Two Ptolemic Lions Uncovered in the Fayoum...and MeHeN

Lion-shaped statues unearthed in Fayoum

Italian archaeological mission discovers a pair of large limestone lion statues at the Ptolemaic temple of god Sknopaios in Fayoum

Nevine El-Aref , Monday 3 Dec 2012

Screen snip from article -- "in storage." 

The Italian archaeological mission of Salento-Litchi University stumbled upon a pair of gigantic seated lion statues on Monday.

They were found erected at the entrance of Soknopaios Temple at the Ptolemaic town, Dimeh Al-Siba, in Fayoum.

Dimeh Al-Siba, which means ‘Island of the Crocodile god,’ is located eleven kilometres to the north of Qarun Lake. It was founded by Ptolemy II on top of a Neolithic residential area (Ptolemy II Philadelphus r. 283 - 246 BCE).

The Ptolemaic-era town contains a collection of residential houses, a large temple to worship Sknopaios, in ancient Egypt Sobek-en-Pai (crocodile), a bakery and a market.

During excavation work carried out by archaeologist and director of the Italian mission, Mario Capasso, a pair of lion statues appeared on the sand surface.

The lion statues are skillfully carved of limestone and were presumably used to decorate the entrance gate of the temple.

Mohamed Ibrahim, Antiquities Minister, describes the discovery as interesting, as it confirm that the temple was constructed according to an architectural plan used in main temples in large cities and capital.

“It is also the first time that the gigantic lion shaped statues can be unearthed in a small Greco-Roman settlement in Fayoum,” said Ibrahim

Both statues are in a very well-preserved condition and are now at the Fayoum storehouse for restoration.

*****************************************

By the time of the reign of Ptolemy II, how many lions do you think were still living around the area, heh?  Probably NONE.

There had probably been no lions living in the desert for at least a couple thousand years after the founding of Dynasty Zero.  They would have long since been hunted to extinction, and what humans didn't wipe out, the desertification of the vast area of northern Africa certainly did. 

But, there was a time when the Egyptians were quite familiar with lions.  In fact, one of the oldest board games of record had lions (and/or lionesses) playing pieces.  That game was called MeHeN -- the game of the serpent according to some.  But if it was a serpent's game, why were there lion playing pieces???

Just one of the unexplored mysteries of ancient Egypt, I guess.  The gameboard for MeHeN is, in fact, in the shape of a coiled serpent.  That could mean that it was first created in southern Egypt -- the land where serpents abounded in the more arid regions far away from the fertile delta of the Nile on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

I think it is safe to say the MeHeN predates Dynasty Zero.  It was already an old game when the first carved stone gameboards were excavated in the earliest Dynastic tombs, and was, according to modern-day historians, soon on its way to extinction as the game of twenty-squares or "robbers" (but also called "dancers") became more and more popular.

Here is a lion game piece that is probably from a MeHeN game found in the First Dynasty tomb of Djer "Dojer"), and it's beautiful, even in its ruined state:

Gaming Piece. Tomb of Djer, First Dynasty.

From the British Museum website about the lion gaming piece, above (I think it is actually a lioness).

Hypotheses vary as to why MeHeN went extinct.  But you know how it goes -- the same thing happens today.  New games come along, new forms of entertainment, languages change -- and the old often falls by the wayside, trampled in the dust of time, forgotten.  Fortunately, for ancient Egypt, they did many things in STONE.

MeHeN crumpled into dust as the game of Senet took over in popularity and, eventually, religious symbolism in representing the passage of a human being from life to death to life again. But the lioness (and sometimes the lion), remained a powerful symbol of sovereignty, majestic power, and perhaps most importantly of all, mysterious power received from the Heavens.  Long after MeHeN was forgotten and its last vestiges as a sacred game buried under tons of sand, the lioness continued to be an extremely powerful symbol in Egypt and indeed, throughout the Middle East.  These Ptolemaic examples of that continuing fascination, well, just more evidence piled upon evidence piled upon evidence...

