THE ANTIQUITY OF POLO 241 



insult Alexander the Great (who had withheld his portion of 

 tribute exacted by former Persian kings, and declared that he 

 would resist the demand by force of arms), sent him a ball and 

 chaugan-stick, as instruments of sport better suited to his youth 

 and inexperience than warlike occupations. Alexander seems 

 however, to have been equal to the occasion, for he replied 

 * that the ball was the earth and he (Alexander) was the stick,' 

 implying his universal conquest. 



Tabari also, in alluding to events in the eighth century (just 

 before his own time), says that Harun Alraschid ' was still so 

 little that, when on horseback, he could not reach to strike the 

 ball with a chaugan.' The sticks evidently in those early days 

 must have been very short only some three feet long. 



Shapur, better known as Sapor, whilst yet a child of sus- 

 pected parentage, is said to have proved his descent from 

 Artaxerxes by venturing alone through a crowd of players to 

 gather the ball, which had rolled near the monarch's seat. In 

 an illustrated MS. 'Shahnamah' at the British Museum Shapur 

 is depicted going on foot, with a chaugan-stick in his hand, to 

 pick up the ball which is by the feet' of the king's horse. 

 Several other boys are shown, also with sticks in their hands, 

 but all on foot. 



Tabari, alluding to the accomplishments of Bahrain, or 

 Varamus, tells us that he excelled in 'horsemanship, hunting, the 

 use of the chaugan, and whatever else was useful or necessary 

 for kings.' From the same writer it appears that there was an 

 appropriate dress for the game, though it was hardly in accord- 

 ance with our modern ideas of boots and breeches. 



The celebrated Persian poet Nizami, who lived between 

 1126 and 1200 A.D., in an epic describes how the beautiful 

 Shirin, wife of Khusran Parviz (the Victorious), one of the 

 Sassanian kings, who flourished 590 A.D., played chaugan with 

 her lovely handmaidens against the king and his courtiers. 



On one side was the Moon and her stars, 



On the other the Shah and his firman-bearers. 



