When did playing cards appear? Where did playing cards come from? And stronomers helped in creating maps

Playing cards are known all over the world. But where and when they appeared, no one knows. Some medieval theologians considered them "devil's fiction" that Satan invented to multiply people's sins. More sensible people argued that this could not be, because the cards were originally used for divination and other magical rituals, that is, for knowing the will of God.

Very curious evidence was cited as evidence, which will certainly be of interest to everyone who has ever picked up a satin deck. According to one version, the invention of cards was attributed to the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the founder of writing, counting and calendar. With the help of cards, he told people about the four components of the universe fire, water, air and earth, which personify the four card suits. Much later, already in the Middle Ages, Jewish Kabbalists concretized this ancient message. According to them, the suits embody four classes of elemental spirits: tambourines the fire spirits of the salamanders, worms the lords of the air elements of the sylphs, clubs of the water spirits of the undines and spades of the lords of the underworld of the gnomes.

Other medieval mystics believed that the cards symbolized the four "main aspects of human nature": the suit of hearts represents love; clubs desire for knowledge; tambourines are a passion for money, and peaks warn of death. The extraordinary variety of card games, the complex logic of relationships and subordination, the alternation of ups and downs, sudden failures and amazing luck reflects our life in all its complexity and unpredictability. From here comes the bewitching power of excitement, lurking in them to the great indignation of the puritans and hypocrites of all times and peoples, in this sense, neither chess, nor dominoes, and indeed no other games can be compared with cards.

However, no less curious is the version according to which the cards allegedly reflect ... time. In fact, red and black colors are consonant with ideas about day and night. 52 leaves correspond to the number of weeks in a year, and not everyone understands the joker also symbolizes a leap year. The four suits are fully correlated with spring, summer, autumn and winter. If each jack is valued at 11 points (it comes immediately after the ten), the queen at 12, the king at 13, and the ace is taken as a unit, then the total points in the deck will be 364. Adding a “single” joker, we get the number of days in a year . Well, the number of lunar months 13 corresponds to the number of cards of each suit.

If we descend from the cloudy-foggy heights of mysticism to the soil of reality, then two versions of the origin of the cards seem to be the most probable. According to the first, they were created by Indian Brahmins around 800 AD. Another version says that the cards appeared in China in the 8th century during the reign of the Tang dynasty. The fact is that paper money served the subjects of the Celestial Empire not only for settlements, but also for gambling. In addition to digital nominations, the banknotes depicted emperors, their wives, and provincial governors, which denoted the value of a particular banknote. And since the players did not always have enough banknotes, they used duplicates drawn on pieces of paper instead, which eventually forced real money out of the games.

The time of the appearance of maps in Europe is just as uncertain, although most historians agree that they were most likely brought by participants in the Crusades in the 11th-13th centuries. True, it is possible that this subject of excitement appeared on our continent as a result of the invasion of Italy in the 10th century by the Saracens, as the Arabs were then called, from whom the locals borrowed cards. In any case, in 1254 Saint Louis issued an edict banning card games in France under pain of whipping.

In Europe, the Arabic original has undergone significant revision, since the Koran forbade the faithful to draw images of people. Presumably, the birthplace of cards with figures of kings, ladies and squiresjacks was France, where at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries the artist Gregonner painted cardboard sheets for Charles VI.

The earliest known European Tarot deck (sometimes called Tarot or Tarok ed. note) was made in the 14th century in Lombardy. It had four suits, depicted in the form of bowls, swords, money and wands or clubs. Each suit consisted of ten cards with numbers and four pictures: a king, a queen, a knight and a squire. In addition to these 56 cards, it included 22 more trump cards with numbers from 0 to 21, bearing the following names: jester, magician, nun, empress, emperor, monk, lover, chariot, justice, hermit, fate, strength, executioner, death, temperance, devil, inn, star, moon, sun, peace and judgment.

As the popularity of card games in Europe grew throughout the 14th century, all trump cards and the four knights gradually disappeared from the Tarot deck. True, the jester remained, already renamed in our days as the "joker". Full decks are preserved only for divination.

There were several reasons for this. First the desire to separate the world of excitement from the mysteries of the occult and magic. Then, the rules of games with so many cards were too hard to remember. And finally, the fact that before the invention of the printing press, maps were marked and colored by hand, and therefore they were very expensive. Therefore, in order to save money, the deck has "lost weight" to the current 52 cards.

