Chess History: The Bishop chess piece

While the exact time and place of origin of the Chess Game is unknown, we do know that it came to Arabia in the seventh century A.C. via Persia. From Arabia, chess was brought to the west both by the Saracens, through conquering the Mediterranean as well as through the busy trade channels.

The passing of centuries brought about considerable change in the chessmen themselves. For example the Arabian vizier was changed into the queen, the elephant into the bishop, and the war-cart into the rook.

The bishop would be carrying biblical scrolls. What is the most read scroll? Is it the first chapter of the bible about genesis and Adam and Eve eating the apple from the forbidden  tree of good and evil? No. The most popular scroll is the last chapter of the bible called revelations and the end of the world.

Let me tell you a story about John an apostle of Jesus Christ. John is considered to have been exiled to Patmos, a greek island during a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian in the late 1st century. John was banished after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. He is the only apostle to die of natural causes.

He later wrote in a cave on the Greek island of Patmos. The biblical scroll of revelations.