660 Notice of the Ajaib-al- Mukklukat. [No. 152. 



Famous Men of Persia. 



1st. Feridun the Just, the conqueror of the tyrant Zohak.* 



2nd. Iskander (Alexander the Great,) son of Dara (Darius), son of 

 Bahman, whose prime minister was Aristotle ; the conqueror of Greece, 

 Asia Minor, India and China. He died at the age of 32. 



3rd. Noushirwan, son of Kobad, horn in the time of the Prophet; 

 unrivalled for justice. 



4th. Bahram Gour, son of Yezdijird, renowned for skill in archery. 



5th. Rustam Zal, who witched the world with noble horsemanship. 



6th. Jamasp, the astronomer, who wrote a book on the conjunctions 

 of the planets, foretold the advents of Jesus and the Prophet, and the 

 decay of the religion of the Magi. 



7th. Bazrchemher, son of Bakhtaghin, vizier of Noushirwan, the 

 introducer of the game of chess from India.f 



8th. Barid, celebrated as a musician in the service of Kusro Parviz. 



9th. The sculptor of the statue of the horse Shabdez, so exquisitely 

 carved, that it is said to be the work of the genii. 



10th. Ferhad, the sculptor, who excavated the canal of Kasr-i-Shirin, 

 ^yf&ya.S ; the cave of Shirin. He is said to have drawn the like- 

 ness of his mistress Shirin on the palace walls with such incom- 

 parable art, that all who gazed on it became mad (enamoured.) Shirin 

 (Irene,) was the beautiful wife of Kusro Parviz, and said by some to be 

 a Christian. 



* The name of the Assyrian tyrant Zohak, is still held in detestation in Persia, and 

 the national banner was the apron of the blacksmith who slew him, till the Mahomedan 

 conquest. 



fit may be remarked that the author, with other Persian writers, ascribes the origin 

 °f this almost universal and princely game to India and not to China; the Arabian and 

 Persian term for chess, Shatrunj, jJaJk i s evidently a corruption of the Sanscrit 



f J 

 name of the game Chatrang t \^f\"KJ[), It is thought that the game was introduced 



into Europe, by the Crusaders, or by the Moors, who conquered Spain. The earliest 

 practical work on chess is that of Lucena of Salamanca. His Treatise is named 

 "Arte breve e introduccion muy necessaria para saber jugar al Axedres, conciento 

 y cincuente juegos de partido, Salamanca, 4to. about 1495. 



The earliest mention, however, of chess occurs in a set of Latin verses, quoted by 

 Hyde, and which is said to have been written in the time of the Saxons, and therefore 

 long prior to the Crusades. Before 1200 A. D. Jacopo Dacciesole, a Dominican Friar, 

 wrote a Treatise on chess, called " Solatium scacchorum, scilicet libellus de monbus 

 hominum et officies nobilum." Bazrchemher, who is said to have introduced chess 

 from India into Persia, flourished in the 7th century after Christ. 



