History Backgammon - How Backgammon Originated and Developed
Backgammon is without a doubt a far more fascinating game than most of the modern players realize. In today's world of online backgammon, few people know how far back does backgammon history really go. As of now, backgammon is the oldest game (gambling or other) known to man. Backgammon history goes back to early Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Ur, about 3000 years BC.
How backgammon History Begins
Recently archeologists have excavated playing boards, quite similar to our modern backgammon, in Egypt. The board was discovered along with playing pieces and a dice. This board's backgammon history is still not certain, even though it is slowly revealing, one piece at a time. Archeologists suppose that ancient backgammon, played mostly by royalty and aristocrats, was discovered in the royal tomb of the Ur kingdom in ancient Samaria. Other artifacts that resemble backgammon were discovered in India, Greece, Rome and the Far East. It is quite easy to see that all of this variations developed from a the same, single predecessor that existed long before backgammon history.
Backgammon Historical Variations
Till the age of Rome, backgammon history continue to develop, and the game was already formalized and was played on the same board as today (these final developments are mostly attributed to the Greek). Still, players were using three dices instead of two. This was the Roman version of the game, called 'Tabular', which literally means 'The twelve line game'.
This roman game originated from greece's backgammon variation, that reachedthrough the roman empire. Tabular was very popular among the ruling and aristocratic classes of Rome and as popular among commoners. In fact excavations in Pompeii revealed an ancient wall painting portraying a bar scuffle over the outcome of a game of Tabular.
As many other aspects of modern culture, backgammon history became more global as the game was spread to Europe by the Roman Empire and its legions. After the fall of Rome the game failed to endure in most of Europe except of the Saxon tribes in England. The roman word 'tables' actually appears in English dictionaries from the 8th century.
The Introduction of the Two Dice Into Backgammon History
The usage of two dice instead of three came to be only during the crusades to the Arabic kingdoms. Backgammon was very wide spread in the Arab world of that period (and in fact also today) and was played with two dices. Upon the return of the crusading knights this form of backgammon became very popular among the European nobility and quickly replaced former versions of the game. This historical version was practically the same as today's backgammon and played by the same backgammon rules.
Backgammon Prohibition
The backgammon game actually became so popular that it had more than its share of problems with the English church. The inherent element of gambling probably was the main reason to this prosecution. Backgammon history also teaches us that from the 13th and up to the 16th century it was sanctioned and prohibited on a regular basis. The modern book-like form of the backgammon board was actually invented as a method to hide backgammon boards from being confiscated and burned. Till the 17th century the church seized to try and stop backgammon (probably due to the much more pressing problems of the reformation) and backgammon became very popular in Elizabethan England. It was at that period that the name backgammon was first recorded.
The Modern Backgammon
Backgammon arrived to the new world with the very first European settlers. It was quite popular in early America and was recorded in more than a few books and by more than a few well known historical figures, Hoyle and Jefferson to name a few. The history of backgammon shows that in the 19th century backgammon lost its popularity to some degree from unknown reasons. It was still very popular in Asia and the Mediterranean area without any disruption. It all changed on 1920 as a new concept was introduced to backgammon players – the doubling cube. The doubling cube was invented by an unknown and unaccredited individual that changed the course the game forever. Backgammon history experienced a rapid rush forward during the following years and backgammon clubs became very popular across the US and Europe.
With the come of the computer age, backgammon transformed to the digital format quite fast and long before many other gambling games. Today there are thousands of sites like our internet backgammon that host millions of players across the world.
Anthony Fillmore, Editorial Staff
2006–01–02
