persian backgammon & CHESS WOODEN BOARD GAME KHATAM KARI
persian backgammon
No piece game
Persia (iran)
Excavations at Shahr-e Sukhteh (Persian شهر سوخته, literally “The Burnt City”) in Iran have shown that a board race game existed there around 3000 BC. The artifacts include two dice and 60 checkers, and the set is believed to be 100 to 200 years older than the Royal Game of Ur. On the board found at Shahr-e Sukhteh the fields are fashioned by the coils of a snake.
Touraj Daryaee (2006) — on the subject of the first written mention of early precursors of backgammon — writes:
The game of backgammon is first mentioned in Bhartrhari’s Vairagyasataka (p. 39), composed around the late sixth or early seventh century AD. The use of dice for the game is another indication of its Indic origin, since dice and gambling were a favorite pastime in ancient India. The rules of the game, however, first appeared in the Middle Persian text Wızarisnı Catrang ud Nihisnı New Ardaxsır (Explanation of Chess and Invention of Backgammon), composed in the sixth century during the rule of the Sasanian king Khosrow I (530–571). The text assigns its invention to the Persian sage Wuzurgmihr (Persian) Buzarjumihr/Bozorgmehr, who was the minister of King Khosrow I. According to the historical legend, the Indian king Dewisarm sends his minister Taxritos to Persia with the game of chess, and a letter challenging Sasanian King Khosrow I to solve the riddle or rationale for the game. Khosrow asks for three days to decipher the game, but initially no-one in the court is able to make any progress. On the third day, Khosrow’s minister, Wuzurgmihr, successfully rises and explains the logic of the game. As a reciprical challenge, Wuzurgmihr constructs the game of backgammon and delivers it to the Indian king who is unable to decipher the game.
In the 11th century Shahnameh, the Persian poet Ferdowsi credits Burzoe with the invention of the tables game nard in the 6th century. He describes an encounter between Burzoe and a Raja visiting from India. The Raja introduces the game of chess, and Burzoe demonstrates nard, played with dice made from ivory and teak. Today, Nard is the name for the Persian version of backgammon, which has different initial positions and objectives. H. J. R. Murray details many versions of backgammon; modern Nard is noted there as being the same as backgammon and maybe dating back to 300–500 AD in the Babylonian Talmud, although others believe the Talmud references the Greek race game Kubeia.
