The Egypt Game

The youthful creators of the Egypt Game draw inspiration from ancient Egyptian mythology and culture in creating their imaginary world and its rituals. In several instances, there are actual parallels between the novel’s mythology and actual Egyptian culture. The children begin building their game world using a bust of Nefertiti. This Egyptian queen was the stepmother of the famous boy pharaoh, Tutankhamun, known as King Tut. This bust may have been the impetus for the Egypt Game’s designation of Marshall as a boy pharaoh named Marshamosis.

Nefertiti is famous for her beauty and for being the wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten. She and her husband were largely responsible for replacing Egypt’s polytheistic religion, where many gods were worshipped, with a monotheistic worship of one deity, the sun. This decision proved wildly unpopular. Shortly after Akhenaten’s death, the country reverted back to its polytheistic roots. The Egypt Game’s creators soon repurpose Nefertiti’s statue to represent the creation goddess, Isis; they build an altar to her in the storage yard. Isis has a long history in the Egyptian pantheon, beginning around 2100 BCE. In some mythologies, she is considered the supreme creation goddess. By the first millennium, along with her consort Osiris, she was the most widely worshipped divinity in ancient Egypt. Her worship spread into the Greco-Roman world as well.

In the children’s game, her evil counterpart is the crocodile god, Set. According to actual Egyptian mythology, Set is not associated with the crocodile. The real crocodile god is called Sobek, and he carries some positive attributes. Rather than the crocodile, Set is associated with a mysterious creature that bears similarities to many species but doesn’t correspond exactly to any one species. The creature is merely called the “Set Animal.” The Set of both the Egypt Game and actual Egyptian mythology is a troublemaker. He challenges the son of Isis for the throne of Egypt and is generally vilified in the pantheon of the gods.

The children in the game also build an altar to the god Thoth and identify him with an owl and the power of prophecy. In Egyptian mythology, Thoth is depicted with the head of an ibis bird. The ibis bears no resemblance to an owl, but the children are correct in representing Thoth as a bird. In actual Egyptian mythology, Thoth possesses many attributes, including magic and the invention of hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics, the Egyptian writing system, dates back to the very beginning of Egyptian culture, around 3200 BCE. By the time the system was perfected, it contained over 1,000 different symbols. The system was pictographic, where visuals represented objects. The system persisted into the Roman era until the fourth century CE. The gamers use only a few actual Egyptian hieroglyphics and instead invent an original language to pass secret coded messages.

Ancient Egyptian mythology and culture are visually colorful and dense with meaning, explaining why they offered so much inspiration to the children who invented the Egypt Game.