Board Games Originated as Elite Pastime

Board games began as an exclusive pastime for the elite, with the Roman Empire spreading their popularity throughout Europe.

By Jennifer Viegas

Competitive board games -- played on the ground, on the floor, or on boards -- emerged as pastimes for the elite, with the Roman Empire spreading their popularity throughout Europe, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Antiquity, mentions that board games likely originated and disseminated from Egypt and the Fertile Crescent regions at around 3500 B.C. From there, they spread around the Mediterranean before reaching the Roman Empire and what is now Europe.

Based on the archaeological record, board games didn't even reach Britain until the very end of the 1st century B.C. from newly conquered Gaul. At the time, Gaul was a region encompassing present-day France, Belgium, most of Switzerland and other areas.

Not just anyone could play board games then either.

"Many of the first board games appear to have been diplomatic gifts to signify status," co-author Mark Hall told Discovery News. "We have early examples of quite splendid playing pieces belonging to elite, privileged people."

Hall said the world's oldest known board game could be "The Royal Game of Ur," also known as the Game of Twenty Squares. It was discovered in the Royal Tombs of Ur in Iraq. Although no one knows what the earliest rules for the game were, it's thought to have been a predecessor to today's backgammon.

Yet another early game was Senet from predynastic Egypt. Its game board, an example of which was found in King Tutankhamen's tomb, consists of a grid of 30 squares, arranged in three rows of 10. The earliest rules again are a mystery, although different versions of the game are still played today. Another early Egyptian board game, Mehen, featured lion-shaped pieces and marbles.

Menes, The First Pharaoh?

There is considerable confusion amongst scholars as to who the first Egyptian Pharaoh was, who ruled over all of Egypt from his capital at Memphis. According to the kings list made a thousand years after his time, his name was Men, Meni or Mena. The reason for using different vowels is because in Egyptian writing vowels are not written (as at times in Arabic) and these have to be guessed. The Greek historian Manetho of 200 BC who was known for developing meticulous historical records, called him Menes in Greek. That is the most popular way Mene is mentioned in modern literature. This pharaoh is the legendary king that came from the town of Tinis in Upper Egypt and took over Lower Egypt (the North) by force. He then became the first king over the whole country and founded a new capital for united Egypt - Memphis, just where the two states bordered on each other. According to archaeological dating this was around 3200 BC. For thousands of years, King Menes was thought to be the first king of Egypt. Ancient Egyptian records clearly identify him as the first king of the first dynasty.

Isis, Horus and Madonna

The following is from The Religion of Ancient Egypt by William Flinders Petrie, Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College, London (1906): 

Isis became attached at a very early time to the Osiris worship; and appears in later myths as the sister and wife of Osiris. ... The union of Horus with the myth, and the establishment of Isis as the mother goddess, was the main mod of her importance in late times. Isis as the nursing mother is seldom shown until the twenty-sixth dynasty; then the type continually became more popular, until it outgrew all other religions of the country. In Roman times the mother Isis not only received the devotion of all Egypt, but her worship spread rapidly abroad, like that of Mithra. It became the popular devotion of Italy; and, after a change of name due to the growth of Christianity, she has continued to receive the adoration of a large part of Europe down to the present day as the Madonna.

Horus became identified with the sun-god, and hence came the winged solar disk as the emblem of Horus of Edfu ... the infant Horus with his finger to his lips was the most popular form of all, sometimes alone, sometimes on his mother’s lap. ... From the twenty-sixth dynasty down to late Roman times the infant Horus, or the young boy, was the most prominent subject on the temples, and the commonest figure in the homes of the people ...

Isis and Horus, the Queen of Heaven and the Holy Child, became the popular deities of the later age of Egypt, and their figures far outnumber those of all other gods. Horus in every form of infancy was the loved bambino of the Egyptian women. Again Horus appears carried on the arm of his mother in a form which is indistinguishable from that adopted by Christianity soon after.

We see, then, throughout the Roman world the popular worship of the Queen of Heaven, Mater Dolorosa, Mother of God, patroness of sailors, and her infant son Horus the child, the benefactor of men, who took captive all the powers of evil. And this worship spread and increased in Egypt and elsewhere until the growing power of Christianity compelled a change. The old worship continued; for the Syrian maid became transformed into an entirely different figure, Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, patroness of sailors, occupying the position and attributes already belonging to the world-wide goddess; and the Divine Teacher, the Man of Sorrows, became transformed into the entirely different figure of the Potent Child. Isis and Horus still ruled the affections and worship of Europe with a change of names.

