Editing Backgammon (section)

=== Tables games ===
{{main|Tables game}}
Backgammon is a recent member of the large family of [[tables games]] that date back to ancient times. Its equipment is similar or identical to earlier tables games that have been depicted for centuries in art, leading to the mistaken belief that backgammon itself is much older.

==== Ancient history ====
[[File:British Museum Royal Game of Ur.jpg|thumb|One of the [[gameboard]]s found by [[Leonard Woolley|Sir Leonard Woolley]] in the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]] ([[British Museum]])<ref>{{cite web |title=game-board {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378 |website = The British Museum |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref>]]

The history of board games can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to archaeological discoveries of the [[Jiroft culture]], located in present-day [[Iran]], the world's oldest game set having been discovered in the region with equipment comprising a dumbbell-shaped board, counters and dice. Although its precise rules are unknown, it has been termed the [[Game of 20 Squares]] and [[Irving Finkel]] has suggested a possible reconstruction. The [[Royal Game of Ur]] from 2600 BC may also be an ancestor or intermediate of modern-day table games like backgammon and is the oldest game for which rules have been handed down. It used tetrahedral dice. Various other board games spanning the 10th to 7th centuries BC have been found throughout modern day Iraq, Syria,  Egypt and western Iran.<ref name="Iranica board game">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Schädler |first1=Ulrich |last2=Dunn-Vaturi |first2=Anne-Elizabeth |title=Board Games in pre-Islamic Persia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/board-games-in-pre-islamic-persia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=2018-04-11}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Ancient Board Games in Perspective: Papers from the 1990 British Museum Colloquium, with Additional Contributions|last=Becker|first=Andrea|date=2007|publisher=British Museum Press|isbn=9780714111537|editor-last=Finkel|editor-first=Irving|editor-link=Irving Finkel|location=London, England|pages=16|chapter=The Royal Game of Ur|oclc=150371733}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=It's all a game : the history of board games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan|last=Donovan|first=Tristan|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|year=2017|isbn=9781250082725|edition=First|location=New York|pages=13–16|oclc=960239246}}</ref>

==== Sasanian Empire ====

The Persian tables game of nard or nardšir emerged somewhere between the 3rd and 6th century AD, one text (''Kār-nāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pāpakān'') linking it with [[Ardashir I]] (r. 224–41), founder of the [[Sasanian dynasty]], whereas another (''Wičārišn ī čatrang ud nihišn ī nēw-ardaxšēr'') attributes it to [[Bozorgmehr Bokhtagan]], the [[Vizier]] of [[Khosrow I|Khosrow]] (r. 531–79), who is credited with the invention of the game.<ref name="Iranica board game"/>

==== Roman and Byzantine Empires ====

[[File:Roman Game of 12 Lines Board - Aphrodisias.jpg|thumb|upright=1.10|right|Roman ''[[Ludus duodecim scriptorum]]'' board from the 2nd century, Aphrodisias]]

The earliest identifiable tables game, [[Tabula (game)|Tabula]], meaning 'table' or 'board', is described in an [[epigram]] of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[Zeno (emperor)|Emperor Zeno]] (AD 476–491).<ref name="austin-zeno">{{cite journal |last=Austin |first=Roland G |title=Zeno's Game of τάβλη |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=54 |issue=2 |year=1934 |pages=202–205 |doi=10.2307/626864 |jstor=626864|s2cid=163212104 }}</ref> The overall aim was to be first to bear one's pieces off; the board had the typical tables layout, with 24 points, 12 on each side; and there were 15 counters per player. However, unlike modern Western backgammon, there were three cubical dice not two, no [[bar (tables game)|bar]] nor [[doubling die]], and all counters started off the board.<ref name="austin-zeno" /> Modern backgammon follows the same rules as tabula for hitting a blot and for bearing off; and the rules for re-entering pieces in backgammon are the same as those for initially entering pieces in tabula.<ref name="bell">[[Robert Charles Bell]], ''Board and table games from many civilizations'', Courier Dover Publications, 1979, {{ISBN|0-486-23855-5}}, pp. 33–35.</ref> The name Tavli ({{lang|el|τάβλι}}) is still used in Greece for various tables games, which are frequently played in town [[plateia]]s and cafes.<ref name="koukoules">{{cite book|last=Koukoules|first=Phaidon|author-link=Phaidon Koukoules|title=Vyzantinon Vios kai Politismos|year=1948|volume=1|pages=200–204|publisher=Collection de l'institut français d'Athènes}}</ref>

