A game of shatranj, section of a miniature painting in the Baysunghur Shahnameh illustrated manuscript by Mulla ʿAlī & Amīr Ḵalīl, 1430.
Depicted here is a 6th-century game of shatranj, a predecessor to contemporary chess, being demonstrated to the Sasanian King of Kings by the vizier Bozorgmehr and another courtier. As it was told, the game was sent from India to test the sages of Iran; Bozorgmehr, to send a puzzle in return, devised the game of nard, the forerunner to backgammon.
Royal Library, Golestan Palace Museum, Tehran.
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Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.Original image by Mulla ʿAlī & Amīr Ḵalīl. Uploaded by Howard Burton, published on 11 September 2025. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Ḵalīl, M. ʿ. &. A. (2025, September 11). A Game of Shatranj. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/20945/a-game-of-shatranj/
Chicago Style
Ḵalīl, Mulla ʿAlī & Amīr. "A Game of Shatranj." World History Encyclopedia, September 11, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/20945/a-game-of-shatranj/.
MLA Style
Ḵalīl, Mulla ʿAlī & Amīr. "A Game of Shatranj." World History Encyclopedia, 11 Sep 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/20945/a-game-of-shatranj/.
