Tarot Games Fortune-Telling Italy: Tarot, Any of A Set of Cards Used in
Tarot Games Fortune-Telling Italy: Tarot, Any of A Set of Cards Used in
Tarot Games Fortune-Telling Italy: Tarot, Any of A Set of Cards Used in
Tarot decks were invented in Italy in the 1430s by adding to the existing
four-suited pack a fifth suit of 21 specially illustrated cards
called trionfi (“triumphs”) and an odd card called il matto (“the fool”).
(The fool is not the origin of the modern joker, which was invented in the
late 19th century as an unsuited jack in the game of euchre.)
The pack to which these cards were added naturally bore Italian
suitmarks and belonged to an experimental period of card design when
queens were often added to the series of court cards previously
consisting of only a king and two male figures (see playing card). In
standard cards (but not in tarots), the four figures were subsequently
reduced to three again by suppression of the queen, except in French
cards, which suppressed the cavalier (knight).
tarot
Death, the 13th card of the major arcana.
Mary Evans Picture Library
The standard modern tarot deck is based on the Venetian or the
Piedmontese tarot. It consists of 78 cards divided into two groups:
the major arcana, which has 22 cards, also known as trumps, and
the minor arcana, which has 56 cards.
The 56 cards of the minor arcana are divided into four suits of 14 cards
each. The suits, which are comparable to those of modern playing cards,
are as follows: wands, batons, or rods (clubs); cups (hearts); swords
(spades); and coins, pentacles, or disks (diamonds). Each suit has 4
court cards—king, queen, knight, and jack—and 10 numbered cards. In
ascending order the value progression in each suit is ace to 10, then jack,
knight, queen, and king (though the ace is sometimes assigned a high
value, as in modern playing cards).