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CaptainObfuscation t1_iwl078n wrote

Reply to comment by ProfessorCal_ in Zakhiku: The ancient city in Iraq revealed by severe drought by IslandChillin

If I remember correctly handshakes were an ancient Persian custom, so yes, probably shaking hands. Maybe even playing chess.

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ProfessorCal_ t1_iwl0avg wrote

damn, chess has been around for that long too??

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MeatballDom t1_iwn9szu wrote

"Checkmate" comes from Persian

>شاه مات‎ (šâh mât, “the king [is] amazed”). Perhaps conflated with Arabic مَاتَ‎ (māta, “to die”).

The origins of the game itself are a bit blurrier, but not four thousand years old blurry. But, there were games four thousand years old that if we went back in time and saw people playing we would probably describe them as "like chess" as they had similar elements.

There's a lot of games from antiquity that we would recognise or be somewhat familiar with, and probably pick up the rules of relatively quickly. https://www.joshobrouwers.com/articles/ancient-greek-heroes-play/

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