#mehen

[stupid-elf]

I just finished reading almost 3000 pages of books in the form of the Brimstone Angels series

(IT IS SO GOOD PLEASE GO READ IT SERIOUSLY IT IS SO GOOD)

(LIKE I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND A BOOK SERIES I’VE READ IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS THIS HIGHLY BESIDES THE GRISHAVERSE)

(IT IS SO GOOD)

And I thought I would be okay just setting it down and moving on but now I want fan content and I am slowly losing my sanity the books are so good why isn’t there any engagement with them

Like they were good enough and popular enough to get six books published one at a time so I know people read them, excerpts show up in both the Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Player’s Handbook. So where are the fans?? Why is there no fan content???

It’s to the point I’m a shadow away from writing fanfic myself, an activity I have not engaged in for years.

[somanysoundtracks]

That moment you realize you're not playing a heavily modified version of giant senet in "Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation" (1999), because you're actually playing a modified version of the game of twenty/Twenty Squares

(Image from "The Game of Twenty Squares" from cyningstan.com http://www.cyningstan.com/game/1061/the-game-of-twenty-squares)

Also, before we start off, credit to "Ancient Egyptians at Play: Board Games Across Borders" (2016) by Walter Crist, Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi, and Alex do Voogt for more background on the various ancient board games. I am not an archaeologist or historian, but these folks are (also they go way more into detail on the individual games, naming arguments, rules, geographical movements, etc., than I will because this post is long enough).

(You can purchase an ebook copy on Books (iOS) and Kobo, and a physical in most places books are sold; I get nothing from the sale, it’s just a very interesting book)

So I haven’t found anyone who’s written or vlogged about this in ~23 years of this video game’s existence, so I guess it’s down to me, having too much free time and an interest in going down a research rabbit hole.

I’ve wanted to be an Egyptologist since I was like 7, so learning senet - an ancient Egyptian board game - was something I was always interested in doing, particularly given how often senet pops up if you do any basic research into the lives of ancient Egyptians or their mythology.

(A senet/znt board from Abydos ca. 1550-1295 B.C.E. (the other side appears to have had the game of twenty on it) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544775)

(Image credit: Wikihow)

According to some versions of the myth, Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun, was either jealous of Nut’s (goddess of the sky) love of Geb (god of the Earth), or knew of a prophecy whereby her offspring would unseat Ra from the throne, and cursed her to be unable to give birth for the whole year. On Nut’s behalf, Thoth, the god of wisdom, played senet against Khonsu, god of the moon, for enough moonlight to add five extra unofficial days to the year (bringing it to 365 days), wherein Nut could give birth.

The giant game of “Senet” in TR4′s Tomb of Semerkhet always fascinated me, because not only was it apparently “senet” in some form, but it also just looked neat (for the time, TR4′s graphics looked really cool). By the time I was able to play it myself, though, I’d come to accept that it wasn’t actually senet, because the configuration was wrong (most senet games have 30 cells in 3 lanes of 10, whereas “Senet” in TR4 has 20 cells and is arranged like a lollipop or hammer).

Fast forward to recently when I finally looked into getting a senet board to play with my family, and I discovered another ancient Egyptian board game called Mehen, supposedly based on the Egyptian snake god of the same name, who was known to wrap his coils around Ra for protection every night on the sun boat as Ra journeyed across the sky.

(Image credit: a Mehen board from Abydos, Egypt, ca 3000 BCE, the Neues Museum)

During that search, I randomly came across boards for the TR4 game I thought the TR4 devs made up! But rather than being a recreation of a fictional board game, as a number of gaming enthusiasts are apt to do, this one is real. It was called Aseb, which is a name you come across for the game of twenty in a number of places, and is a little more accepted than the alternate but also relatively popular name, Tjau. Most of the academics I’ve seen don’t use either “Aseb” or “Tjau”, though. They call it the game of twenty or Twenty Squares.

(A Twenty Squares board from Thebes, Egypt. ca. 1635–1458 B.C.E https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/assyria-to-iberia/blog/posts/twenty-squares)

So what happened here? TR4 actually calls it “Senet”, so clearly the naming choice was intentional on some level. Here's a picture of the in-game item in the Tomb of Semerkhet level to learn the rules for the board game (you can see a preview of the board itself on the bottom right) (also I believe this is from the console version):

The name of the item in your inventory telling you what the game you're going to be playing is called:

(Screencap from “Tomb Raider 4 - Tomb of Semerkhet Walkthrough” by Roli's Tomb Raider Channel: https://youtu.be/RhAbD7EsC8A?t=512)

After the game of twenty was introduced to Egypt, it was often added to the back of senet game boards (two games in one). I’ve reviewed interviews from before and after TR4 was released, various retrospectives and documentaries, and found nothing on who made this level or why the game was misnamed, assuming anyone involved even knew it was misnamed. I imagine the TR4 devs found one or more of these double-sided boards during game development: a labeled senet board with the game of twenty on the back, and they then assumed it was the same game in two variants. My assumption is that someone wanted senet because it’s a relatively well-known cultural artifact from Egypt that people would at least have name recognition for, but the game of twenty was picked instead of senet because it’s shorter and less complicated. Plus, senet is considered to be a metaphorical journey through the Egyptian afterlife, which is suitable for a tomb (and a game involving bringing a dead god back to life), and many of the surviving boards we have were found in tombs.

