What do games tell us about Ancient Egypt?
The ancient Egyptians didn鈥檛 spend all their time working or preparing for the afterlife. They also liked to play lots of board games.
These games often tell us about the way the Egyptians followed their religion and lived their lives.
Board games were all played with ancient Egyptian versions of dice 肠补濒濒别诲鈥throw sticks鈥痮谤鈥knuckle bones. This was because they were all games of chance.
For the ancient Egyptians, the element of chance symbolised that their fate was in the hands of the gods.
Watch: What Ancient Egyptian board games were there?
What was the Mehen game?
- The gameboard showed a coiled snake whose body is divided into rectangular spaces. Mehen was a snake deity (god) in ancient Egyptian religion.
- The game was played with lion or lioness shaped pieces with three to six sets and small marbles or balls.
Gameboards
Take a look at some ancient Egyptian game pieces.
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Activities
Activity 1: Explore Ancient Egyptian games
Click on the market stall to learn about four Ancient Egyptian games.
Games included 鈥楽enet鈥, 鈥楬ounds and Jackals鈥 鈥楢seb鈥 and 鈥楳ehen鈥.
Activity 2: Name the game
Solve the riddle and type the correct game name.
Activity 3: Quiz 鈥 Ancient Egyptian games
Activity 4: Make your own Mehen board
Download our ancient Egyptian Mehen board game and play the game yourself!
Activity 5: History Explorer game
Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about Ancient Egypt.
History Explorer: Secrets through time
History Explorer: Secrets through time: KS2 History
Bitesize Primary games. gameBitesize Primary games
Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.
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