Mehen, the serpent of Re

I was gnattering around the internet, and found mention of something by the name of Mehen. Mehen, meaning 'coiled one' or something of the sort, can relate to one of two things.

1. A serpentine deity who traveled upon the bark of Ra
2. a mysterious board game mentioned in the Pyramid and Coffin texts

This game was of particular interest to me, especially due to the time-frame of its being played. It was played in the pre-dynastic periods, up until about the Middle Kingdom (around 2000 B.C says the internet) It is played with 6 colored marbles, and 6 figures, most often lions. This game would have been big during the Asetian rule, under pharoahs such as Sneferu and Khufu, but it suddenly dies out during the middle kingdom. This is pure speculation, but I believe that Setian influence in that time period may have contributed to this. Pharaoh's names in this time period more commonly included either "Seth" or Sobek".

A mere board game, having been mentioned in multiple sacred texts, should probably not be taken at face value. I am posting this to see if anybody may know anything about Mehen, or it's significance. One example being this quote "In the seventh hour of the night the deceased makes his way to the hidden abode of Osiris under the cloak of the serpent Mehen." The connection between 7 and Asetianism has been discussed here often enough, so I'll just leave that there.

Interestingly, archeologists, somewhere in the 1920's found a game almost identical to Mehen. It was a spiral-like game being played by Baggara Arabs in Sudan, and was called the "Hyena game".

If nothing else, I found this game to be tasty food for thought.

Damnit my pictures didn't insert...

I fixed that for you.

I am not entirely familiar with all of this but it sounds really interesting. Thank you very much for sharing this Staple. A lot to research right there.

As for the ancient game do you think it may have any connection with Senet, another mysterious Egyptian game?

I tend to agree with what you are saying about the dates, especially since we know that power in Egypt shifted hands from Asetians to Sethians several times and how those events had a great effect on history and development. As for the game being mentioned in sacred texts we have to assume that probably it was more than just a game. It's not unheard of for Asetians to use symbolism and occult tools disguised as normal objects so that their power remains shielded from the uninitiated. It's quite possible that some of these objects historians now identify as simple games were in fact other kind of tools, not just magickal objects with an occult purpose but also strategy planners for war. Imagine how such an object could be used to quickly define a strike strategy before a battle while remaining mysterious enough that if they were caught the plans wouldn't fall on wrong hands.

The particular quote you shared is extremely interesting and I can certainly understand the Asetian connection you're seeing there.

Thanks Sybil, you really stay on top of things. The second picture is unfortunately a little big, but that's my fault lol. It was a stone board inside a museum casing.

The key thing about Mehen, was that it is the only discovered multiplayer game. We all know the importance of group, and family within the AK, especially using the number 3. Senet was a mono a mono situation, but Mehen boards were discovered with 6 sets of marbles and figures, either suggesting a free for all situation, or more likely, a team situation. (3v3 anybody...?)

Senet was probably similar to chess, but I believe Senet would have been a less 'sacred' game due to the blatant popularity throughout Egypt. The removal of Mehen suggests either it was lost knowledge or was banned. In either case, it definitely had some sort of metaphysical use, maybe as an initiatory tool, maybe as a tool for divination, or maybe something we can't even fathom.

Interesting... Thanks for sharing.