Alexandria: The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Ptolemy I Soter

The achievements of the Greeks in the ancient world, by no means few, may have reached their peak in the city of Alexandria. No less a ruler than its namesake, Alexander III of Macedonia (Alexander the Great), Alexandria dominated the eastern Mediterranean world culturally, politically, and economically for more than nine hundred years, the latter three hundred of which it competed with even the eastern capital of the Byzantine Empire, the famous Constantinople. Few cities in the world can claim success of this magnitude for close to millenium, and even fewer still flourish to this day. Part of the reason for Alexandria's success was its location, both geographically as well as politically. Situated on the coast of the Mediterranean, it was the true bridge between Europe and Africa while still being a world all to itself. It was largely separate from the political upheavals of the Hellenistic kingdoms, and then later shaded by the Pax Romanum, as well as being quite far from the chaos of the barbarian invasions that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. Freed from many of the fetters that chafed against its peers, and enriched by both maritime trade and its Greek intellectual tradition, Alexandria soon earned the title "Queen of the Mediterranean."

Part of Alexandria's power and majesty came from its status as the new capital of Egypt. In 320 BC it replaced Memphis as the seat of rulership for the Ptolemaic dynasty and it remained so throughout the Byzantine period. The rest was largely due to its monopoly on the papyrus industry for the entire Mediterranean world, as well as its hold on the manufacture and export of medicines, perfumes, jewelry, and art. Additionally, many materials and goods prized by the ancient world from the east came into Alexandria and were exported from there.

Luxor Memnon restoration to go ahead

Project to restore the colossi of Memnon on Luxor’s west bank to go ahead, says Supreme Council of Antiquities

 

By Nevine El-Aref , Thursday 1 Dec 2011

In collaboration with the European archaeological mission, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) is undertaking a comprehensive project to restore the colossi of Memnon on Luxor’s west bank.

The project aims to return the 19.5 meters tall colossi to their original appearance when the New Kingdom’s King Amenhotep III built them to decorate the façade of his mortuary temple.

SCA secretary-general Mostafa Amin told Ahram Online that the restoration would also return all the missing pieces of the colossi, collapsed during the Roman period, to their original positions.

Amin went on to say that the bodies of both colossi would be consolidated, as well as two Amenhotep III’s statues that were unearthed last year by the European archaeological mission, which has been working at the site for more than ten years.

In 27 BC, a large earthquake reportedly shattered the eastern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of the statue was then reputed to "sing" on various occasions – always within an hour or two of sunrise, usually right at dawn. The sound was most often reported in February or March, but this is probably more a reflection of the tourist season rather than any actual pattern.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/9/40/28215/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Luxor-Memnon-restoration-to-go-ahead.aspx

Statue of Egyptian king Amenhotep III found

CAIRO (AP) -- Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a large statue of king Amenhotep III who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago and who was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun. The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the latest find was made at the king's funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor. Thursday's statement says the 44 feet (13.5 meter) tall statue is made of colored quartzite. It is composed of several large pieces that once put together will depict the king as standing. Amenhotep III ruled from 1390-1352 B.C. The latest find comes after several other relics of the king were unearthed last year in his mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_ANTIQUITIES?SITE=TXWIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

A Coptic city uncovered in Dakhla

The remains of a 4th century city were found at Dakhla oasis

by Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 30 Nov 2011

During routine excavations at the Ain Al-Sabil area of Dakhla oasis, an Egyptian mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) stumbled on what it believes to be a Coptic settlement dating back to the 4th century AD.

Mostafa Amin, the Secretary General of the SCA, made the announcement, explaining that the newly discovered settlement consists of remains of residential houses and service buildings as well as a large Basilica with distinguished columns and a wooden alter adorned with foliage decoration and icons showing Jesus, the Virgin Mary, angels and saints.

“I am very happy with what the mission has found; because it is the first time this area was explored,” Amin told Ahram Online. He continued that this new discovery not only forms another another archaeological attraction but “will lead us to other settlements that can be dated to different eras as well.”

The Head of Islamic and Coptic Antiquities department, Mohsen Sayed Aly said that excavators also uncovered a number of houses, bronze coins dating to the 3rd and 4th century AD, as well as a collection of clay pots. Aly pointed out that one complete and fully furnished house was found. It consist of a large hall enclosing several small living rooms, a kitchen, an oven and a large staircase.
Excavations are now in full swing, aiming in order to uncover more of the city.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/42/28128/Heritage/Coptic/A-Coptic-city-uncovered-in-Dakhla.aspx