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Ancient Symbols - Amulets - Jewellery
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| Egyptian faience Senet game board made to order |
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| Senet- faience sticks 4 pieces |
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| Senet playing pieces - ab - |
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| Egyptian Senet Game board in black wooden box - Made to order |
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| You can go into the Shop |
Gaming with the Gods
"The senet game is characterized by its rectangular playing field of thirty squares arranged into a pattern of three
adjoining parallel rows of ten squares each. A game of both strategy and luck, it was played by two persons who maneuvered
their draughtsmen according to the throws of sticks or bones. The name "senet" derives from the ancient Egyptian
zn.t, later sn.t or sni.t, meaning "passing," and it refers to the optimum movement of the draughtsmen across the
game-squares. The full name of the game was zn.t n.t H'b, the "passing game." ....Importantly, in the minds of the
Egyptians, this senet gaming ritual could be performed by both the living and the dead. Through this senet ritual, the player
was able to effect a successful passage through the netherworld to achieve spiritual renewal and union with the sun-god, Ra,
in this world and the next. Here senet functioned specifically in the solar cycle of spiritual renewal and resurrection through
identification with the sun god. The dead could perform this ritual as a magical act to protect themselves on the netherworld
journey and ensure union with Ra. The living person could perform this ritual probably to ensure a safe passage after he ultimately
died. However, he also performed it to experience the netherworld journey without having to die first, in order to unite with
Ra while still alive and achieve a living apotheosis with the creator-god. Thus, the senet gaming ritual was a mystical rite
for the ancient Egyptians. The text of the ritual also intimates that rites of initiation were associated with the senet process,
the exact nature of which is unclear. However, in general, rites of religious initiation in ancient Egypt were quite mystical
with the purpose of uniting--at least temporarily--the living initiate with the divine."
(Peter A. Piccione)
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| Senet Game Board with green faience tiles - Made to order |
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| Four sons of Horus amulet made of faience |
The four sons of Horus assist the deceased during their journey to the underworld. They protect to canopic jars (jars where
the viscera are kept after mummification). Their heads are depicted on the lids of those jars. They are Imsety (human): Guardian
of the South,protected by the goddess Isis. Hapi (baboon): Guardian of the North, protected by the goddess Nephthys. Duamutef
(jackal): Guardian of the East, protected by the goddess Neith. Kebechsenef (falcon): Guardian of the West, protected by
the goddess Selket. They represent the four cardinal directions and are also portrayed on the four corners of the sarcophagus.
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