Window into the Bible
Other Board Games
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Royal Game of Ur
Date: 2600 - 2400 BC
Place: Ur, [Iraq]
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
This game would have been played in Ur, some 500 years before Abram and his family left the city.
Game Board
Date: 2550 - 2450 BC
Place: Ur [Iraq]
Made from shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli.
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
Game Board for 20 Squares
Date: 1510 - 1200 BC
Place: Beth Shemesh [Israel]
The rules for this game are unknown.
Photographed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
This game dates to the era of the Judges of Israel.
Mehen (Snake) Game
Date: 2750 - 2250 BC
Place: Egypt
Made from alabaster.
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Limestone Mehen Game Board
Date: probably 2890 - 2686 BC (2nd dynasty)
Place: Egypt
This board in the form of a coiled snake was used for the game Mehen.
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
Game of the Snake
Date: c 3000 BC
Place: Abydos, Egypt
Made from limestone
Photographed at the Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Ceramic Game Board
Date: 2000 - 1600 BC
Place: Bismaya [Iraq]
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Serpentine Game Board
Photographed at the Pergamum Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Game board?
Date: 1st - 3rd century AD
Place: Ephesus [Turkey]
This stone slab with 9 inscribed depressions was probably used for a board game.
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.