Ancient Egypt

Robin BurkeGAM 206

Outlineo Bibliographieso Game Analysis continuedo Egypt

Analysis Papero extension until Monday

Bibliographieso Three possible grades

o Plus, Check, Minuso Era

omeans you forget to specify a historical context (time/place)

Reference formato Many people had

inadequate referenceso references have a purpose!o doing them correctly is not

hardo http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.e

du/apa.html

Web referenceso Very few correct web referenceso Here is a correct example

o Piccione, Peter (1980) "In Search of the Meaning of Senet". Eliott Avedon Museum and Archive of Games. Retrieved September 26, 2006 from http://gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Piccione/

o Noteo title, author, name of site, date

created, date retrievedo the reader must be able to follow

your footsteps

Primary sourceso Very few correct references to

primary sourceso (partly my fault)o usually you will be referring to a

document quoted somewhere elseo you need both pieces of informationo you need to identify your source as

specifically as you can

o Correct exampleo Alfonso X, king of Castile and Leon, 1221-

1284, "Manufacture of chess board and pieces." From Libros del ajedrez, dados y tablas (Folio 3R). Reproduced in Alphonso X Book of Games. Retrieved September 26, 2006 from http://games.rengeekcentral.com/F03Rchessintro.html

Game analysiso We want to use games as

sourceso primary sources related to

particular periods

o What can we learn?o what questions do we ask to

understand a game?

Frameworko Rules

o formal structure of the gameo how the game workso how outcomes are determined

o Playo what it is like to play the game

o Cultureo how the game makes contact with

society

o If this topic interests you, consider taking GAM 224

Experientialo What is the game like to

play?o cannot be answered by

analysiso you must play the gameo not always enough?

o Exampleo awari

o What makes a game "fun"?

Core mechanico What is it that players do?

o move pieceso draw cards, discardo run around a field

o Are decisions easy to make?o game moves fastero Briscola

o Do they involve strategic calculation?o game moves slowero Chess

o Do they involve private information?o players may try to guess the others'

situationo players may try to deceive each othero Poker

Roles / Simulationo Does gameplay involve

roles that players take on?o Tapp Tarocko President

o Does it simulate or abstract some real activityo Diplomacy

o Fun may be in doing these roleso performanceo wish fulfillment

Narrativeo Game take place over time

o can be said to have narrative structure

o For exampleo every chess game starts the same

o but ends (generally) differently

o there is a story in there

o Simplest exampleo Rock-Paper-Scissors

o For some games this narrative is the whole pointo Game of Life

Questions to asko What makes the game fun?o What do players do to play?o Are there roles?

o What degree of performance is involved?

o What is the narrative structure of the game?o Is it delineated in advance or

emergent?

Culturalo What can we learn from a

game about its creators and players?

o Some obvious places to starto they enjoy its core mechanico they enjoy the roles that the

game provideso they enjoy its narrative

structure

More in-deptho Cultural / societal factors

o Predispose players to enjoy these things?

o Predispose players to accept a certain narrative?

o Yalom's argumento chivalryo mariolatryo existing role modelso predisposed players to accept

a powerful queen piece

Egypto "The gift of the Nile"

o Herodotus

o What was this gift?o watero silt

o The other gift of geographyo isolation

Geographyo East

o Arabian deserto West

o Sahara deserto North

o "blue desert"o South

o mountainso cataracts of the Nile

o Nile was a natural "highway"o excellent internal mobility

o Result: Egypt was difficult to invade

Stabilityo Maintained cultural and

political continuity (more or less) from 3100 BCE to 525 BCEo the same religiono the same arto the same language

o Think about this!o Let's go back 2600 years from

todayo Unique in this extremely long

period of relative stability

Civilization Rule #1o You must grow more food

than you can eato Surplus means

o artisanso commerceo taxeso full-time armies

Civilization Rule #2o Surplus requires

infrastructureo In Egypt

o irrigationo granarieso land reclamationo port facilities

Civilization Rule #3o Infrastructure requires

organizationo the state

o In Egypto theocracyo the ruler (pharoah) was a god

ocoronation was ascension to godhood

o succession took place through female progenyo"marry the right woman"oand also through assertion of