Maybe the devs even read some article somewhere that misattributed it. Surviving board games have been misattributed over the years and anything is possible. Also, this was 1998 and it's easier to download an epub of "Board Games Across Borders" in 2022 than whatever they did.

Notably the team did research at the British Museum (https://youtu.be/aTL88Z4db9k?t=4560), which has at least one senet board on display. It also has a game of twenty board, which was possibly in South Carolina or being transported when the team was researching (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA24424)

The team also bought books for research, though I'm not sure what, other than some of the works of John-Yves Empereur (https://youtu.be/aTL88Z4db9k?t=6414). There was also apparently a US team (Core Design was British), but I'm not sure where they went for research.

I've seen a few websites call the game of twenty in TR4 a "variant" of senet (likely because it's called "Senet" in TR4, but doesn't look like senet). It's not. Senet is Egyptian (though the origin is murky pre-First Dynasty). The game of twenty possibly came from the Indus Valley and shows up in Egyptian artifacts around the 17th Dynasty. The game of twenty is supposedly a variation of the Royal Game of Ur (from Sumer). The Royal Game of Ur was played all around the region.

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378)

For the game of twenty, four of the cells on the right were folded back into a longer tail. I haven’t found any historian or archaeologist who says that senet or the game of twenty was involved in the other’s creation, outside them both appearing on the same game boards, back to back. For all intents and purposes, senet was present in Egypt for some time before the game of twenty arrived, and then both games were popular there simultaneously.

I can’t find any fansite, forum, speedrunner, or playthrough that references the fact that the giant board game in TR4 isn’t actually senet. Even Stella’s Walkthroughs references it as a variant of senet, and links to Senet’s wikipedia page, which does actually have a game of twenty board on it (though they call it Tjau), and the Met’s page on senet, which also references the game of twenty. Tomb Raider Horizons mentions the game and shows screencaps, but talks about senet, not the game of twenty. And all the fanwikis I’ve found refer to it as senet, not the game of twenty or any of its other name variants.

For all intents and purposes, I guess no one noticed this in 23+ years, or was invested enough to go down a rabbit hole for it. But it’s neat to learn it was real.

Unrelatedly, there appears to be a sort of senet board in "Tomb Raider" (1996). There are ~15 more cells than most senet games and 2 extra lanes, but it's interesting that the team seems to have sort of done it right just a couple years beforehand.

(Screenshot from "Was it Good? - Tomb Raider 1" by Josh Strife Plays: https://youtu.be/dwzIu4zFJVI)

It's possible the TR1 game is forty-two and pool, which is supposed to be similar to senet, and has 42 holes, though the number of rows is wrong, and I don't have a picture of the board for comparison.

It's also possible this is some version of "Hounds and Jackals", which often has 58 holes (notably the one above has 45 cells), but the TR1 board looks more like senet's does and the pieces are missing, so who knows? (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543867)

Misnaming aside, shout out to this translation of the casting sticks in a video game not built to play board games and using 1998-9 tech.

(Screencap from “Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation - 13b - Winning at Senet” by ladycroft214: https://youtu.be/1JV2oIXmVMg)

You can also play versions of all these games, online or physically. We don’t know the rules for all of them, and rules changed over the centuries anyway, but many people have come up with their own rules based on what we know, so there are versions online, and plenty of board game makers who have designed them for you to purchase, or even draw yourself on paper, like the ancients used to graffiti on roads and walls.

[lordsmaf]

Ancient Egyptian boardgames looked fucking dope

[kurolini909]

I dunno. I wanted to draw Ivory's 3 familiars in a more cool pose or something. I like the way it came around.

[ourjacky]

(HLTR.) ET OUIII TROP BON !!!!

[fenrislorsrai]

Geoglyph

They pick it up from humans as a way to sit and talk without drawing attention. Socializing seems to be the point of games. There is an element of competition, but mostly it’s an excuse to talk. A ritualized combat where if they were unhappy with the outcome they start over with just saying “Another?”

