There is much evidence for the leisure activities of the ancient Egyptians. Men engaged in physical sports, such as hunting, fishing, archery, wrestling, boxing, and stick fencing. Long-distance races were organized to demonstrate physical prowess, and both men and women enjoyed swimming. Board games were popular, and games boards were constructed of a number of materials: wood, stone, clay, or simple drawings scratched on the ground. Moves on board games were determined by throw sticks, astragali (animal anklebones), or after the late New Kingdom, cubic dice that were usually marked in the same pattern used today. One of the most common games was senet, which was played on a board of thirty squares divided into three rows of ten squares. Like so many other aspects of Egyptian culture, senet had a religious significance, and the game was likened to passing through the underworld.

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, OIM 16950 Snake (Mehen) game. Egyptian alabaster, pigment. Old Kingdom, Dynasties 3-6, ca. 2750-2250 B.C. Purchased in Egypt, 1934. A game board in the form of a coiled snake was among the earliest Egyptian games. Using a set of lion-shaped and round markers, play started at the snake's tail, which was in the form of a bird's head. The two or four opponents raced each other to the goal located in the snake's head. Mehen was the name of the serpent deity whose coils protected the sun god.

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, OIM 371 20 square game. Acacia wood, copper. New Kingdom, Dynasties 18-19, ca. 1570-1069 B.C. Akhmim? Purchased in Egypt, 1894-5. The game of 20 squares was played by two opponents, each of whom had 5 playing pieces. Play began with the pieces placed on the undecorated areas on each side of the board. The players moved down the side squares and up the middle of the board. Plays were determined with throw sticks, dice, or knucklebones. Religious texts indicate that playing the game was likened to passing through the underworld in the quest for eternal rebirth.

The "twenty square game," which originated in Sumer and was known through the entire ancient Near East and Cyprus, was played on a rectangular board divided into three rows of four, twelve, and four squares, respectively. Both senet and twenty squares were played by two opponents. Another ancient game was mehen, played by several players on a round board that looked like a coiled snake. The playing pieces, tiny lions and small balls, were moved from the tail of the snake to the goal on its head. Although this game was played in Egypt only during the Old Kingdom, it continued to be played in Cyprus for another 1,000 years.

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, OIM 9819, 9820

Game markers. Faience, ivory. New Kingdom and later, ca. 1300-300 B.C. Purchased, 1920.

Tomb paintings indicate that banquets were a popular form of relaxation, at least for the upper class. At such events food, alcoholic beverages, music, and dancing were common forms of entertainment. The organization of the tomb scenes may be misleading, it seems that proprieties of the times kept male and female guests seated in separate areas although men and women performed together.

The foundation of all daily or banquet meals, regardless of social class, was the same: bread, beer, and vegetables. The latter included leeks, onions, garlic, a number of pulses (beans, peas, lentils, etc.), and several varieties of melons. Wealthier Egyptians had more opportunities to enjoy red meat, fowl, honey-sweetened cakes and other delicacies. Lower-class Egyptians relied on fish and fowl for most of their meat proteins. The ready availability of wild fish and fowl made them inexpensive, while beef and, to a varying extent, other red meats were expensive and considered by many to be a luxury.

The national drink in ancient Egypt was beer, and all ancient Egyptians--rich and poor, male and female--drank great quantities of it. Wages were paid in grain, which was used to make two staples of the Egyptian diet: bread and beer. Beer was made from barley dough, so bread making and beer making are often shown together. Barley dough destined for beer making was partially baked and then crumbled into a large vat, where it was mixed with water and sometimes sweetened with date juice. This mixture was left to ferment, which it did quickly; the liquid was then strained into a pot that was sealed with a clay stopper. Ancient Egyptian beer had to be drunk soon after it was made because it went flat very quickly. Egyptians made a variety of beers of different strengths. Strength was calculated according to how many standard measures of the liquid was made from one hekat (4.54 liters) of barley; thus, beer of strength two was stronger than beer of strength ten.

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Nykauinpu figures: woman grinding grain (left) and winnower (right).

In addition to beer, wine was also widely drunk. Jar labels with notations that the wine was from the "Vineyard of King Djet" indicate that wine production was well established as early as Dynasty 1. By Dynasty 5 and 6, grapevines and wine production were common motifs in decorated tombs, and records imply that some vineyards produced considerable amounts of wine. One vineyard, for example, is said to have delivered 1,200 jars of good wine and fifty jars of medium-quality wine in one year.

Wines in ancient Egypt, like wines today, were recognized by their vintage, often identified by the name of the village, town, district, or general geographic region where it was produced. At least fourteen different wine-producing areas existed in the Delta alone; although the extent of these regions cannot be defined, their general location can be identified--Upper Egyptian vintages were not as numerous as those of the Delta, but were said to be of excellent quality (e.g., Theban wines were known for their lightness and wholesomeness). Wines were also known to have been produced in the oases.

