient Cretan hieroglyphics of the sun stamped into the clay of both sides of this Phaistos Disk. These examples of the eight-leaved-rosette of sunflowers represents the life cycle of birth, death and rebirth in Ancient Crete. In Ancient Cretan mythology the sunflower was associated with the Greek Sun God Helios who flew across the sky in a golden chariot drawn by winged horses. Helios was reborn every day in the first golden rays of the sunrise and died every night in the last fading rays of the sunset. There is also the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics of the sacred blue lotus blossoms Nymphaea caerulea represented with eight leaves signifying the life cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Everyday the Supreme Sun God Ra’s time was divided into the twelve hours of the day as this Divine Light sailed across the waters of the sky in his daytime barque ‘manezet’ to become the setting sun. The night-time barque ‘mesektet’, was also used by Ra to travel through the twelve hours of the underworld of darkness to appear as the rising sun in the form of ‘Khepri’ the winged sacred scarab of rebirth (Linthwaite, M,S. 2005, p.3).
4.0 Historical Overview Of Senet
The Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics for the game of Senet with the ten game pieces arranged on top of the board represented the word ‘men’ whose meaning is “to endure” in the afterlife and was considered to be the symbol of eternity. Therefore the Ancient Egyptian funerary board game Senet is the key to deciphering the Ancient Cretan hieroglyphics on the Ancient Cretan Phaistos Disk Artifact. There also appears to be the shared religious belief among the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Cretans about the reward of the passport for eternity relating to the spiritual journey through the maze of the afterlife. The hieroglyphics of the Phaistos Disk consists of the tree of the life; crossroad signage and the mace of command on the fifty-seventh field corresponding with the first square of Senet. This hieroglyphic of the House of Thoth signifies the importance of the Moon God of Time’s role as the guide for the recently deceased player for the spiritual journey through the maze of the afterlife in the game of Senet
The hieroglyphics of this next field of this Phaistos Disk consist of the sunflower symbol of the life cycle alongside the baldhead of death with tattoo of the figure eight of infinity on the cheek and an oar. Therefore, the religious interpretation of the recently deceased player entering the maze of the afterlife on Senet’s twenty-sixth square of the embalmer’s House of Death parallels with the fifty-eighth field of the Phaistos Disk. The hieroglyphics on the following field consisted of the shield, sunhead, two upside down golden fleeces, the tree of life; thistle and the maze of the afterlife. Fear of the unknown is the symbol of danger represented on both the twenty-seventh square of the House of Water of Senet and the fifty-ninth field of the Phaistos Disk. The arrangement of the hieroglyphics on the last field is the same as the fifty-eighth field except the meaning is totally different this time because the player is reborn through the ‘transition’ symbolism of the sunflower.The Senet’s last square of the House of Ra is the reward of the passport for eternity for the ‘justified’ winner is also reflected on the sixty-first field of the Phaistos Disk.
5.0 The Spiritual Journey of the Maze
The mural painting of Queen Nefertari, the wife of Rameses II depicts her playing this funerary board game of Senet with an invisible opponent often referred to as Thoth, the Moon God of Time. This interpretation of one of the afterlife activities is on one of the walls of her tomb, in the Valley of the Queens, at Deir-el-Medineh. There is the mention of this game Senet in the religious text of the 'Book of the Dead', Chapter 17 referring to the Supreme Sun God Ra’s magic spell of protection for the recently deceased player. The Senet board consists of three rows of ten squares, adding up to that magical number of thirty relates to the Ancient Egyptian calendar. The aim of the game of Senet is for the player to be the first to reach the last five squares at the L-shaped Divine Domain Of Eternity inscribed with the sacred hieroglyphs of the Ancient Egyptian Gods. The calculated throw of the casting sticks by the player will determine how many moves it will take for the player to win or lose the game of Senet: passport for eternity against their invisible opponent namely Thoth. The ‘justified’ winner will acquire the attainment of the resurrection in the next life as a living soul. The player that has the misfortune to lose the game of Senet will suffer eternal damnation in the maze of the afterlife.
6.0 Calendar Applications Of Senet
The original purpose of the game pieces of Senet was to ensure the precise mathematical calculations of the movements of the Moon and the Sun throughout the year for the Ancient Egyptian calendar. Therefore, the game of Senet was an astronomical simulation tool to keep track of the cycles of the Moon and Sun for the religious festival of Thoth. Agriculture was the foundation stone of Ancient Egypt’s economy, which explains the importance of the annual cycle of the Nile River, which is also included in the Ancient Egyptian calendar. These three concepts of time-keeping were combined to produce an updated Ancient Egyptian calendar of 365 twenty-four days in honour of the Supreme Sun God Ra and to respect Thoth, the Moon God of Time, the inventor of Senet. There were thirty squares on the Senet board representing the month with the first day being celebrated as New Years Day of Thoth on the 19th July each year.
7.0 Conclusion
In conclusion the main purpose of this report was to inform the reader about the shared religious beliefs of the spiritual journey through the maze of the afterlife between the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Cretans. The spiral-like maze pattern on both sides of this earthenware Phaistos Disk layout appears to correspond with the spiritual journey of the recently deceased player on the Ancient Egyptian funerary board game Senet. The sacred hieroglyphics of the Ancient Egyptian Gods of Senet relate to the various stages of the afterlife are also referred to in several of the fields of the Phaistos Disk. Therefore the religious symbolism of the life cycle of birth, death and rebirth in the form of the sacred blue lotus blossom of the Ancient Egyptian Supreme Sun God Ra and the sunflower of the Greek Sun God Helios shows a similar viewpoint of the reality of life. In the beginning Thoth, the Moon God of Time invented the board game Senet as a time-keeping application for the formatting of the Ancient Egyptian calendar. The board game Senet became a popular recreational pastime for the Ancient Egyptians which would explain why this game evolved into the passport for eternity in the time of the New Kingdom for the recently deceased player.
8.0 Bibliography
Aleff, P, H. 2005, The Board Game on the Phaistos Disk: Its siblings Senet and Snake Game and its surviving sequel the Royal Game of the Goose, Volume 1, pp.1-17, 2097 Cottonwood Drive, Vineland, NJ 08361 USA. URL:http://www.recoveredscience.com/phaistoscontents.htm [Online accessed Tuesday 15th April 2008].
Linthwaite, M, S. 2005, The Orgins of the Gregorian Calendar, pp.1-3, FAVE Numeracy Report, TAFE Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia.
SENET, 2002, The Israel Museum Exhibit, URL:http://2002.imj.org.il/archaeology/game.htm [Online accessed Thursday 10th April 2008].
