Ancient Egyptians at Play - (Bloomsbury Egyptology) by Walter Crist & Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi & Alex de Voogt (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The rich history of Egypt has provided famous examples of board games played in antiquity. Each of these games provides evidence of contact between Egypt and its neighbours. From pre-dynastic rule to Arab and Ottoman invasions, Egypt's past is visible on game boards.

This volume starts by introducing the reader to board games as well as instruments of chance and goes on to trace the history and distribution of ancient Egyptian games, looking particularly at how they show contact with other cultures and civilizations. Game practices, which were also part of Egyptian rituals and divination, travelled throughout the eastern Mediterranean. This book explores the role of Egypt in accepting and disseminating games during its long history. Over the last few years, the extent and the modes of contact have become better understood through museum and archival research projects as well as surveys of archaeological sites in Egypt and its surrounding regions. The results allow new insight into ancient Egypt's international relations and the role of board games research in understanding its extent.

Written by three authors known internationally for their expertise on this topic, this will be the first volume on Ancient Egyptian games of its kind and a much-needed contribution to the field of both Egyptology and board games studies.

Review Quotes

"Richly illustrated with photographs and line drawings, this volume is a welcome compendium in the field of board game studies, and indeed is a great encouragement to crack open a board game and get playing!" --Ancient Egypt

"In his very specialized book, Crist (Arizona State Univ.) achieves his purpose-to synthesize material evidence found in Egypt about board games and their uses from the predynastic through Islamic eras. He presents this information to facilitate identifying excavated board games and understanding their crossing of cultural borders. ... Of interest to graduate students and scholars who are Egyptologists, archaeologists, and social anthropologists. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals." --CHOICE

"Egyptologists and scholars from other disciplines who wish to study board games in the ancient world will find this study to be a very useful research tool that provides a thorough description of the available material evidence, summaries of previous work on the topic, and astute suggestions of broader trends and questions." --Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections

"An impressive summation of the widely dispersed evidence on Ancient Egyptian board games, including much additional material from graffiti boards and especially from outside Egypt. Board games are shown to represent a major token of ongoing cross-cultural interaction between Egypt and its neighbours in Pharaonic and post-Pharaonic times. The book adds a whole new chapter to the study of such interactions more broadly." --Andréas Stauder, Directeur d'études "égyptien", École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris.

"This innovative study of Egyptian games provides the most comprehensive overview to date, providing an essential guide for archaeologists wanting to identify games in the field and those interested more generally in ancient Egyptian play. The authors' concern for gaming's temporal, geographic and social contexts adds an important dimension to their study, making it an important source for those interested in gaming at all times and places." --Stuart Tyson Smith, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

"Meticulously researched ... Crist, Dunn-Vaturi, and de Voogt have produced an appealing overview of board games in ancient Egypt ... This volume compiles all relevant scholarship into a digestible size and makes new arguments for cultural exchange between Egypt and its neighbors. This book will be an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to identify board games in the field and a helpful resource for anyone interested in ancient board games, ancient Egypt, or cultural exchange." --Classical Journal

About the Author

Walter Crist is a leading expert on Cypriot board games and a PhD candidate in archaeology at Arizona State University.

Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi is a Research Associate in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and is pursuing PhD research at Leiden University, the Netherlands, on the game of Hounds and Jackals.

Alex de Voogt is an Assistant Curator at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and a leading researcher of board games in Africa and the Middle East.