Wine jar labels normally specified the quality of wine, such as "good wine," "sweet wine," "very very good wine," or the variety, such as pomegranate wine. It is difficult to speculate about the taste of Egyptian wine compared to modern standards. Nevertheless, because of the climate, low acid (sweet) grapes probably predominated, which would have resulted in a sweet rather than dry wine. Alcohol content would have varied considerably from area to area and from vintage to vintage, but generally Egyptian wine would have had a lower alcohol content than modern table wines.

Douglas J. Brewer and Emily Teeter

A woman who over-indulged (Dynasty 19).

It has been suggested that the effects of drinking wine were sometimes enhanced by additives. For example, tomb paintings often depict wine jars wrapped or draped in lotus flowers, suggesting that the Egyptians may have been aware of the narcotic qualities of blue lotus petals when mixed with wine. There is much evidence for the excess consumption of both beer and wine, and King Menkaure (Dynasty 4) and King Amasis (Dynasty 26) figure in tales about drunkenness. Some ancient scenes are quite graphic in their depiction of over-indulgence. For instance, in the tomb of Paheri an elegant lady is shown presenting her empty cup to a servant and saying "give me eighteen measures of wine, behold I should love [to drink] to drunkenness."

Along with eating and drinking went dance and song. Dancing seems to have been a spectator sport in which professionals performed for the guests. As a rule, men danced with men and women with women. Singers, whether soloists or entire choruses accompanied by musical instruments, entertained guests in private homes and in the palace.

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Musicians entertain at a banquet (Dynasty 18).

Ancient Egyptians played a variety of musical instruments. Of the wind instruments, one of the oldest was a flute made of reed or wood, and illustrated on Predynastic pieces of broken pottery (i.e., sherds) as well as on a slate palette from Hierakonpolis. By the Old Kingdom, single and double flutes were played. They could be side-blown (much like a modern flute), or end-blown (like a recorder). The flute always remained popular among Egyptians and it has survived to this day as the Arabic nay and uffafa. Also popular during the Old Kingdom were large floor harps and various percussion instruments ranging from bone or ivory clappers to hand-rattles (sistra) and rectangular or round frame drums. Drums of all sizes were played using fingers and hands; sticks or batons were apparently not used.

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Harpist.

During the New Kingdom, many new instruments were added to the instrumental ensemble, including small shoulder-held harps, trumpets, lutes, oboes, and seven-stringed lyres. Trumpets were generally restricted to the military. Egyptian lutes had a long slender neck and an elongated oval resonating chamber made of wood or tortoise shell (the sound emitted from these instruments would have been something approximating a cross between a mandolin and the American banjo). The cylindrical drum, about 1 meter high with a leather skin laced on at each end, was also popular during the New Kingdom; it was used both by the military and civilian population. The long oboe, played with a double reed, was introduced to Egypt from Asia Minor, and during the Graeco-Roman period, a number of instruments of Greek origin were adopted by the Egyptians, including pan-pipes and a water organ with a keyboard.

Although the sound quality of the ancient instruments can in some cases be recreated, no evidence exists that the Egyptians ever developed a system of musical notation; thus the ancient melodies, rhythms, and keys remain unknown. Some scholars believe, however, that vestiges of the ancient music may be found in the music of the peoples now living in Western Desert oases, and these songs are being scrutinized for their possible origins.

In contrast to the banquets of the rich and the organized meetings of the lower classes, a different type of entertainment was provided by inns and beer houses where drinking often led to singing, dancing, and gaming, and men and women were free to interact with each other. Taverns stayed open late into the night, and patrons drank beer in such quantities that intoxication was not uncommon. In one ancient text a teacher at a school of scribes chastens a student for his night activities: "I have heard that you abandoned writing and that you whirl around in pleasures, that you go from street to street and it reeks of beer. Beer makes him cease being a man. It causes your soul to wander . . . Now you stumble and fall upon your belly, being anointed with dirt" (Caminos 1954: 182).

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The streets of larger towns no doubt had a number of "beer halls," and the same text as just quoted refers to the "harlots" who could be found there. Proverbs warning young men to avoid fraternization with "a woman who has no house" indicate that some form of prostitution existed in ancient Egyptian society. For instance, the "Instructions of Ankhsheshenqy" admonish, "He who makes love to a woman of the street will have his purse cut open on its side" (Lichtheim 1980: 176). During the Graeco-Roman period, brothels were known to exist near town harbors and could be identified by an erect phallus over the door, and tax records refer to houses that were leased for the purpose of prostitution. Prostitution was not, however, associated with temples or religious cults in Egypt.