power

Periodso Early Dynastic

o 3100-2686o Upper and lower suddenly (or

gradually?) became unitedo Old Kingdom

o 2686-2181o Pyramids are built

o Middle Kingdomo 1991-1786o Advances in technology and crafts

o New Kingdomo 1567-1085o Colonial expansion and then

collapse

Isolation Endso Nubians

o 8th century BCE

o Assyrians o 7th century BCE

o Persians o 6th century BCE

o Greeks o 4th century BCE

o Romans o 30 BCE

o Persians o 616 CE

o Arabs o 639 CE

Sourceso Many written sources

o papyrus scrollsowell preserved

Forms of writingo Hieroglyphic

o "sacred pictures"

o Hieratico shorthand for hieroglyphico easier to write fast

Demotico Evolved to replace hieratic

o except in religious texts

Rosetta stoneo Contains the same inscription

inohieroglyphicodemoticoGreek

o deciphered byJean Francois Champollion in 1822

What do they sayo Political

o Lists of kingso establishing legitimate succession

o Lawso Accounts of battles

o Commercialo tax recordso land recordso contracts

o Religiouso prayerso instructions for rituals

Example: The Negative Confession

I have not blasphemed a god,I have not robbed the poor.I have not done what the god abhors,I have not maligned a slave to his master.I have not caused pain,I have not caused tears.I have not killed,I have not ordered to kill,I have not made anyone suffer.I have not damaged the offerings in the temples,I have not depleted the loaves of the gods,I have not stolen the cakes of the dead.I have not copulated nor defiled myself.I have not increased nor reduced the measure,...I have not added to the weight of the balance,I have not falsified the plummet of the scales.I have not taken milk from the mouths of children,...I am pure, I am pure, I am pure, I am pure!From The Book of the Dead

Other sourceso Many artifacts

o potteryo funereal artifactso jewelryo statues

o Bodieso mummified remains

Death and Mummieso Egyptians were obsessed

with deatho probably the desert was one

reasono earliest, clearest articulation

of an afterlife

o Afterlife = Continuation of Lifeo in the land of the godso very materialistic

oyou could take it with you

Case in Pointo Tutankhamen

o a totally minor kingo last of his dynastyo disgraced because of his

father Akhnaten

o And yet he is buried with a mound of looto http://www.kingtut.org/

chicago/gallery2.htm

Including thiso A board for the game of

Seneto actually 4 different Senet

boards in the tomb

Social Organizationo Court

o royal familyo multiple wives / concubines

o advisors / ministers

o Priesthoodo mostly hereditaryo secluded in temples and religious citieso embalmers

o Commonerso farmerso artisans

o Slaveso usually foreigners captured in battleo could hold important jobs

Egyptian Technologyo Egyptians were great builders

of stone and bricko pyramidso templeso wood was rare and very precious

o Egyptians had very advanced medicineo much admired and copied by the

Greekso Egyptians developed

mathematicso especially geometry and surveyingo Erotosthenes (276-194 BCE)

measured the circumferences of the earth

Egyptian Religiono Religion was very concrete

o Images of the gods were the godso They had to be fed, robed, sung to,

praised, and otherwise cared foro Gods expected perfection

o Religion was not particularly publico There were regular public ritualso Temples were built to exclude

common peopleo especially from the innermost holy places

o Many of the rituals were secret knowledge

o severe penalties for disclosure

Godso Amun-Ra

o national god of Egypto identified with the pharaoho sun godo bringer of life, creator

o Osiriso order and virtueo killed by Seth and

resurrectedo god of the dead

o Isiso wife and sister (!) of Osiris

o Horuso son of Osiris after his rebirtho represented as a falcon

o Setho god of evil and disorder

Afterlifeo Egyptian beliefs very

influentialo some argue Christian views

derive from themo After death

o join with the Amun-Ra when setting

o travel through the underworldo soul would be judgedo passing through 12 "houses"o reward

oeternal lifeo rising with the sun god