"patron goddess"

Caissa Caissa is the "patron goddess" of chess players.

Caissa is the "patron goddess" of chess players.

She was created in a poem called Caïssa written in 1763 by English poet and philologist Sir William Jones.

In the poem, the god Mars falls in love with the goddess Caissa, portrayed as a Thracian dryad. Caissa rebuffs his advances and suggests he take solace in the company of the god Euphron—the god of sport. After hearing Mars' laments, Euphron

...fram'd a tablet of celestial mold,
Inlay'd with squares of silver and of gold;
Then of two metals form'd the warlike band,
That here compact in show of battle stand;
He taught the rules that guide the pensive game,
And call'd it Caissa from the dryad's name:
(Whence Albion's sons, who most its praise confess,
Approv'd the play, and nam'd it thoughtful Chess.)

Mars then presents the game of chess to Caissa in an attempt to win her affection.

Jones' work was inspired by the poem Scacchia ludus ("The game of Chess"), written by Italian poet Marco Girolamo Vida in 1510.

For chess players, Caissa is often invoked as a source of inspiration or luck, e.g. "Caissa was with me in that game."

Caissa is also spelled Caïssa.

Thanks for the post, Popinjay. I had seen Caissa mentioned but had no idea what the origin was.

This article is inaccurate!

Homer, it's a cut and paste from another website, so blame the original writer  

Interesting read.

Plagiarism you say?

That about sums up the poster alright

Anyway, weren't Arsenal dreadful last weekend?

Arsenal?  Please stick to the topic at hand....they were crap indeed, but Spurts still couldn't beat then even with an extra man.

Actually Caissa was not a to be a goddess but rather a muse.  Just as there are muses for other artistic endeavors Caissa was invented for chess.

This is "cut and paste" from my own site:

The second important chess publication in the first half of the 16^th century wasn't a chess manual, but rather a chess poem. Keeping with the Renaissance spirit, the poem recalls classical Rome in both it's use of latin and of Roman mythology. It's interesting to note that the poet creates a Goddess of Chess, though not Caissa. The Scacchia Ludus, The Game of Chess, was written by Marcus Hieronymus Vida, Bishop of Alba, in 1513 and published by Vida in 1527 (it was first published in 1525 but Vida's name wasn't credited). In the poem the Roman god Apollo plays Mercury in a game of chess. Vida describes the rules of the game and the pieces used in great detail. Instead of Bishops, Vida employs the term, Sagittifer or Archers; instead of Rooks, he uses Elephas or Elephant. The poem concludes with Mercury's victory after which he seduces a nymph named Scacchis and compensates her by teaching her this godly game and naming it after her:

    Soon after this, the heavenly victor brought
    The game on earth, and first th' Italians taught.
    For (as they say) fair Scacchis he espied
    Feeding her cygnets in the silver tide,
    (Scacchis, the loveliest Seriad of the place)
    And as she stray'd, took her to his embrace.
    Then, to reward her for her virtue lost,
    Gave her the men and chequer'd board emboss'd
    With gold and silver curiously inlay'd;
    And taught her how the game was to be play'd.
    Ev'n now 'tis honour'd with her happy name;
    And Rome and all the world admire the game.

Scacchia ludus was the basis for another poem, written by William Jones in 1763. His poem was called Caïssa. While Scacchis may have been the first Goddess of Chess, Caïssa is certainly the most famous and sustaining. In the poem Caïssa, Mars becomes infatuated with a nymph named Caïssa but she does not return the favor and is in fact a bit repulsed by the God of War. Not one to give up the fight, Mars enlists the aid of an ally, Euphron, the God of Sports and Games. Euphon creates the game of chess and designs a beautiful and elaborate board and chess set for Mars to give to Caïssa. In the poem, Mars gains Caïssa's attention this way and teaches her how to play. As the game progresses, Caïssa's resistance wears down and in the end, Mars wins more than just the game. But Caïssa wins eternal fame.

Marcus Hieronymus Vida was an Italian poet, a theologian and the Bishop of Alba. He was born in Cremona in 1485 and died in Alba in 1566. His poem was a favorite of Pope Leo X, an avid chess player.

Wow, your site is a very in-depth look at the history of the game.  Thanks for the link!

Using the term archers instead of bishops makes a certain amount of sense, to me.  When I lived in Germany, I learned they called the bishop a leufer, which translates to 'walker.'  I took it to mean the bishop was something of a ranger, like Aragorn.  I like thinking of it in that vein much better.

Nice post, thanks!

Thanks. Actually that's just one page in a series I did some years ago on Chess in the Renaissance.

Caïssa by William Jones

Batgirl to the rescue again!  How can we ever thank you...?

You make me sick homer, I have followed you in pop sites and all you do is hound her, you had better watch your step with her as she is more than you know.

MM how do you know that she cut and pasted this forum? If she did there's nothing wrong with that, people do it all the time.

Bat girl how do we know you wrote those articles on your site, you don't place your real name anywhere at least pop list her real name and she at least plays chess you do not, you guys had better be careful when you try and slay someone character, this site might be virtual but the laws of slander still apply.

Pop I apologize for the troglodytes who visit your forums and your web pages and do nothing but complain when they, do not even contribute on their own. I think those of you that complain should try and create and stop trying to destroy. If you do not like her forums then stay out and start your own. 

Those who can not create destroy and those why can not achieve hinder others.

ncpharaoh , you hound dog, what you doing hounding three people in one quote, & threatening people with you slander, are you trying to set an example?

The rare man thet you are, hey hey, &Popinjay , I don't swallow, I spit

"Bat girl how do we know you wrote those articles on your site, you don't place your real name anywhere at least pop list her real name and she at least plays chess you do not, you guys had better be careful when you try and slay someone character, this site might be virtual but the laws of slander still apply."

As a writer one would have thought that you would recognize a literary contrivance. My statement "This is "cut and paste" from my own site," was nothing more than an obvious segue, allowing me a lead-in to introducing more information on chess deities (this is, afterall, a chess site).  How you've interpreted anything I've written here as an attack on anyone is beyond my meager comprehension.  But, if you're going to accuse me (or anyone) of slander, at least look up it's definition. Even though you apparently meant libel, it's still not applicable to anything anyone has written here.

You ask me how do you know I wrote the articles on my site?  How would I know how you know anything?  Has anyone else claimed them?  Have you ever read them elsewhere? 
What makes you think, or rather presume, my real name isn't on my site?   And if it wasn't - Samuel Langhorne Clemens still wrote Huckleberry Finn and William Sydney Porter still wrote The Gift of the Magi - what rational conclusion can you draw from that?

Thanks pharaoh but I can handle these curmudgeons.

Really interesting article,  as an aside have you noticed, one doesn't see many women named Caissa today... just thinking outloud.........

Incidentally,in India,where the great game of Chess was invented,we indians still call the Rook as an Elephant.The Bishops are called Camels.The Knights are called Horses.The pawn is called Pyada or a walking(soldier or an infantryman) soldier. Indian nomenclature is more suited to a Battleground.

I didn't post any sort of rebuttal and never intended to tear anyone (or anything) to pieces either systematically or haphazardly.  My only intent was to add further information on certain chess deities. Now I regret even that.