1 The most striking representation is the painting from Panjikant, to be dated c. 740 ce (or earlier): see Semenov, G.L., “Das Brettspiel in Mittelasien und im Iran”, in Studien zur sogdischen Kultur an der Seidenstraße (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996, 11–24 and 127–32, at 17, following Belenizki)Google Scholar; note review by Schädler, U. in Board Game Studies 5, 2002, 126–9Google Scholar (at 127), who prefers pre-720 ce.

2 See Daryaee, T., “Mind, body, and the cosmos: chess and backgammon in Ancient Persia”, Iranian Studies 35, 2002, 281–312CrossRefGoogle Scholar, where references to further literature on the topic are to be found, together with discussions, editions and translations of the text (abbreviated as WČ and similar) and related material. Daryaee's research has been reproduced in slightly different formats (such as http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Sport/chess_backgammon.htm); and most recently as T. Daryaee, On the Explanation of Chess and Backgammon (Ancient Iran Series, Vol. 2), UCI Jordan Centre for Persian Studies, 2016. Quotations are taken from the latest version with its slightly revised English translation and some expanded material. Daryaee's conclusions should be compared to those of A. Panaino, for a convenient summary of which see his “Wizārišn ī čatrang ud nihišn ī nēw-ardaxšīr”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, 2017, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/wizarisn-catrang-nihisn-ardaxir (accessed 4 October 2017). A more detailed treatment with substantial commentary in Panaino, A., La novella degli Scacchi e della Tavola Reale (Milan: Mimesis, 1999; text, notes and Italian translation at 63–77; English translation in an appendix at 249–51 with summary of the book at 245–7)Google Scholar.

3 WČ 29–31, trans. Daryaee 2016: 23–24.

4 Summary by Djalal Khaleghi Motlagh, “Bozorgmehr-e Boḵtagān”, Encyclopaedia Iranica IV/4, 1989, 427–9; available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bozorgmehr-e-boktagan (accessed 12 December 2017). See especially Christensen, A., “La légende du sage Buzurǰmihr”, Acta Orientalia VIII, 1930, 81–128Google Scholar; for the andarz or wisdom tradition in Arabic, Shaked, S., “The sayings of Wuzurgmihr”, in Ben-Shammai, H., Shaked, S. and Stroumsa, S. (eds), Exchange and Transmission across Cultural Boundaries (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2013), 216–75Google Scholar; for detailed discussion of the literary traditions behind the WČ and the derivation of the names, de Blois, F., Burzōy's Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book of Kalīlah wa Dimnah (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1990, especially pp. 18–21 and 48–50)Google Scholar; further on the etymology of the various names A. Panaino, La novella degli Scacchi e della Tavola Reale, 101–4; on the identities, literary traditions and biographies, pp. 105–23.

5 WČ 19.

6 Notable is the reference in the Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 61b, often cited as the earliest occurrence. Panaino suggests that the term nibard (“battle” or “combat”) may have been compounded with the game's later name, see La novella degli Scacchi e della Tavola Reale, 188–9.

7 See especially WČ 37.

8 This is Codex C, sometimes termed the Dublin Kephalaia codex or 2Ke, in contrast to the better known Berlin codex or 1Ke (these are two successive volumes of a single literary production). For background see Gardner, I., “An introduction to the Chester Beatty Kephalaia Codex”, in Gardner, I., BeDuhn, J. and Dilley, P., Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Vol. 87. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015, 1–12)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 See further I. Gardner, “Kephalaia”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, 2018, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kephalaia (accessed 11 April 2018).

10 See further J. BeDuhn, “Parallels between Coptic and Iranian Kephalaia: Goundesh and the King of Touran”, in Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings, 52–74 (especially 66–72).

11 See the discussion in I. Gardner, “The final ten chapters”, in Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings, 75–97 (especially 81–4). On the problematic issue of the mutation of the initial syllable, previously supposed a corruption in the Arabic script (but which argument is now untenable due to the revised early dating demonstrated by this new source), thanks are due to the anonymous reviewer who points to the widespread influence across theophoric names in late antiquity from the initial element of that of the biblical deity.

12 The introduction of didactic animal fables into the debates between Mani and Goundesh (notable also elsewhere in the codex), demonstrable counterparts to those in classic sources such as Kalīla wa Demna, is further evidence that the standard chronologies of Persian literature will need substantial revision.