As for the designation of suits, from the original Italian system with its swords an analogue of future spades, maces clubs, goblets worms and coins boo-bay, three later stood out: Swiss with acorns, roses, leaves and armorial shields; German with acorns, leaves, hearts and bells, and French with clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds. The French system of depicting suits turned out to be the most stable, which, after the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648), replaced the rest of the symbolism and is now used almost everywhere.

Over the next 300 years, more than one artist tried to introduce new card symbols into use. From time to time, decks appeared in which the four suits appeared in the form of animals, plants, birds, fish, household items, dishes. At the very beginning of this process in Germany, the suits were depicted in the form of caskets for church donations, a comb, bellows and a crown. Allegorical figures of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Health appeared in France. Later, adherents of socialism even tried to issue cards with images of presidents, commissars, industrialists and workers. However, all these "inventions" turned out to be too artificial and therefore never took root. But with picture cards, things turned out differently.

Today, few players are interested in the biographies of long-disappeared characters of card figures, and the drawings on picture cards in modern decks bear little resemblance to real-life personalities. It is nothing but a stylization of stylizations, infinitely far removed from the original originals. Meanwhile, initially, for example, the four kings symbolized the legendary heroes-rulers of antiquity, whom Europeans could admire in the Middle Ages: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, led the red suit, the shepherd and singer David of spades, because thanks to his exploits he became the legendary Hebrew king; Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were given the suits of diamonds and clubs respectively.

True, in some decks, the red king was alternately depicted either in the form of a hairy Esau, then Constantine, then Charles I, then Victor Hugo, then the French general Boulanger. And yet in the dispute for possession of the crown, Charlemagne won a bloodless victory. Modern cards lovingly, almost unchanged, store the heroic features of this illustrious husband in the form of a wise old man, wrapped in an ermine mantle, a symbol of wealth. In his left hand he has a sword, a symbol of courage and power.

The image of David was originally decorated with a harp as a reminder of the musical talent of the legendary king of Judah. During the Napoleonic Wars, the King of Spades was briefly portrayed as Napoleon Bonaparte in France and the Duke of Wellington in Prussia. But then justice prevailed and David again took his rightful place among the card royalty.

Although Julius Caesar was never a king, he also entered the crowned Areopagus. He was usually drawn in profile, and on some old French and Italian maps Caesar was depicted with his arm outstretched, as if he was about to grab something. This was supposed to indicate that the diamond suit was traditionally identified with money and wealth.

Alexander the Great is the only one of the card kings, in whose hand the orb, the symbol of the monarchy, was invested. True, on modern maps it is often replaced by a sword as evidence of his military leadership talents. Unfortunately, the appearance of the king of clubs fell victim to a ruthless fashion and from a courageous hero with a fierce look, he turned into a pampered courtier with a dandy beard and elegant mustache.

The first lady of worms was Helena of Troy. In addition to her, Elissa, the founder of Carthage, in Roman mythology Dido, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I of England, Roxanne, Rachel and Fausta acted as contenders for this throne. decks to deck.

As for the lady of spades, it was customary to depict her in the form of the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Pallas Athena. True, the Teutons and Scandinavians preferred their own mythological characters who personified the war.

In the XIV-XV centuries, artists could not agree on who to choose as the prototype of the lady of the tambourine. The only exception was France, where they became the queen of the Amazons, in Greek mythology Panfiselia. In the 16th century, someone gave the lady of the tambourine the features of Rachel, the heroine of the biblical legend about the life of Jacob. Since, according to legend, she was a greedy woman, her role as the "queen of money" was to the taste of the general public, and she established herself on this throne.

For a long time, none of the mythological or historical heroines claimed to be the lady of clubs. Sometimes the figures of the ruler of Troy, Hecuba or Florimela, personified the feminine charm created by the talent of the English poet Spencer, flashed in the decks. But they failed to establish themselves in this role. In the end, the French came up with the idea to depict the lady of clubs in the form of what they now say is a sex bomb and call her Argina (from the Latin word "regina" "royal"). The idea turned out to be so successful that it took root and became a tradition. Moreover, all the queens, regular favorites and mistresses of the French monarchs, the heroines of evil lampoons and frivolous witticisms, began to bear the name of Argin.