It started simple. A spiral with landing spaces along it, leading to a center point. A few sticks quickly marked for throwing. Travel around the spiral and then run back out. The spiral becomes a serpent. The center becomes a tree. Sometimes the serpent is drawn smiling. Sometimes with fangs bared. It depends on what they are talking about.

Somewhere along the way the game picked up a third piece, one that chased them back out once they touched the Tree and could destroy them if the throws went against them. Every throw for the pursuer is done as if it was answering part of the question just asked of their companion. Sometimes neither wins now. Sometimes they lose game after game, no matter how many times they ask “Another?”

Sometimes the pattern was cut into the earth, darker wounds upon the paler surface. Sometimes it was laid out with beautiful colored sand, building up from the earth below. But every time they wipe it away. No sign that two people met and talked. The throwing sticks are splintered to nothing. The serpent is ground into the dust again and again.

.

.

They are no longer on opposite sides. They have gone for a day in the countryside. Spread out a blanket and brought a picnic.

Old habits are hard to break. Is anyone watching? There is no one but some bored sheep.

They brush hands. They pull apart. This is all new. Frightening in its unfamiliarity.

“A game, perhaps?”

Crowley nods nervously and casts about to find a few sticks and stones to use as pieces. Aziraphale sketches out a serpent in the earth. Two marks imply sunglasses.

“Really?” Aziraphale smiles that bastard smile and wiggles.

Crowley hands him his pile of stones for playing pieces. He offers his hand full of marked sticks to the angel. Crowley always moves first. “For luck.”

Aziraphale starts to blow on them, as he has many times. But pauses and looks up at Crowley’s face that is settling into too-familiar lines. They have played this game so many times.

“We could make our own luck now.” He scoops the sticks out of Crowley’s hand as the serpent’s mouth falls open in surprise. Tosses them in his hand and then hurls them off into the field, to fall to earth unseen.

“No rules?” Crowley’s voice is fragile.

“Some. For both of us. Do you want to talk about them?” He offers his hand.

They lay down and talk, hand in hand. ‘Til the stars come out.

.

.

They leave the serpent mark behind, showing where they talked. Visible to above and below until the earth claims it.

[sundysc]

"To live is to accept you are a person, not too similar or different to anyone at all."

[brother-hermes]

ENIGMATIC BOOK OF THE NETHERWORLD

In mysticism the ouroboros is said to represent the eternal cycle of the cosmos, the transcendence of duality and the union of opposites. After emerging in ancient Egypt, the ouroboros became an important symbol in alchemy as it represents the circular nature of the opus- or soul.

The first known appearance of the ouroboros motif as we know it today was the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld. The ancient text was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, the son of Amenhotep IV and is dated back to the 14th century B.C. The text chronicles the actions of the god Ra and his union with Osiris in the realm of the underworld. 

As you can see there is a huge God illustrated with two serpents holding their tails in their mouths, coiled at the head and feet of the illustration. All this symbolism means to convey is there is a perfected state of being that is capable of moving beyond duality; Ra-Osiris. 

[hekawitchy]

Great serpent Mehen --

The coiled one who encompasses and protects the sun.

He who knows the game and he who breaths fire onto his enemies.

I pray to you,

Protect our communities from assault and hate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2

Free to use images. Want one with a flag/sun/beard combo not featured above? Message me!

[yourfaveisagoodfather]

Mehen of Forgotten Realms is a good father!

Requested by @guardian-prince // REQUESTS OPEN– !!

[mysteriesofmehen]

CT 6, Spells 493 & 495

“Spell 493

A.) Not to restrain a person’s soul from going out or coming in as he wishes in the realm of the dead. Shu has wept at what is hidden from him; O my soul, be far from the corpses which my father has slain. O Old One, prepare a path for me, may my soul be saved from the trappers who take away souls and constrain shades, who are put in the shambles of the Chaos-gods, who witness its arrival.  

B.) Be far from this soul of mine, do not restrain it, for I am that Old One who is wept for in the place of the mourners, at the time of the waiters. I possess my soul, I procreate by means of it, for I am a man of Djedet, and what I say is done for me. My corpse will neither be wrested away nor constrained, for I am that corpse for which Atum wept and which Anubis buried. [My] soul, my body and my shade are at its side, for I am indeed the guard of the prisoners after the secret matters [mysteries] of the Coiled One.  

C.) I will not be seized, nor will my corpse be constrained; the Eye has wept for me in the presence of the snakes. I have not my fiery blast, I have not attained my heat, 13 (yet) my foe has fallen to me and I have restrained his confederacy. I am an Old One, my soul is in Djedet and in Ninsu, I am not restrained by those who are on earth, who massacre the Old Ones, my protection is in the realm of the dead, and my soul and my body belong to it, and I am the guard of the prisoners after the great battle.

