CHAPTER 14 THE GAMING EPISODE IN THE TALE OF SETNE KHAMWAS AS RELIGIOUS METAPHOR PETER A. PICCIONE Chicago, Illinois The subject of this paper is the identification of a religious subtext in the gaming episode of the Tale of Setne Khamwas, because there appears to be an underlying meaning present in the episode related to the religious significance of ancient Egyptian gaming activity and specifically to the game of senet. The Egyptian senet game was characterized by its oblong playing field of thirty squares arranged into a pattern of three parallel rows of ten squares each. Three main types of senet boards occur in the archaeological record: thin and narrow slabs; graffiti roughly painted or etched into pavements, roofs, and portable objects; and oblong game boxes often hollowed to accommodate a drawer for the gaming pieces.' The senet game was in use from at least the First Dynasty to the first century A.D. Actual slab-style and graffito game boards are found from all periods of Egyptian history. The game box, though, occurs only in Egyptian archaeological contexts from the late Seventeenth Dynasty through the reign of Ramesses I.2 However, it is still depicted in selected funerary reliefs after that time up to the fourth century B.C. While these depictions might lead us to believe that the game box was still being manufactured at this time in Egypt, the absolute dearth of examples in the contemporary Egyptian archaeological record, coupled with the plethora of slab-style boards, indicates that these representations are only an iconographic hold-over from earlier New Kingdom representations. A study of the game of senet indicates that before the Twelfth Dynasty, and probably as early as the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians had formulated a cultic use of the game (Piccione 1990, pp. 290f.). According to CT Spell 405 (de Buck 1954, 209-10), the dead can play senet with the living as a means of communication between them. So the spell says of the deceased: imy hsy.fhby.f spffhkrw Let him sing, let him dance, and let him receive ornaments. my h. 'bf snt.t hn "tpyw-t; Let him play senet with those on earth. #rwfpw sdmw n mn.tyf It is his voice which is heard, (although) he is not seen. 3 This activity is graphically represented at an earlier period on the walls of Old Kingdom tombs. In the mastabas of Kaemankh and Merynetjer-Izezi at Giza and Mereruka at 1. For the physical characteristics of the senet game and its history and development, see Piccione 1990; a revision of this study is in progress (Piccione, forthcoming). 2. Examples have been found on Cyprus dating to the reign of Ramesses III, but these are of Cypriote or Syrian manufacture imitating an earlier Egyptian motif (Piccione 1990, pp. 15f., 429f.). 3. For a full discussion of this text, see Piccione 1990, pp. 84-86. For His Ka: Essays Offered in Memory of Klaus Baer 197 Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization * No. 55 The Oriental Institute, Chicago 01994 by The University of Chicago ISBN: 0-918986-93-1 oi.uchicago.edu