The {{lang|grc-x-medieval|τάβλι}} of Emperor Zeno's time is believed to be a direct descendant of the earlier Roman ''[[ludus duodecim scriptorum]]'' ('Game of twelve lines') with the board's middle row of points removed, and only the two outer rows remaining.<ref name="austin-roman2">{{cite journal|last=Austin|first=Roland G.|title=Roman Board Games. II|journal=Greece & Rome|volume=4|issue=11|date=February 1935|pages=76–82|doi=10.1017/s0017383500003119|s2cid=248520932 }}</ref> {{Lang|la|Ludus duodecim scriptorum}} used a board with three rows of 12 points each, with the 15 pieces being moved in opposing directions by the two players across three rows according to the roll of the three cubical dice.<ref name="austin-zeno" /><ref name="austin-roman2"/> Little specific text about the gameplay of {{lang|la|Ludus duodecim scriptorum}} has survived;<ref name="austin-roman1">{{cite journal|last=Austin|first=Roland G.|title=Roman Board Games. I|journal=Greece & Rome|volume=4|issue=10|date=October 1934|pages=24–34|doi=10.1017/s0017383500002941|s2cid=162861940 }}</ref> it may have been related to the older Ancient Greek dice game ''Kubeia''. The earliest known mention of the game is in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' ('The Art of Love'), written between 1 BC and 8 AD. In Roman times, this game was also known as ''alea''.<ref>Finkel, Irving L. "Ancient board games in perspective." British Museum Colloquium. 2007. p. 224</ref><ref>Jacoby, Oswald, and John R. Crawford. ''The backgammon book''. Viking Pr, 1976.</ref>

==== Western Europe ====

[[Image:Codex Manesse 262v Herr Goeli.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Poet [[Herr Goeli]] playing in the 14c, ''[[Codex Manesse]]'']]

Tables games first appeared in France during the 11th century and became a favourite pastime of gamblers. In 1254, Louis IX issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing.<ref name="murray">{{cite book |last=Murray |first=H.J.R. |author-link=H. J. R. Murray |chapter=6: Race-Games |title=A History of Board-Games Other than Chess |publisher=Hacker Art Books |year=1952 |isbn=978-0-87817-211-5}}</ref><ref name="lillich">{{cite journal|last=Lillich|first=Meredith Parsons|title=The Tric-Trac Window of Le Mans|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=65|issue=1|date=March 1983|pages=23–33|doi=10.2307/3050296|jstor=3050296}}</ref> They were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland by the 13th century. In Spain, the [[Alfonso X]] manuscript ''[[Libro de los Juegos]]'', completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and table games in addition to its discussion of [[chess]].<ref name="wollesen">{{cite journal|last=Wollesen|first=Jens T.|title=Sub specie ludi...: Text and Images in Alfonso El Sabio's Libro de Acedrex, Dados e Tablas|journal=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte|volume=53|issue=3|year=1990|pages=277–308|doi=10.2307/1482540|jstor=1482540}}</ref> By the 17th century, games at tables had spread to Sweden. A wooden board and counters were recovered from the wreck of the [[Regalskeppet Vasa|''Vasa'']] among the belongings of the ship's officers. Tables games appear widely in paintings of this period, mainly those of Dutch and German painters, such as [[Adriaen van Ostade|van Ostade]], [[Jan Steen]], [[Hieronymus Bosch]], and [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Bruegel]]. Among surviving artworks are [[Cardsharps (Caravaggio)|''Cardsharps'']] by [[Caravaggio]].