A Study of Quantitative Condition and Application of Sport Equipment and Fields in Ancient Iran

One of the methods to recognize national background and roots, also to maintain historical and cultural nature is to study different dimensions of physical, martial and athletic activities in ancient Iran. The aim of the present study was to identify different sport fields and equipment in ancient Iran using content analysis of nine versions of Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh” and related literature. Also, verses of “Shahnameh” were selected and analyzed as the sample for every sport equipment and field. The results indicated that among 13 martial-athletic pieces of equipments repeated 3571 times in “Shahnameh”, sword and thorn (26% repetition), bow and arrow (20% repetition) were the most important martial- athletic Iranian pieces of equipment. Also, among seven common sport fileds repeated 374 times in “Shahnameh”, hunting (30% repetition), walking (25% repetition), and game of polo (11% repetition) were the most important physical activities in Iranians. Among six common sport techniques, the highest tecjniques were allocated to wrestling and technique of chest to chest (80% repetition) occupied the first place. In addition, the study of martial-athletic characteristics of champions in “Shahnameh” indicated that among 4755 repetitions of these characteristics, horseback riding (23% repetition) gained the first rank. The results of this study indicated that the Iranians used variety of skills, and applied different pieces of equipment and techniques in martial – athletic activities.