Egyptians loved competition. The work gangs building the Great Pyramid engaged in rivalries, adopting team names and slogans, bragging about their own stone-hauling abilities, and taunting other crews for being lazy. Farmers harvesting crops lightened their burdens by choosing up sides and trying to outdo the other guys in cutting, threshing, and hauling.
Godsend and Goddess
The Egyptian word for cat was mit, miit, miw, miu, or mii—"she who mews." The African wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica) was a godsend, and later a goddess, to Egypt. Cats were economically useful, religiously significant, and popular as pets.
Sometimes called "the gloved cat" for her distinctive forearm markings, the small, long-legged, sandy-colored mackerel tabby prized by the Egyptians is the ancestor of today's domestic cats. Genetic and anatomical research shows that all of today's domestic cats are descended primarily from F. silvestris lybica.
The king and wealthy nobles sponsored sporting events, providing equipment, announcing winners, and awarding prizes such as special collars. Players wore uniforms and shouted down the calls of supposedly neutral referees. Participants were cheered not only for winning, but for showing ability, grace, and good sportsmanship.
Older children and adults pursued athletic activities that resemble modern sports: handball, hockey, boxing and wrestling, long-distance running, weight lifting, long jump and vaulting, archery, javelin throw, sport fishing, and hunting. Drawings on tombs at Beni Hasan depict a sport much like hockey. Players wield bats made of palm branches, bent at the ends like hockey sticks. The ball was compressed papyrus fiber, covered in dyed leather. Rural Egyptians still play a similar game.
Egyptian team rowing resembled modern rowing sports. The leader, sitting at the rudder of the rowboat, called out high-pitched, rhythmic signals to synchronize the rowers and encourage them to greater speed. An ancient Egyptian rower, standing on the banks of the Charles River at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, would instantly recognize his sport.
Long-distance running was a popular sport. It also had ritual significance for the king. As part of the heb-sed festival, held at intervals during each king’s reign, the king ran a special course around the temple grounds. This ritual run confirmed that he was still physically and mentally fit to rule.
Egyptians enjoyed playing board games such as dog-and-jackal, mehen (“coiled serpent”), and senet. According to the Book of the Dead, they even played senet in the afterlife. Peter Piccione, professor of comparative ancient history at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, thinks they played senet both for fun and for religious reasons. Senet, played with bone or ivory pieces on a board with 30 squares, enabled living players to communicate with the dead. When played in the afterlife, senet let the dead player’s spirit move freely between heaven and earth. Four senet boards were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
World History
