Backgammon and cosmology at the Sasanian court

Abstract

AbstractThe Middle Persian text The Explanation of Chess and the Invention of Backgammon (WČ) is dated to the reign of Xusrō I. It describes a contest between the Persian and Indian kings represented by their leading wise men. The famous sage Wuzurgmihr defeats his Indian counterpart at chess and invents the game of backgammon, the board being given cosmological significance with the turning of the counters and roll of the die corresponding to fate. This article presents a new textual source where many of the same themes are evident: the courtly context, the competition between rival sages from Persia and India, the interpretation in terms of cosmology and fate. However, this new source is from the fourth century ce or earlier and the personages involved are different, raising vital questions about the history of the topic and its development in Persian and other late antique literatures.