chovgan

Chovgan () is a team sport with horses that originated in ancient Iran (Persia). It was considered an aristocratic game and held in a separate field, on specially trained horses. The game was widespread among the Asian peoples. It is played in Iran, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It was later adopted in the Western World, known today as polo.

==History== Chovgan originated in ancient Iran and was a Persian national sport played extensively by the nobility. Women played Chovgan as well as men. Chovgan originated in the middle of the first millennium A.D., as a team game. It was popular during the centuries in the Middle East. Fragments of the game were periodically portrayed in ancient miniatures, and detailed descriptions and rules of the game were also given in the ancient manuscripts. Chogān is an Iranian traditional horse-riding game accompanied by music and storytelling. It has a history of over 2,000 years in Iran and has mostly been played in royal courts and urban fields. Some authors give dates as early as the 5th century BC (or earlier) to the 1st century AD for its origin by the Persians. Certainly, the earliest records of polo are from the Persian. During the period of the Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD), the sport enjoyed great patronage under the kings and noblemen. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, polo (known as čowgān in Middle Persian, i.e., chovgan), was a Persian ball game and an important pastime in the court of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). It was also part of royal education for the Sasanian ruling class. Emperor Shapur II learned to play polo when he was seven years old in 316 AD. Known as "chovgan," it is still played in the region today.