Ancient Egyptian Games: Mehen

Faulkner’s Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian gives the translation of the word ‘Mehen’ as literally meaning “coil” and is used in reference to the goddess Mehen, or ‘Coiled One’, and also the board game called Mehen.

I am this one who escaped from the coiled serpent (Mehen),
I have ascended in a blast of fire, having turned myself about.
The two skies go to me, the two earths come to me,
I have trodden on the green k3d-plant, which is under Geb,
I have travelled the roads of Nut.
- Pyramid Texts Utterance 332.

In later years, the hieroglyphic that looks like a series of "M's" or "V's" stuck together, which represents, surprisingly enough, water, which may have been pronounced something like "NUUUN" in ancient Egyptian, in close conjunction with the symbol of a horizontal gameboard with pieces upon it, came to represent the shorthand symbol for "board game" and the popular game Senet, which soon overtook Mehen as THE game to play, and in later Dynasties' tomb paintings was openly represented as having religious significance.  "NUN," the ancient Egyptian symbol for water or the waters of life, was also the name of the ancient Mother/Sky Goddess who was often depicted as "arced" or stretched over the Earth as a protector and life-giver.  In later years, "NUN" came to be shown as swallowing the Sacred Barque bearing the God Horus at night.  Horus represented the Sun God on his journey through the Underworld or Land of Death (in ancient Egyptian texts, this was the Land to the West)  to a new day and rebirth.  If successful in this harrowing journey, in the morning the Mother Goddess "NUN" would "give birth" to Horus once again, representing the dawning of a new day.

I have posted about MeHeN before:

Mehen
May 25, 2008

Mehen: An Ancient Egyptian Boardgame
February 21, 2009
Sorry about the formatting of this article!  It got totally f'd up when Google did one of it's abitrary "enhancements" and nearly all (but not all?) of the posts at this blog got messed with.  There were too many posts screwed up to go back and try to fix them all.  So as I re-post links to them I go in and try to fix them as best I can.  But, I'm too tired tonight to fix the February 21, 2009 post, I'll do it tomorrow (if I remember, LOL!)

An important point to remember is that, in the earliest translations from Egyptian hieroglyphics to English, MeHeN was a FEMALE GOD -- a Goddess - who was charged with keeping safe the Horus on the Sacred Barque.  In later symbolism, after the original meaning had been obscured, Horus was often replaced by Pharaoh, in a sort of Naos-like enclosure that was surrounded by a serpent-like creature that often reminds me of early 20th-century American representations of electricity! 

In the earliest representations that I have seen, MeHeN was, Herself, forming the Naos like an embryo in a uterus around the Horus, without any intervening wooden structure on the Sacred Barque.  That symbolism harkens back to earliest prehistoric times, back to the time when the process of birth was itself sacred, when the color red obtained its special status as the color of Sacred Blood and Life, and the womb was akin to a Sacred Cave. 

A lot to ponder...

One of the most frustrating things -- here is what is obviously a MeHeN gameboard shown in the same photograph with the lion game piece from Djoser's tomb, and yet it is NOT identified at all!  How ridiculous is this:

From British Museum website.  Game board is NOT identified; marbles are NOT
identified; "white lion" is NOT identified.  ARRRRGGGHHHH! 

