Queen Nefertari playing senet

Rights Managed

SS2344553

SL0491

Queen Nefertari playing senet. Queen Nefertari lived around 1300-1255 BC and was the first wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. This wall painting is found in her tomb and portrays the Queen in the afterlife playing the board game senet. In Egpytian mythology, the dead must overcome several tests, such as winning senet, to pass through the afterlife. Senet is the oldest known board game. Players move pawns on a grid of thirty squares. The actual rules are not known. The tomb of Nefertari is located in the Valley of the Queens, Thebes, Egypt. It is one of the best preserved and most ornately decorated of all known tombs. It was rediscovered in 1904 by the Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli, but has been closed to the public since 2003.

Patrick Landmann / Science Source