February 2, 2026
Mummies, marbles, and meltdowns
Board Games in Ancient Fiction: Egypt, Iran, Greece
Ancient games get wild: mummies play Senet, suitors go marbles, and comments brawl over ‘Persia’
TLDR: Ancient tales used board games—Egyptian senet with a mummy, Greek pebble contests, and Sasanian chess/backgammon—as key plot devices. Comments split into a ‘Persia vs Iran’ naming spat, a 108‑suitor rules debate, and a dev teasing a Senet app, proving history still triggers playful chaos.
Turns out ancient storytellers were the original game designers: an Egyptian hero playing senet with a mummy to win a spellbook, Greek suitors in an Apion rewrite rolling into a pebble showdown straight out of the Odyssey, and a Sasanian tale swapping royal riddles for chess and backgammon. But the real action? The comments. History naming cops charged in first: “Isn’t ancient Iran = Persia?” one user challenged, comparing it to calling Kievan Rus “ancient Russia.” Meanwhile the rules-lawyers descended on Homer: one reader swore Apion’s take—“flicking pebbles toward the Penelope-pebble”—fits better than translating the game as draughts, then slammed the brakes with math: there were 108 suitors, so how did that even work?
From there it snowballed. People joked about a 108‑player marble battle royale and a “Penelope‑pebble” final boss. Others cheered the big idea: as one fan put it, ancient texts weren’t just moral lessons—they were playful, self‑aware remixes. A wholesome curveball: a 15‑year Senet veteran teased a GNOME version, warning it “won’t appease chess die-hards” but makes for cozy strategy. The vibe: Persia‑vs‑Iran nitpickers vs. fun‑police vs. board‑game nerds, with the rest of us grabbing popcorn. The takeaway everyone agreed on? These stories prove games weren’t just pastimes—they powered plot twists long before board‑game cafes or TikTok.
Key Points
- •Board games are used as structural motifs in ancient literature, predating their use in modern genre fiction.
- •The Demotic Egyptian Tale of Setne Khaemwaset features a likely senet match against a mummy to win a spellbook, blending magical competition with gameplay.
- •A late Hellenistic Greek novella (Apion of Alexandria, FGrH 616 F36) has Penelope’s suitors play petteia to decide marriage, reworking the Odyssey’s bow contest.
- •The Sasanian work Wizārišn ī čatrang replaces royal riddle contests with invented board games like chess and backgammon.
- •Across these texts, board games symbolize narrative innovation, transforming established story patterns into game-based frameworks.