One of the favorite pastimes of the Egyptians as hunting. They hunted for pleasure as well as for food, using bows and arrows, throwing sticks, spears and nets. Thousands of years ago, many wild animals lived in Egypt. Today most of these are found only in lands far to the south. They included hippopotamuses and lions. Hunting these animals was extremely dangerous, and pictures show the pharaoh setting out bravely for the hunt. In practice the animals were often trapped and released into an enclosure before the pharaoh arrived. There he could easily catch them from the safety of his chariot.
Chariots first appeared in Egypt during the Hyksos period, and racing them soon became a fashionable sport with the nobles. One sport that was popular with all Egyptians was wrestling. There was no theater in Egypt, but storytellers at the royal court and on village streets told fables and stories about battles, gods and magic.
Board games were popular from the early days of Egypt. In the tomb of Tutankhamun there was a beautiful game-board made of ebony and ivory, designed for the games called senet andtjau.
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