Mehen: An Ancient Egyptian Board Game

More info on Mehen. This Mehen board is from the British Museum, c. 2800 BCE. Sorry, I don't have the exhibit number or provenance saved in My Pictures and when I looked for it today, I could not find it archived at the British Museum's website. Drat! Doesn't this remind you of the "ALL SEEING EYE" with sun-rays coming out from it??? We don't know the rules - but we have examples of the playing pieces in several museums. The following information comes from P.S. Neeley's website on Mehen, where you can also download a version of the game: ‘Mehen’, which means ‘coiled one’ or as a verb, ‘to coil’, in ancient Egyptian was played on a spiral game board – most often explicitly in the form of a snake – with varying numbers of slots (playing squares), six sets of differently colored marbles (the playing pieces, with six marbles to a set), and six special playing pieces in the form of a dangerous, predatory animal – most often lions (but sometimes dogs or even hippos). It is the only multi-player ancient Egyptian board game known – the others were contests between two players (or teams), while Mehen could accommodate as many as six contestants. Strangely, it also seems to have ceased being played in ancient Egypt from just after 2000 BC. (during the early Middle Kingdom)... The Petrie Museum (among others) has a collection of archaic lions that date to Naqada III (pre-dynastic and Dynasty "Zero"). (Image from Petrie Museum, from My Pictures). According to P.S. Neeley, a form of Mehen may have survived into the early 20th century: In the 1920s, anthropologists, explorers, and adventurers found a curious, spiral based, game being played by Baggara Arabs of the Sudan -- The Hyena Game (You can see the rules for this game in The Rules section of the help file). Tim Kendall writes: " In all essential details the "Hyena Game" seems to have been identical to Mehen. It was played on a spiraling track, employed stick dice of precisely the kind known from Archaic Egyptian contexts, and had two types of pieces, one representing a predatory animal. The only difference would seem to be that the ancient Egyptians allotted six counters to each player rather than only one." [But, see Piccione's comments, below] Here are Dr. Peter Piccione's comments on Mehen from the old ANE Digest message/bulletin board: From: "Peter Piccione" peter_piccione@memphis-orinst.uchicago.edu Date: 30 Nov 1994 17:23:28 USubject: Re: Phaistos/games/duplicate Reply to: RE>Phaistos/games/duplicate On 11/22 Dr. John Baker asked about the Phaistos Disk (Crete, 17th century BC),"can it have been some sort of table game?" As I recall, this possibility was mentioned and discussed at the Colloquium on Board Games of the Ancient World, held at the British Museum in September 1990. Timothy Kendall of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presented a fine paper on the Egyptian game of *mehen* (entitled, "The Egyptian Game of the Snake"), and I think he may have noted the similarities between the game and the Phaistos Disk. Unfortunately, the proceedings of that symposium are still in press, and I don't know that a publication date has even been set yet (but that's another matter). On 11/23, Dr. Joanna Smith wrote that the game in question is the spiral-form "game of snake" (citing W. Decker, SPORTS AND GAMES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, 131-33). She then broached the subject of small inscribed clay balls found on Cyprus about which Dikaios earlier conjectured were marbles for gaming (P. Dikaios,ENKOMI 2, p. 516). These balls are clay and impressed with Cyprio-Minoan signs, meaning uncertain (E. Masson, STUDIES IN MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY31/1). Dr. Smith noted the similarity between these balls and small Egyptian gaming balls (viz. "marbles"), which were associated earlier with the "game of snake." Those balls are made of stone and are incised with decorative text. She described an illustration of an inscribed Egyptian marble in association with that game, published by G. Hart, ANCIENT EGYPT, p. 53 [middle left] (BTW, the source for this photo is noted on p. 64, "p. 53ml"). She quotes Hart's description of the marble, "the stone counters are sometimes carved with thenames of Egypt's earliest pharaohs." My own extensive research into Egyptian board games and their religious associations has shed some light on the game of *mehen* (as the "game of snake"is properly called in Egyptian). The "mehen" is both the coiled serpent of that gameboard, as well as the proper noun, Mehen, denoting the specific serpent-deity embodied in the game. Regarding this game, note the following recent references: Decker, W. and Herb, M. BILDATLAS ZUM SPORT IM ALTEN AEGYPTEN: CORPUS DERBILDLICHEN QUELLEN ZU LEIBESUEBUNGEN, SPIEL, JAGD, TANZ UND VERWANDTEN THEMEN.Vol. 1, TEXT, pp. 608-11, 633-42. Vol. 2, ABBILDUNGEN, pls. 355-59. Handbuchder Orientalistik. Abteilung 1. Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten 14. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994. Kendall, T. LEXIKON DER AEGYPTOLOGIE, ed. W. Helck and E. Otto. Vol. 5, 653-55.Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. S.v. "Schlangenspiel" [in English]. Kendall, T. "An Ancient Egyptian Board Game among the Khababish?" In his"Ethnoarchaeology in Meroitic Studies." MEROITICA 10 (1984): 711-15. Piccione, P. "The Historical Development of the Game of Senet and Its Significance for Egyptian Religion," 41-42, 217-27. Ph.D. dissertation,University of Chicago, 1990. [Available through University Microfilms] Piccione, P. "Mehen, Mysteries and Resurrection from the Coiled Serpent."JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN RESEARCH CENTER IN EGYPT 27 (1990): 43-52. N.B., the still important seminal study (although outdated in certain conclusions and syntheses): Ranke, H. "Das Altaegyptische Schlangenspiele." SITZUNGBERICHTE DERHEIDELBERGER AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN 11. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1920. The archaeological and artistic evidence for the game of *mehen* is found only in contexts dating from the Predynastic Period through the Old Kingdom (perhaps as late as the First Intermediate Period). Later in the Saite Period, the play of the game is again depicted on the walls of two tombs, as part of the neo-Memphite revival--when Old Kingdom artistic motives and themes were temporarily revived for socio-political purposes. The pattern strongly suggests that the *mehen*-game ceased to be played in Egypt after the Old Kingdom. Representations in the tomb of Hesyre and various other mastabas reveal that 2-6 people played at any one time (probably forming 2 teams of 1-3 players ea.) Gaming pieces included: 6 sets of marbles (6 per player) and 2 sets of feline draughtsmen (3 couchant lions and 3 couchant lionesses), probably 1 set for each team. That the game quickly developed significant and deep-seated religious associations (if these were not actually original to the game!) is indicated by the game's occurence and function in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts (q.v. Piccione, "Mehen," passim). While marbles were an important component of the game, none have ever been found together with any *mehen*-gameboards. Thus, the photograph of marble and board in Hart's ANCIENT EGYPT represents a false assemblage, composed, no doubt, for illustrative purposes (a common practice in museum display). That marble does not belong to that *mehen*-board. Because marbles were also in popular use with games other than *mehen* (e.g., Petrie, NAQADA AND BALLAS, p.35, pl. VII [1]), their occurence in an archaeological context does not necessarily indicate the presence of a *mehen*-game, specifically. Dr. Smith asked about the significance of Egyptian marbles which happen to be inscribed. Actually these are very rare, given the large number of uninscribed marbles recovered in Egypt. Most of the known examples are published by Peter Kaplony, DIE INSCHRIFTEN DER AEGYPTISCHEN FRUEHZEIT. Supplement, pp. 28-31[1050-1052], pl. 2. Aegyptologische Abhandlungen 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1964. The specimen published by Hart, now in the British Museum, is incised with the name of King Aha. The marbles of Kaplony's corpus are incised with the names of kings of the Archaic Period, specifically. They usually derive from the mastabas and cenotaphs of these kings and are probably inscribed as such to denote them as the property of their owners. The kings whose names are found inscribed on such marbles include: Aha (c. 3050-3016 BC), Djer (c. 3016-2970 BC), Wadji (c.2970-2963 BC), Anedjib (c. 2949-2897 BC), and Ninetjer (c. 2815-2778 BC). Uninscribed marbles have also been found in the tombs of these and other kings of the period. Other than this limited group of royalty, no other inscribed marbles are presently known to me (but that's not saying too much!). Note that the draughtsmen of other games (e.g., *senet*) are also rarely inscribed with the names of their owners (royal or otherwise). These incised Egyptian marbles probably were associated originally with*mehen*-boards in the burials. To my mind, though, there is almost certainly no connection between the Egyptian incised marbles and Dr. Smith's inscribed balls from Cyprus. (BTW, despite Dikaios' suggestion that these balls are gaming pieces, I am not convinced they are marbles for gaming. There is nothing to suggest that they could not, otherwise, have been used in some fashion as counting stones, for divination and sortilege, etc.). Whether or not the *mehen*-game was actually the inspiration for the Phaistos Disk of Crete or for stone slabs on Cyprus carved with patterns of coiling dots or for the Hyena Game of The Sudan is another more vexing question, and it is better kept for another discussion. Those interested should see S. Swiny, "Bronze Age Gaming Stones from Cyprus," REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIESCYPRUS 5 (1980): 54-78 and Kendall's article in MEROITICA (cited above). However, because of chronological considerations--although I do not deny the possibility, I am far more cautious and hesitant than Swiny and Kendall in identifying such stones on Cyprus and games in the remotest backwaters of The Sudan specifically as *mehen* or as descendents of *mehen*. Peter Piccione