------------

Spell 495

I extend my arm in company with Shu, I am released in company with Wnwt (Wenut?). I have fled with the Sistrum-player, I have reached the horizon as a great falcon, I have got rid of my impediment in the horizon, I have saved myself from the slayers, the carvers strong of arms. Be far from this soul of mine, which is with Re daily. My soul belongs to my body, my shade is at my side, I am the guard of the prisoners after the secret affairs of the Coiled One.” ~ R.O. Faulkner, ECT 2, Westminster, 1977, pp. 134-35

I feel that these two spells are also important to share because they both mention Mehen [Mhn]-(The Coiled One) and the mysteries associated with him. Unfortunately, there is no hard evidence yet found (that I am aware of at the moment of this writing) that explains what these mysteries actually were. There is, however, a good deal of speculation among particular scholars of the recondite. 

[ra-awyserqet]

@draconic-wanderer

Thank you for the Mehen recommendation!

I couldn't figure out what to make for this snake Netjeri/God, so it took me a hot minute...

Then I realized that I could honor Mehen, by making an image dedicated to Him/They/Her, and placing it around my Ra statue. Originally the snake was supposed to drape over Ra's shoulders, but I actually like this better!

[from-the-waters-of-duat]

Encounters with gods in physical form

So I was mowing the lawn after a metric shitton of rain so the grass was high. I’m mowing and I see this thing rush in front of me. I shout “oh shit” and turn off the mower. Turns out it was a garter snake. I tried to get him to move naturally to another spot, but after a while of him attempting to ignore me, I got a bucket off of my porch and put him in there. At first I tried to get him to slither into it, but he wouldn’t (can’t say I blame him). This was actually the only time he snapped at me! Of course I can’t blame him, so I grabbed him by his tail and put him in the bucket. I then rushed him to the forest behind my yard and he slithered on into it. Of course I was looking for snakes the rest of the time I mowed. Could this be a sign from a god? I worship both of kebechet’s parents so maybe she feels left out? Maybe it’s another one? I know it’s not h/im because I didn’t get any bad vibes from him

Another experience happened before I became kemetic. I was with my ex friend at the dog park, and I saw this beautiful black dog with one white spot on its chest. I tried to pet it but it kept running away. After a while I gave up because if the dog didn’t want pets then he didn’t want them ya know? It was only recently I figured out it was one of my gods, I’m still not sure if it was Anubis or anupet, but nonetheless I appreciated their visit

Feel free to add your own!

[siscosfavoritecomics]

Yes!!!!!⁣

#TheRock #BlackAdam #TethAdam #CaptainMarvel #CCBeck #FawcettComics #Shu #Haru #Amon #Zehutl #Aton #Mehen #SHAZAM #DC #DCComics #Comic #Comics #ComicBook #ComicBooks #SiscosFavoriteComics ⁣

⁣

#Repost @therock⁣

• • • • • •⁣

The Man in Black ⚡️⁣

Like most kids growing up, I dreamed about being a superhero. Having cool superpowers, fighting for what’s right and always protecting the people. ⁣

It all changed for me, when I was 10yrs old and was first introduced to the greatest superhero of all time - SUPERMAN. ⁣As a kid, Superman was the hero I always wanted to be. ⁣

But, a few years into my fantasy, I realized that Superman was the hero, I could never be. ⁣I was too rebellious. Too rambunctious. Too resistant to convention and authority. ⁣Despite my troubles, I was still a good kid with a good heart - I just liked to do things my way. ⁣

Now, years later as a man, with the same DNA I had as a kid - my superhero dreams have come true. ⁣I’m honored to join the iconic #DCUniverse and it’s a true pleasure to become, BLACK ADAM. ⁣

BLACK ADAM is blessed by magic with the powers equal to SUPERMAN, but the difference is he doesn’t toe the mark or walk the line. ⁣ He’s a rebellious, one of a kind superhero, who’ll always do what’s right for the people - but he does it his way. ⁣

Truth and justice - the BLACK ADAM way. ⁣

This role is unlike any other I’ve ever played in my career and I’m grateful to the bone we’ll all go on this journey together. ⁣

BLACK ADAM⁣ 12.22.21 ⚡️⁣

Huge thank you to my friends, @jimlee and @bosslogic for this first time ever bad ass collaboration.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B43PpPiBgaj/?igshid=tw8cjpz7m30h

[exxos-von-steamboldt]

(via How To Play Ancient Egyptian Mehen - YouTube)

[mythical-illustrator]

More character sketches

Pen and watercolor

Don't repost without permission

https://www.instagram.com/s.miller_illustrations/