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Safavid Chess: The Game of Kings on the Silk Road
In this episode of The Safavid Empire: Persia's Return to Greatness, Lucas and Luna explore the role of chess in Safavid Persia — not just as a pastime, but as a tool of statecraft, a mirror of social hierarchy, and a window into the empire's cultural and intellectual life. Drawing on the travelogue of the English merchant Thomas Herbert, who visited Isfahan in the 1620s, and on Persian manuscripts like the Makhzan al-Ghara'ib (Treasure of Wonders), Lucas traces how chess arrived from India, evolved under Persian influence, and became a fixture in Safavid courts. He explains the symbolic…
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