13 Details in Gardner, “The final ten chapters”, 84–7.

14 2Ke 396, 6–397, 2 (translation adapted to improve comprehension). For the Coptic text see Gardner, I., BeDuhn, J. and Dilley, P., The Chapters of the Wisdom of My Lord Mani. Part III: Pages 343–442 (Chapters 321–347), (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Vol. 92. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 “Gaming table (τάβλα)”: the use of this word combined with the interpretation of the play of the game in terms of fate and cosmology, indicates a form of backgammon.

16 “Change (ϣⲓⲃⲉ) … alter (ⲡⲱⲛⲉ)”: i.e. the vicissitudes of life and death; cf. ⲛ̅ⲁⲧϣⲓⲃⲉ ⲛ̅ⲁⲧⲡⲱⲛⲉ (“without change, without alteration”) as qualities of God and the realm of light in 1Ke 178.21 and 2Ps 155.20.

17 “Play with (ⲥⲱⲃⲉ ϩⲛ̅)”: see Crum, W.E., A Coptic Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939), 321aGoogle Scholar.

18 “Counter (ⲗ̅ⲗⲟⲟⲗⲉ)”: lit. “pebble”, “pip” or “stone”, cf. 1Ke 70, 19, trans. Gardner, I., The Kephalaia of the Teacher (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Vol. 37. Leiden, New York and Cologne: E.J. Brill, 1995, 72)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; but here as the counters in the game, or perhaps otherwise the dice.

19 See Austin, R.G., “Zeno's game of τάβλη (A.P. ix. 482)”, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 54, 1934, 202–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar; cf. Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R., Greek–English Lexicon. With a Revised Supplement 1996 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)Google Scholar: 1752a s.v. τάβλα.; Lampe, G.W.H., A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961)Google Scholar: 1370b; Sophocles, E.A., Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (New York: Charles Scribner, 1900, 1067a)Google Scholar.

20 Eusebius of Caesarea, H.E. V, 18, 11. Apollonius states that he was writing 40 years after Montanus began to prophesy, thus perhaps late second century ce or shortly afterwards.

21 For a start see Schädler, U., “XII Scripta, Alea, Tabula – new evidence for the Roman history of ‘backgammon’”, in de Voogt, A.J. (ed.), New Approaches to Board Games Research, International Institute for Asian Studies (Working Papers Series 3. Leiden, 1995, 73–98Google Scholar. Schädler argues strongly that in late antiquity tabula/tabla was used for board games) played with dice, and was not a specific name in itself (at pp. 82–3).

22 A. Panaino, La novella degli Scacchi e della Tavola Reale, ch. VII. T. Daryaee, “Mind, body, and the cosmos”, pp. 285 ff., argues that these games spread from the east in the sixth century together with the literary tradition represented by the Pañcatantra. One should note carefully that these folk tales are well-attested in the Manichaean tradition (e.g. Henning, W.B., “Sogdian tales”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies XI, 1943–46, 465–87Google Scholar), and now also in the Goundesh cycle of the Chester Beatty codex where this story of the backgammon game is found. The same issues of dating discussed below will necessarily be relevant to those instances as well; Daryaee's chronology is not tenable.

23 The discovery was first announced by Schmidt, C. and Polotsky, H.J., Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten. Originalschriften des Mani und seiner Schüler (Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften (SPAW, Phil.-Hist. Sonderausgabe), 1933)Google Scholar. For a history of the find and the publication of the codices, Robinson, J.M., The Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2013)Google Scholar.

24 Inevitably the issue is more complex than this summary statement might imply. There are certainly some parallel versions of the same basic material recovered from Central Asia in Middle Iranian languages; for instance the story of Mani and the King of Touran, or details of the apostle's last days and trial before Bahram I. However, in general these are not incorporated into exactly the same literary productions as found in the Medinet Madi library and they evidence distinct textual histories.

25 See Gardner, I., Kellis Literary Texts I (= P. Kellis II) (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1996)Google Scholar.

26 BeDuhn, J. and Hodgins, G., “The date of the Manichaean codices from Medinet Madi and its significance”, in Lieu, S.N.C. (ed.), Manichaeism East and West (Analecta Manichaica I, Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017, 10–28)Google Scholar.