The Study Of Senet Game In Ancient Egypt

Senet Game is a kind of ancient board game,it was born with the dawn of the ancient Egyptian civilization,and fell down with the ancient Egyptian civilization at the end.A whole Senet game includes a game board,two sets of draughtsmen and a set of casting tool.In ancient Egypt,all people from the commoners to the noble and royal members were obsessed by this game.Thus,as the most popular board game in ancient Egypt,Senet is a miniature which can reflect the social life between different classes of people in Egypt.Senet was formed in the beginning of the Old Kingdom and developing in the Middle Kingdom,and the New Kingdom was the period of its great prosperity.After the Ptolemic period,Senet was declining gradually.The characteristics of different periods and historic backgrounds carved a deep trace in the body of Senet.As the longest durational board game in ancient Egypt,Senet is also the material carrier which can record the history development of the ancient Egyptian civilization.Beside the function of secular recreation,Senet also played a very important role in Ancient Egyptian religion and the funerary culture.The Senet Text is a very important document for research the religious meaning of Senet.Translating the text can help us to understand Senet more comprehensively.By the analyse of the text,we could know that ancient Eyptians made the text as a spell and connect the life and the aferlife,and make the concept of the afterlife fit in the secular recreation.In the life,Senet is a simulation of the afterlife journey,while in the afterlife,Senet would make the life of afterlife more fascinating and also it is a physical bridge between the living and the dead.Furthermore,Senet reflects the cosmology of ancient Egyptian to some extent.A study of Senet game,not only let us understand the social life of ancient Egyptian and the development of the ancient Egyptian civilization multilaterally,but also provides new materials and a new view on ancient Egyptian religion.