  caÃ¯ssa is a fictional thracian dryad portrayed as the goddess of chess, as invented during the renaissance by italian poet hieronymus vida. ==vida's poem== caÃ¯ssa originated in a 658-line poem called scacchia, ludus published in 1527 by hieronymus vida (marco girolamo vida), which describes in latin virgilian hexameters a chess game between apollo and mercury in the presence of the other gods. in it, to avoid unclassical references, the rooks are described as towers (armored howdahs) on elephants' backs, and the bishops as archers: : tum geminae velut extremis in cornibus arces : hinc atque hinc altis stant propugnacula muris, : quae dorso immanes gestant in bella elephanti. :"then twin, as if at the ends, citadels in the corners, : here and there stand ramparts with high walls, : which, immense, are carried into war on [its] back by an elephant." (a leaked unauthorized 742-line draft version was published in 1525. its text is very different, and in it caÃ¯ssa is called scacchia, the chess rook is a cyclops, and the chess bishop is a centaur archer.) this led to the modern name "castle" for the chess rook, and thus the term "castling", and the modern shape of the european rook chesspiece. also for a time, some chess players in europe called the rook "elephant" and the bishop "archer". in german, schÃ¼tze ("archer") became a general word for a chess bishop until displaced by lÃ¤ufer ("runner") in the 18th century. ==william jones's poem== the pioneering english orientalist sir william jones re-used vida's character caÃ¯ssa in 1763 in his own poem caÃ¯ssa  written in latin hexameters.edward r. brace, an illustrated dictionary of chess, hamlyn, 1979, isbn 0-600-32920-8 p 52about chess: caissabrief notes on the history of chess 1500 chess-poster.comcaissa chessworld jones also published an english-language version of the poem.[
Chess_in_the_United_Kingdom Dryads History_of_chess Nymphs