Initially, four nameless knights acted as jacks. Although the name of this card is more likely to be translated as “servant, lackey”, and among the players this figure has traditionally been identified with an adventurer who does not always respect the law, but is alien to low deceit. Such an interpretation of the word "jack" perfectly matches the image of the jack of hearts. Trying to find a worthy image for him, the French chose the famous historical character Etienne de Vignel, who served in the troops of Charles VII. He was a valiant warrior, brave, generous, ruthless and caustic. For some time he was an adviser to Joan of Arc and was preserved in the memory of posterity as a hero of folklore, like Til Ulenspiegel, William Tell and Robin Hood. Perhaps that is why, without any objections from other nations, Etienne de Vignel firmly took the place of the jack of hearts.

The prototype of the jack of spades was Ogier of Denmark. According to historical chronicles in numerous battles, his weapons were two blades of Toledo steel, which were usually drawn on this map. In numerous legends, this hero performed numerous feats: he defeated the giants, returned their possessions to the bewitched princes, and he himself enjoyed the patronage of the fairy Morgana, the sister of the fairy-tale king Arthur, who, having become engaged to Gier, gave him eternal youth.

The first jack of diamonds was Roland, the legendary nephew of Charlemagne. However, later, for no apparent reason, he was replaced by Hector de Marais, one of the Knights of the Round Table and half-brother of Sir Lancelot. At least, it is this hero that is today associated with the jack of diamonds, although the famous nobility of the knight de Marais does not fit well with the notoriety attributed to this jack.

With the jack of clubs, the masters chose Sir Lancelot himself, the eldest of the Knights of the Round Table. Initially, it was the brightest of the jacks. But gradually the manner of drawing changed, and the jack of clubs lost its luxurious camisole, although in his hands he still had a bow, a symbol of his unsurpassed skill as an archer. However, in the modern jack of clubs it is difficult to recognize that mighty warrior who, being wounded in the thigh by an arrow, nevertheless managed to defeat thirty knights ...
Such is the gallery of family portraits, which none of the players suspect when picking up a satin deck.

Well known throughout the world, playing cards have found many uses. With their help, they predict the future, they are entertained by a variety of people, they become participants in almost every show of a magician or illusionist. However, the past of the cards is so contradictory and vague that it is still unknown where exactly they appeared.

There are many scientific treatises that talk about the possible sources of their occurrence. But let's start with the fact that the original maps looked completely different from what we are used to seeing them.

When there was no paper - they already existed

As you know, paper was invented in China around 105 AD. However, there were various finds dating back to earlier years, which may well be the progenitors of modern maps. Initially, images of animals, objects or weapons were applied to metal plates, pieces of leather, bark, bamboo, or even bone tablets. However, it is too difficult to attribute such finds specifically to playing cards as such.

According to the theories of scientists, playing cards originally appeared in China, and already thanks to trade routes they got to India and Persia. There is also an opinion that the birthplace of cards is India, where round plates with images similar to ancient playing cards were found. There are quite a few other versions, but so far no one has been able to prove one specific and for certain find out the real homeland of the cards.

The beauty of this entertainment initially lay in the fact that the cards did not require a separate field, as for checkers, chess or similar games. It is not surprising that interested merchants took them to their homeland. However, the earliest finds still raise enough doubts about their connection with the current playing cards.

Why China is considered the birthplace of maps

China has many inventions, including various games - for example, dominoes or mahjong. However, it is he who is currently considered the most obvious birthplace of modern playing cards. There are many reasons for such a conclusion.

First of all, this is approved due to the fact that the first mention in historical sources related to playing cards was in China, in 1294 AD.

Secondly, it was China that was the birthplace of the printing press, which greatly simplified the production of playing cards. And this is taking into account the fact that it was China that was the birthplace of paper.

Thirdly, the playing cards that were in China at that time have a huge number of similarities with modern cards. So, for example, they had a suit, which was indicated by coins. In addition, they had an oblong shape, and the images on them were very similar to modern kings and ladies.

Where did the very first card suits come from?