************************************

Here is some information about the ancient Egyptian Goddess Mehen: Mehen Patron of: defender of the Sun Boat Appearance: A serpent-headed man holding a spear, standing in the prow of the Sun Boat, or as a giant snake coiled around it. Description: In the Old Kingdom and in predynastic literature, Mehen, along with Set in his original form, fights Apep daily as the sun travels across the sky. Mehen wraps his coils around Apep, while Set strikes at Apep with a spear. Yes yes, darlings, I know - Mehen is referred to as a "serpent-headed man" in later ancient Egyptian references (all long past the Archaic Period) and the early 19th century adventurers who excavated Egypt just assumed that Mehen was a god. But think about it: (1) Mehen was paired with Set in his original form (Set was the original husband of the goddess Nepthys, sister of Isis). The Egyptians often paired their goddesses and gods together (think of the four pairs of gods and goddesses that make up the original Egyptian Ogdoad). (2) There were TWO GODDESSES on one of the sacred crowns of Egypt, signifying the uniting of the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt): the Vulture Goddess and the Serpent Goddess who, together, guarded Pharaoh. Depictions of Mehen encircling the Sun God Re (Pharaoh incarnate) on the Royal Barque remind me of a fetus within a womb. I haven't done a study on the subject, but my guess is that the serpent-enclosed depictions of Pharaoh are older, and the depictions of Mehen as a serpent-headed male with a spear on the Royal Barque are much later interpretations of the ancient texts that New Kingdom Egyptians incorporated into tomb paintings of Re's journey through the "underworld", which those artists no longer perfectly understood.

Mehen

Mehen was both a goddess - the protector of Ra - and one of the earliest known board games played in Egypt. (Image: Mehen, British Museum, c. 2800 BCE). While online you'll find many references to Mehen as a "god," in her archaic form Mehen was definitely a female protectoress of the Sun God, perhaps closely allied with (or perhaps, an incarnation of or subsumed into) the Egyptian serpent-goddess and protectoress of Pharaoh, Uadjet. Upon the uniting of Upper and Lower Egypt, the vulture goddess Nekbhet of Upper Egypt and the serpent goddess Uadjet (also known as Buto) of Lower Egypt were united in one of the ceremonial crowns worn by Pharaoh to protect the physical incarnation of Ra on earth.

Stone Mehen board games have been recovered from First Dynasty Egyptian tombs but it's origins lies somewhere in the pre-dynastic period. The game gradually lost favor over the ensuing thousand plus years after the founding of the united Egyptian kingdom and ceased to be played in Egypt during the Intermediate Period. According to Peter Piccione, "Later in the Saite Period, the play of the game is again depicted on the walls of two tombs, as part of the neo-Memphite revival--when Old Kingdom artistic motives and themes were temporarily revived for socio-political purposes. The pattern strongly suggests that the *mehen*-game ceased to be played in Egypt after the Old Kingdom."

