Persia is the birthplace of our western culture. The Persians were experts in embracing and improving aspects of other cultures. We also find this synergy in their art and their chess boards.
The history of Persia goes back a long way, up to thirty centuries. In this extremely long period of time not only native dynasties ruled the country, there were also foreign occupiers such as the Greek Alexander the Great, Romans, Arabs and Ottomans.
Massive migrations
The first residents of this area were most likely the Elamites: archeological traces of this people have been found that go back to the fourth millennium BC. These people were not the early ancestors of the Iranians; they didn’t arrive in the area until 1500 BC. It was probably around the same time that the current Europeans, who spoke the Roman, Slavic and German languages, settled in Europe. The earliest written mention of Persian tribes living in Iranian territory is made in the Assyrian cuneiform script from 844 BC.
Sphinx at Darius’ palace in Susa
The sixth century in Iran was one of political instability and a new dynasty, the Achaemenites, seized power. They founded a vast empire that comprised Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, a part of Central Asia and the East of the Mediterranean Sea area. A special part of their expansion politics consisted of collaborating with the local subjugated aristocracy. Especially the famous king Darius I aimed for religious freedom, a civilized national government and even self-administration here and there. So, even though the Achaemenites were the military superiors of the people they ruled, they made sure they had the support of the locals to maintain harmony.
Religious tolerance
The Achaemenites worshipped the god Ahoera Mazda, the highest deity of the Iranian pantheon, but they also acknowledged the existence of other deities. In the 5th century Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Persians could not express their respect for their god by worshipping his image. According to Herodotus this was what distinguished Persian religion from the more primitive ones, such as religion in Greece. They did worship images of their gods.
The Achaemenites’ dynasty came to an end when Alexander the Great arrived in the 4th century BC. Alexander very much admired the educated Persians and their culture. He maintained the same type of national government as the Achaemenites had done and the Persian nobility was awarded important administrative positions in exchange for their support and loyalty. After Alexander passed away his enormous empire fell apart and the Iranian territory fell in the hands of a number of leaders.
Islam replaces Zoroastrianism
In the third century AD the Sassanids, another Persian people, revolutionized the country. They united Iran and turned it into a centralized state. Contrary to their predecessors the Sassanids did not believe in religious tolerance. They were disciples of Zoroastrianism, which is a monotheistic religion, and declared it the official religion of Iran. This religion still exists to this day and is characterized by the battle between good (Ahoera Mazda) and bad (Angra Mainyu) that exists in every human being. The teachings of this faith are written up in the holy book of Zoroastrianism, the Avesta.
In the course of the 7th century the power of the Sassanids weakened, one of the reasons being several wars with their Byzantine neighbors. The empire therefore could not compete with the suddenly upcoming Arabs and their new religion, the Islam. Rapidly the conquered territories of Iran became Islamic and Zoroastrianism disappeared almost entirely.
Sassanid bowl
Art in Iran
Iranian artists have always created images of the world in lithographs, on glassware, earthenware, metals such as bronze and copper, parchment, paper and canvas. Tradition after tradition followed and the old masters were being copied to emphasize the importance of their work. Throughout the years, artists would add new elements to the arts though. Iranian art was, and still is a figurative one, even though the Koran does not encourage the creation of images of human beings and animals. Already in their religious past the Persians did not worship images of their deities. By striving for divine perfection in their art, the artists thought that they were honoring Allah though.
The design of chess pieces are testimony of this opinion. Even before the arrival of the Islam, chess was part of the Persian culture. Their chess pieces represented true armies: elephants, chariots pulled by horses, kings and foot soldiers. Even after the 8th century chess maintained its popularity and the chess pieces were still of the figurative kind.
The Chessmen Museum owns an amazing Persian chess game made of copper, with a game board made of white copper. It is made according to the traditions of the Sassanid art that produced a lot of impressive silver utensils decorated with flowers and animals in the 6th and 7th century.
Chess game made of copper from Iran. In Iran, the board is put up on the wall
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