It is noteworthy that if the ancient maps that were found in China already featured coins, then further they underwent some changes. After the cards came to Egypt, they changed significantly, because there was a period of Mamluk rule. This was primarily due to the fact that their religion did not allow them to put images of people on maps. Thanks to this, the four suits turned into coins (already established in China), clubs, swords and goblets.

Why clubs, you ask? Everything is quite simple. Images of household items and the environment in which these people were interested were applied to the cards. And it is known for certain that the Mamluks had an addiction to a game similar to modern polo. Subsequently, when playing cards had already reached Europe, clubs turned into maces or clubs.

A special detail that you should pay attention to is that regardless of the number of cards themselves in the deck, which varied from 12 to more than a hundred, there were exactly four suits. Both in Chinese maps and in the Mamluks, who helped the maps get to Europe.

How playing cards appeared in Europe

As soon as playing cards from Alexandria came to the south of Europe, they began to spread rapidly. It was so ubiquitous and large-scale that such a fact was even given the name "Invasion of the Playing Cards." And such a threatening name can be easily justified.

At that time in Europe there were many different clashes, hostilities between countries and minor skirmishes. Due to their lightness, ease of transportation and small size, the cards were very popular with soldiers. And, it turns out, with the onset of the troops, maps also advanced. The cards also came to the UK with the onset of hostilities.

Quite a lot of documentary references to maps have been found throughout Europe. In 1377 - the first mention of the appearance of cards in Switzerland, in 1392 they were already ordered in gold for the king, and what can we say only about the number of gambling bans that were almost everywhere!

How different decks and card suits appeared

As soon as playing cards got into some new country, they immediately tried to remake them for themselves. Only Tarot cards have undergone not too big changes, which have retained the division into minor and major arcana. For games as such, they were not so convenient. If we talk specifically about playing cards, then they changed very often.

It turns out that each people tried to express in the cards precisely their own traits and national preferences. Thanks to this, the suits were constantly changing. However, each suit has a rather curious evolution. Let's look at the most famous decks that currently exist.

Italo-Spanish deck

It was not in vain that we started with it, because it is extremely similar to the ancient Mamluk playing cards, in which clubs have slightly changed.

• Swords (pikes);
• Cups (worms);
• Clubs (clubs);
• Coins (tambourines).

Existing until now, it should consist of 50 cards at full strength (including two jokers, without them 48). Numerical cards began with one and ended with nine. Next came the senior cards, which were designated by the page, the horse (knight) and the king. In some variants, there was a reduced deck without eights, and there were also variants with an additional Queen card.

It is noteworthy that numbers were not written on the cards of this deck, and there were no letters.

German deck

When this particular deck of cards was created, they wanted to make it as much as possible showing the great importance of agriculture in Germany.

• The swords turned into leaves that met the requirements of German culture and were conditionally similar in shape (pikes);
• Cups in the hearts, since an association was made with wine, which filled these cups (worms);
• Clubs have already become not rough branches of trees, but have turned into acorns (clubs);
• The coins turned into bells because they were also round (diamonds).

Even later, when the French deck took over the whole world, its German variants had not two, but four colors of suits. To keep the pre-existing green (leaves) and yellow (bells) suits.

This deck has about the same number of cards as the Italo-Spanish. It is also similar that there were no Ladies in it, but only kings or knights. This is easily explained by the fact that it was men who played the main role in the ruling class.

swiss deck

Compared to German, it has undergone relatively small changes. The suits of this deck are:

• Shields, which became swords (pikes);
• Roses, former hearts (worms);
• Acorns (clubs);
• Bells (tambourines).

French deck

It was she who became the most iconic. And the most popular among all other decks. Seeing modern suits, you see exactly the French deck.

In it, the suits turned into:

• Peaks;
• Worms;
• Clubs;
• Diamonds.

In the form that we know them, they appeared when it was necessary to simplify the production of maps. The suit symbols had to be easy to create and by almost everyone in order to keep their cost down. And the suits were simplified to the very symbols that are now known to the whole world. But not only this has become a surprisingly true marketing ploy.

It was the French deck that introduced the designation of suits in two colors: red and black.

Such decisions made her the easiest to perform, memorable, universal, and on top of that, she was more delicate towards women. It was in the French deck that the Lady was originally present as a permanent card. And its weight was undeniable.