By that time, Senet and the 58-hole game (or Hounds and Jackals) were very popular in Egypt and Senet had taken on religious significance and mystical connotations that may have been appropriated from Mehen.

A form of Mehen evidently continued to be played by the Baggara Arabs of the Sudan called "the Hyena game." The modern "Game of the Goose" which also employs a spiral playing board is not, however, related to ancient Mehen.

For general information on Mehen:
P.S. Neely's website entry on Mehen (including post done by Peter Piccione in 1994 on the old ANE network)

Pascal Romain's website entry on Mehen (he posits a date as far back as 6000 BCE for the game outside of Egypt)

See also Board Game Geek, although it really is not known just why Mehen ceased to be played in Egypt, Neely's speculations (based on Kendall's) aside.

Mehen the Enveloper from Barbara Walker's "A Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:" Egyptian serpent-goddess who enclosed the Phallus of Ra every night, as Hindu phallic gods were enveloped in their sleep cycles by the serpent-goddess called Infinity. See Serpent.

Walker's entry under "Serpent" is 7 pages long! There's a thunderstorm going on here now, I'm going to power down for the night -

The Eye Goddess Memorialized

Thank goddess for The New York Times, else I would never find out about such exhibits as this one:

From Around the Globe, a Mustering of the Tribes
By BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO
Published: May 16, 2008

All art fairs are messy, but the New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show is messier than most. It assembles a ridiculously broad range of tribal art from Africa, Oceania, Asia and North and South America. It is a forceful, entrancing ensemble nonetheless.

This year’s fair has relocated to smaller quarters in the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue, at 26th Street, far south of its former home in the Park Avenue Armory. There is a tighter floor plan downtown — where the fair actually began 14 years ago, under a different name — but it looks and feels pretty good, with 76 participating galleries from 10 countries.

...

The New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show runs through Sunday at the 69th Regiment Armory, Lexington Avenue at 26th Street; (212) 532-1516, caskeylees.com.
********************************************************************************
Ach! Too bad the show finishes today. I highly recommend checking out the slide show at The New York Times article, which contains a short sampling of some of the art and artifacts at the show, absolutely stunning, wonderful pieces.

The "rug" image I included here is from the slide show. If that isn't a representation of an Eye Goddess, I'll eat my wool beret. Yes, she's from the 19th century - but she's from eastern Anatolia, an ancient hotbed of goddess worship (and I'll bet she's still worshipped there today, despite Islam).

Take and look and see what I see: She's got a sort of diamond-shaped head with two eyes (classic eye goddess iconography), a tree of life in the upper third of her body, and what look to be "chakra" points down the remaining two-thirds of her body. She's also outlined with - for lack of a better term on my part - an "energy mantra" that reminds me very much of the ancient serpent figures we see enclosing/ guarding the Sun God Re/Ra in ancient Egyptian iconography -- the serpents were representations of Mehen, the ancient serpent goddess/protector of Pharaoh as manifestation of the Sun God, as well as the serpent-had fringed cloak worn by archaic Athena. Altogether, She's an excellent example of ancient religious symbolism melding into certain iconic displays over the millenia.

I very much doubt this "rug" was ever meant to be walked upon as we trod upon our rugs today. For one thing, notice the much wider designed border at the "top" of the rug (above the Goddess' head) than at the bottom. I believe it was designed this way to facilitate hanging. The white "zig-zag" pattern across the top (an ancient pattern that is familiar on many goddess icons, I call it "M/V" for the wave-like pattern it forms, or "chevron") forms eight each "triangles" whose bottom edges are formed or closed by two miniature "eyes," also picked out in white threads. Extremely clever design on the part of the female weaver, because these "triangles" in and of themselves each represent a miniature "eye goddess" - diamond shaped head with two eyes!

Notice, too, the use of EIGHT - and the multiple of TWO TIMES EIGHT - or SIXTEEN. Hmmmm, where have we seen those numbers crop up before??? Hint: In chess.

