The Princess Anna Comnena in the life of her father Alexius
Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople who died A.D. 1118, informs
us that the game of chess which she calls Zatrikion was
introduced by the Arabians into Greece, The Arabians had it from
the Persians, who say that they themselves did not invent it, but
that they received it from the Indians, who brought it into
Persia in the time of the Great Chosroes, who reigned in Persia
48 years, and died A.D. 576, he was contemporary with the
Emperor Justinian who did A.D. 565.
Of all the claims which have been advanced to the invention
and origin of chess, that of the Hindu Game the Chaturanga is the
most ancient, and its accounts contain the earliest allusion worthy
of serious notice to anything partaking of the principles and form
of chess. The description of it is taken from the Sanskrit text,
and our first knowledge of it is obtained through the works of Dr.
Hyde, 1693, and Sir William Jones, 1784, Professor Duncan
Forbes in a History of Chess, dedicated to Sir Frederic Madden
and Howard Staunton, published in 1860, further elaborated the
researches of his predecessors and claims by the aid of his better
acquaintance with chess, and improved knowledge of the Sanskrit
to have proved the Chaturanga as the first form of chess beyond
a shadow of doubt.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91