We have all seen a deck of cards, more than once played a throw-in or an ordinary fool.
But, probably, few people thought about where, in fact, playing cards came from. And yet they have a very long and interesting history! And jacks, ladies, kings have prototypes.

Mystic Tarot

The deck of cards in the form to which we are accustomed appeared relatively recently. However, the history of playing cards begins in ancient times.

According to the occult version, the cards were invented by the priests in ancient Egypt, and all the knowledge of mankind is encrypted in them. The priests created 78 golden tablets, on which they applied magical signs. 56 of these tablets are called the Minor Arcana, and it was they who became ordinary cards. And the 22 Major Arcana are mystical Tarot cards, which are still used by fortunetellers and soothsayers to this day.

What modern tarot cards look like

However, there is no scientific confirmation of this version. However, archaeological data show that maps really appeared a very long time ago.
On ancient frescoes, you can see that in ancient Egypt there was a kind of cards - cuttings with numbers printed on them, and there was a game very similar to a card game. The same games amused the inhabitants of India, only the first cards made there were made of ivory and shells.

Interestingly, Arabic maps confirm the occult version of their appearance. They also have 56 Minor and 22 Major Arcana. At the same time, the Koran forbids Muslims from depicting people on maps, so they only have arabesque ornaments.

Analogues of the cards appeared in China and Japan, but they were intricate and intricate in an oriental way and looked little like modern ones. Cards in the East were drawn on paper - these were strips on which various symbols were depicted.
In the X-XII centuries, travelers from Europe reached the Celestial Empire. The Europeans loved the ingenious Chinese games they brought home.

Chinese map, Ming dynasty,
around 1400

Four main kings

The cards began to spread throughout Europe. There is a story about how the deck familiar to us with kings and queens appeared. They say that it was invented in 1392 by Jacquemain Gringonner, the jester of the French king Charles VI the Mad, who, as you might guess by his nickname, suffered from a mental disorder. To entertain his master, the jester began to invent various card games and at the same time modified the deck.

Gringonner, to flatter his master, drew four kings and announced that each of them has its own prototype. The king of hearts is Charlemagne, the spade is King David, the diamond is Julius Caesar, and the club is Alexander the Great.
The jester declared himself a joker.

This is a very interesting card character - he seems to be a fool, but in fact he is the strongest in the deck. And in life, after all, it was the jester who, under his mask, could tell the truth to kings.

Later, jacks appeared in the deck, which also had historical or mythical prototypes. The Jack of Hearts is the French knight Etienne de Vignoles, nicknamed La Hire, a faithful companion of Jeanne d'Arc; peak - the hero of the French epic Ogier the Dane; tambourine - Roland from "The Song of Roland"; clubs - Lancelot of the Lake from the legends of King Arthur.

Interestingly, for a long time there were no ladies in the deck. Only in the 16th century did female characters appear on playing cards. And each of the beautiful ladies again had a prototype! The Lady of Hearts is the heroine of the biblical legend Judith. The lady of the tambourine is Rachel, Jacob's wife. Interestingly, the suit of diamonds means money, and Rachel, according to legend, was stingy. The Queen of Spades was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war Pallas Athena. Dido from Virgil's Aeneid was originally considered the queen of clubs. But then the lady of clubs turned into the insidious seductress Argina - this is an anagram of the word regina, that is, "queen". Court artists who created maps for monarchs gave Argina a resemblance to a royal favorite. Interestingly, in the event of the appearance of a new mistress, the painters had to draw another deck.
During the French Revolution, cards lost their popularity.

French Revolution Playing Card,
symbolizing freedom and brotherhood

Kings and ladies, albeit painted ones, were deposed from their thrones. And famous oppositionists and regime fighters appeared on the cards: Brutus, Voltaire, Horace, Lafontaine, Molière, Rousseau, Saint-Simon…

Shovels and clubs

Card suits also did not appear out of nowhere. In the first decks, they were called "swords", "cups", "denarius" (monetary unit) and "wands". Later, swords turned into spades, cups into worms (from the adjective red - red), denarii into diamonds, and wands into crosses, or clubs (the last word from the French "clover").

In other countries, the suits are called in their own way: for example, in England and Germany - spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, in Italy - spears, hearts, squares and flowers.

