Mehen (game)

Lore & Background

The game of Mehen is named after the snake deity Mehen in ancient Egyptian religion. Evidence of the game is found from the late Predynastic or early Archaic period (around 3100 BC) and continues until the end of the Old Kingdom, around 2300 BC. Physical boards mostly date to the Predynastic and Archaic periods, and the earliest named appearance of Mehen is in the tomb of Rahotep (Fourth Dynasty). Scenes that may show people playing the game are rare and not definitively identified as Mehen; most known depictions are of the board itself. No scenes or boards date to the Middle or New Kingdoms, suggesting the game was no longer played in Egypt after the Old Kingdom. Claims of Mehen appearing in Late Period tombs are speculative and not widely accepted.

Mehen also appears to have been played outside Egypt, notably in Cyprus. In Cyprus, it sometimes appears on the opposite side of the same stone as senet, and those from Sotira Kaminoudhia, dating to approximately 2250 BC, are the oldest surviving double-sided boards known. Mehen survived in Cyprus longer than in Egypt, indicating the game was indigenized upon its adoption into the island's culture. A fringe hypothesis by Helène Whittaker suggests that the Phaistos Disc may be a miniaturised version of a Mehen gameboard, but this is not part of established board game history canon.

The rules and gameplay of Mehen are not recorded, but it seems likely that it was a race game with the objective to move pieces along the snake track from the tail to the head. Within Egypt, evidence for Mehen has only been found in funerary contexts, and it is likely that the game symbolized the movement of the 'Ba' or soul of the deceased person through the underworld via the body of Mehen to be reborn into the afterlife from the serpent's head. A 2024 study analyzed possibilities for gameplay and showed that the mechanism for moving pieces was probably 'marble guessing,' where one player puts marbles in their fist and the other guesses how many are hidden, determining the number of spaces moved. Lion and lioness pieces are too big to have been moved along the track, so it seems likely that marbles were raced along the track and the lion figurines held some other function.

Reader's Guide

Mehen is significant as one of the earliest known board games, with evidence spanning from the Predynastic period (c. 3000 BC) to the end of the Old Kingdom (c. 2300 BC). Its association with the snake deity Mehen and its funerary context suggest it held symbolic meaning related to the afterlife and the journey of the soul. The game's spread to Cyprus and the Levant, where it survived longer than in Egypt, demonstrates cultural exchange and adaptation. The variability in the number of playing spaces on boards indicates that the exact number of segments was not crucial to gameplay. The 2024 study proposing a marble-guessing mechanism offers a plausible reconstruction of how the game was played, though the rules remain unrecorded. The presence of lion and lioness pieces, too large for the track, suggests they had a different function, possibly as markers or in a separate aspect of the game. Mehen's legacy lies in its role as an early example of a race game and its connection to religious beliefs, as well as its evidence of cross-cultural interaction in the ancient world.

Did You Know?

• Mehen is named after a snake deity in ancient Egyptian religion.
• The game appears to have been played in Cyprus, surviving longer there than in Egypt.
• A 2024 study suggested that movement on the board was determined by a marble-guessing mechanism.
• Lion and lioness pieces found with the game are too large to have been moved along the snake track, so they likely had a different function.

Gallery