Games and toys

Children played with various toys, for instance, tops, rattles, puppets (dancing dwarfs, crocodiles with movable jaws) and miniature cattle- axes. Little girls played with baby-dolls in their cradles. (They did not only play with fetish dolls to bring them good luck by giving birth to large number of children when they grow up , but they also played with small wooden dolls.) Whereas, the girls in the harem played skillfully and gracefully ball-games so as to divert their master.
As for the older boys, they played games which required great skills. For instance, fishing by using a stick, shooting at a target, and several exercises of dexterity (a kind of hot cockles), wrestling, tight-rope, walking, running, jumping and finally throwing game.
One of the curious games that were inscribed on the mastabas was jumping, but practiced in a special manner, because two of the players sat in dust as obstacle, illustrated in the mastabas was jump in which 2 of player sitting the dust were the obstacle .
It remained ambiguous to give clear explanation of the significance of this amusing scene (jump) until an Egyptian Egyptologist remembered how he used to practices this game in his childhood.
As for the adults they were interested in numerous sports, lingering in streets aiming at having a peaceful rest, or they devised clever movements. The games adults watched were "serpent games", the forerunner of the "goose-game", the "dog and jackal" game and Senet (which was an old form of tric-trac). It was played on a board which was composed of 30 squares, yet the archeologists faced various problems in the identification of toys or play things.
The Egyptian is frequent usage of models, statues and figurines in their religious cults and magical practices revealed how far many of their ritual artifacts could be disconcerted just as the dolls or puppets may seem to the modern eyes.
A number of unfired clay figures for animals and humans that belong to urban contexts have survived particularly, those discovered in the Kahun town back dated to the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)
The string Balls, rag ones, and the wooden tops had been excavated at the settlement sites, and others in private tombs were almost regarded to be play things . Also few relatively - elaborated toys have survived for instance , human figures, rattles and models of animals, thus we may conclude that some the clay figures as the dolls were employed by the Egyptians in their rituals. Thus it was possible to conclude that the two usages of the dolls were: either as toys for girls or as amulets to guarantee fertility for girls in later life.
Tutankhamun playing-pieces were examples of the two common models of these game-boxes, and each one required to be given a name. However, English language could not give a special term for each one of them. In spite of this fact the paw-shapped was the name given to the taller kind, whereas reel-shapped was the term used with shorter kinds, since these terms have been less confusing when compared to the other expressions. Finally, when anyone of the Egyptian game-boxes was mentioned thus it meant a reference to the compiled lists by needler.
The most popular board game the Egyptians had known was called the game of "passing" or known as "Senet game" , it was played either on an elaborated inlaid board , or simply on grids divided into squares scratched upon a stone. Moreover, each one of the two players used to take the same number of pieces, usually seven pieces distinguished by shape or color. The players played on a grid that was divided onto thirty squares which were called Prw ("houses"), and they were arranged in three rows of ten.
Movements were determined by "throwing sticks" or "astragals", (knuckle-bones). The object of the game was to arrange the pieces around a snaking track till the end of the board via a number of special marked squares representing good or bad fortune.
Sometimes the deceased person was depicted upon the wall paintings in private tomb chapels while playing a board-game. But it remained unknown whether, this activity portrayed in a funerary context- was practiced for entertainment only or was regarded as a symbolic contest, so as to replicate the journey through the netherworld.

"Twenty squares" was a board game which was less in popularity compared to the other board-games . It was believed to have been introduced from western Asia. Despite the survival of the various board-games, which were played by 2 players using five pieces, yet the rules for these games as that of "Senet game" were not preserved. In addition to board-games , ancient Egyptians played various games, for instance, the donkey game, the snake game , the marble game and finally, the shield game.

Language: Aspects of writing | Linguistic Features | Hieroglyphs etc.Gods

Paint: Introduction | Subjects of paint scenes

Sculpture: Introduction | Old kingdom statues | Middle kingdom statues | New kingdom statues