Ancient Games: Mehen, the Game of the Serpent

From the British Museum:

Ivory gaming piece in the shape of a lion
From a tomb close to the complex of Djer at Abydos, Egypt1st Dynasty, around 3000 BC

How was the 'serpent game' played?

Board games were a very popular pastime in ancient Egypt. The most famous of these games was senet. This game is often depicted in tombs and boards were often included among the personal items of the wealthy.

Several examples were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Senet was not the only game played by the ancient Egyptians, though it is the only one that the rules are known for. One of the earliest games to be depicted is the so-called serpent game. Evidence of this game has been found in tombs dating from the earliest dynasties of the Old Kingdom (about 2613-2160 BC). It was played on a circular board on which a coiled snake was shown, with the body divided into boxes. The gaming pieces consisted of marbles, often inscribed, and lions like this one, but it is not clear how the pieces were used. In a tomb scene of a pair of men playing the serpent game, captions suggest that the game involved the use of strategy, and that part of the game was to capture something, perhaps the opponent's pieces.

The base of this lion gaming piece is worn, probably from sliding it across the board. Some of the incised decoration of the figure is also worn, from being held in the hand during play.

W.M.F. Petrie, The royal tombs of the earlies (London, 1901)
E.R. Russmann, Eternal Egypt: masterworks of (University of California Press, 2001)
A.J. Spencer, Catalogue of Egyptian antiqu-4 (London, The British Museum Press, 1980)
A.F. Shore, 'A 'serpent-board' from Egypt', The British Museum Quarterly-2, 26 (1962)

Typical Research Project

Before I run to the supermarket and then cut the grass (it's overdue for a trim), I thought I'd share a bit about one of my current "research projects." I've just finished reading Cathy Forbes' 1992 book "The Polgar Sisters - Training or Genius?" (I highly recommend it - I believe she was unfairly vilified for writing this book, and I find that many of her insights into the Polgar sisters have proven to be true) and later this afternoon I'll settle down on the deck, a tall ice-filled glass of cheap vino at hand under the shade of a 7 foot umbrella (it's supposed to get up to 80 and I don't want to get sunburnt) and start reading Susan Polgar's latest book "Breaking Through," which will, presumably, cover much of the same territory that Forbes covered in her 1992 book. Of course, though, from an entirely different perspective. After that, "Chess Bitch" by IM Jennifer Shahade is on the list. The object of this burst of reading about female chessplayers is to fill in background information for two articles I'm working on for Goddesschess - one inspired by David Shenk's latest research project into whether geniuses are born or created - well, that's not an exact description of what he's working on, that's my paraphrase of how I understand his research at the present time. Shenk wrote a book last year that I'm also reading (in between all the other reading projects I'm juggling) - "The Immortal Game - A History of Chess" and I think he did an excellent job of capturing the mystique and allure of chess. Oh yes - he also provided a ton of fascinating information about the game I love - and hate. Chess is a black hole that sucks you in - whether as a player or as an historian, which, I guess, is my avocation - chess historian. But not your average historian, because for the most part I could care less about who played who with what opening when; nope, I and my cohorts in chess history apostacy are interested in the really ancient stuff, the stuff that lead to the invention of such games as senet, twenty squares (the Royal Game of Ur), mehen, backgammon, chess, liubo, xiang qi, etc. And I've gotten totally off subject, lol! Once my research is done, one article will be about sexual discrimination in chess; the second article will be an examination of Shenk's intriguing research, but only in connection with chessplayers (i.e., are they "born" or "made?") I hope to have them both written soon; I've got bits and pieces saved on the computer already, but it's always a struggle to pull everything together and try to make a cohesive, understandable whole. I enjoy writing; I consider myself rather good at it (ahem). Still, it's MUCH easier to just continue to do research - one then never has to commit anything into final form for death by a thousand pinpricks and slurs of the critics...