In the golden age of the New Kingdom, during the long and prosperous reign of Ramses II, there lived a prince named Setna Khamwas. While his many brothers sought glory on the battlefields of Kadesh or in the administration of the vast Egyptian empire, Setna was a man of the spirit and the mind. He was the High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, a scholar of the ancient scripts, and a magician whose power was whispered to be second only to the gods themselves. Setna spent his days in the dim light of temple libraries, unrolling papyri that had been brittle since the days of the Old Kingdom. His obsession was the pursuit of the 'Book of Thoth,' a legendary scroll written by the hand of the god of wisdom himself. It was said that this book contained only two spells: one that could enchant the heavens, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea, allowing the reader to understand the language of the birds and the fish; and a second spell that could bring the dead back to life and allow one to see the sun god Ra rising in the sky with all his divine entourage.
Setna's search eventually led him to a fearful discovery. A wise old priest told him that the book did not reside in any earthly library but was buried in the Necropolis of Memphis, specifically in the tomb of Neferkaptah, a prince who had lived centuries before and had paid a terrible price for his own curiosity. Ignoring the omens of doom, Setna took his brother Anherru and journeyed to the vast desert plateau of Saqqara. There, amidst the crumbling mastabas and the towering Step Pyramid of Djoser, they located the hidden entrance to Neferkaptah’s eternal dwelling. Using his magical incantations, Setna forced the heavy stone seals to yield, and the brothers descended into the cool, dark belly of the earth. When they reached the central burial chamber, they did not find a silent, stagnant room. Instead, the chamber was filled with a brilliant, supernatural light that emanated from the Book of Thoth, which lay resting upon the chest of Neferkaptah’s mummy.
Beside the mummy of Neferkaptah sat the translucent spirits of his wife, Ahwere, and their young son, Merib. Though they had been buried far away in Coptos, their ghosts had traveled across the land to be with the patriarch of their family. As Setna reached out to seize the scroll, the ghost of Ahwere rose and spoke with a voice like the rustling of dry papyrus. She pleaded with Setna to leave the book where it lay, recounting the tragic history of her family. She told of how Neferkaptah had obsessively searched for the book, how he had fought a giant, immortal serpent to retrieve it from the bottom of the Nile near Coptos, and how the god Thoth, enraged by the theft of his wisdom, had struck down Merib and Ahwere, and finally Neferkaptah himself. 'Do not take this burden upon yourself, Setna,' she warned. 'It has brought us nothing but the loneliness of the tomb and the weight of a divine curse.'
But Setna, blinded by his own arrogance and his desire for ultimate knowledge, would not listen. He declared that he would have the book, by force of magic if necessary. It was then that the mummy of Neferkaptah himself seemed to stir. The ghost of the ancient prince rose and challenged Setna, not to a duel of spells, but to a game of Senet—the game of passing. 'If you can defeat me in three games,' Neferkaptah’s ghost intoned, 'the book is yours. But if you lose, you shall remain here with us forever.' Setna, confident in his skill, agreed. They sat across from each other at a game board that appeared out of the shadows. As they played, the stakes became visible. When Setna lost the first game, Neferkaptah struck him on the head with the game pieces, and Setna sank into the floor up to his knees. After the second loss, he sank up to his waist. The earth itself seemed to be swallowing the living prince as punishment for his hubris.