Damn Churchelli

There is a legend about how cards appeared in Russia. They say that under Ivan the Terrible, a certain adventurer appeared in Moscow - the Italian Churchelli, whom the townspeople immediately called Chertello. However, his Italian origin is questionable, because in Italy Chertello was called a Frenchman, in France - a German, in Germany - a Pole, and in Poland he was a Russian.

Paul Cezanne. "Card Players" 1895

He brought to Moscow a chest of cards wrapped in a black and red shawl, which matched the colors of the suits. But Muscovites said that these were the colors of hellfire.

And then a real epidemic began in Moscow: the cards began to be in great demand, and Churchelli decided to arrange their printing. However, he was soon expelled from Moscow for his demonic toys, and cards were banned for a long time.
However, despite all the obstacles, the cards took root in Rus' and closely entered its history and even culture - remember at least Pushkin's "Queen of Spades" or Nikolai Rostov's famous card loss from "War and Peace".

After the October Revolution in 1917, Soviet cards even appeared in Russia, on which workers and peasants appeared instead of kings and jacks. Moreover, the suits also changed: instead of tambourines and spades, sickles, hammers and stars flaunted on the cards. Then the cards were banned altogether.

Now you can play cards, and moreover, decks are produced for every taste: souvenir, fortune-telling, with various historical characters. You can even order cards with the image of yourself and your friends, with which you can then play the fool. Just don’t guess - what if someone is offended that he is not a king, but some kind of nine ...

Very long time invention of playing cards was attributed to the 14th-century French painter Jacqueline Grangonner, who allegedly first invented these small painted cardboard sheets. And he did this in order to amuse them with Charles VI in the moments of enlightenment of the darkened mind of His Majesty.

This version was first refuted in the 18th century by two learned men of letters, the Abbés de Longrue and Rive, who convincingly proved in their dissertations that cards and card games appeared long before the reign of this poor sovereign.

The first indisputable proof of this is the original act of the Cologne Cathedral, which forbade the card game for clergy.

This act predates the time when Grangonner handed the maps he had drawn to the insane monarch. The decent fee he received for these cards prompted the artist to be creative, and he began to actively work on improving the design of the cards. He replaced some figures on the maps, and in the reign of Charles VII made further changes to the images on the maps and came up with the names of the figures that they still bear.

So, at the whim of the artist, David, peak king, was the emblem of Charles VII, and the king of hearts was named Charlemagne. Queen Regina in clubs lady portrayed Mary, wife of Charles VII.

Pallas, the Queen of Spades, personified the Virgin of Orleans, Joan of Arc. Rachel, the lady of diamonds - gentle Agnes Sorel, and the lady of hearts Judith - light "in morality" Isabella of Bavaria. Four jack(squires) designated themselves four brave knights: Ogier and Lancelo under Charlemagne, Hector de Gallard and La Hire under Charles VII. And other names of the cards were sustained by the artist in the taste of that time - a warlike allegory. Worms were the emblem of courage, spades and tambourines represented weapons, clubs - food, fodder and ammunition. And finally ace(ac) in its Latin meaning was what has always been recognized as the main wealth of war - money.

The painter Grangonner, thus, although not map inventor, but left to his compatriots and everyone for an inheritance, which in many ways contributed and continues to contribute to the entertainment of people, and not only idle, but also businessmen, and led to a variety of occupations in all strata of society.

The phenomenon of the rapid distribution of maps around the world is unparalleled. Cards are played all over the world. Maps can be a topic of study for a philosopher and psychologist, a statistician and an economist, for a moralist and a clergyman...

It must be admitted that the origin of the cards still shrouded in impenetrable darkness. Scientists realized too late, time managed to destroy monuments that could shed light on the history of maps. However, many learned people devoted most of their lives to the study of the history of playing cards.

But, despite all their efforts, this story is still replete with many white spots, confusing, and it can be said with confidence that hardly anyone will ever be able to find out when the cards actually appeared and when for the first time the first players sat down at the playing table.

What are playing cards made of?

In fact, for a card game it is not necessary to have the playing cards that we currently know: rectangular, oval, round, or some other shape made of thick cardboard. They can be made from wood, leather, ivory, or even metal. Such maps can be seen in many museums around the world. In some countries, and still today, cards are made of wood, in some places of plastic materials in the form of dominoes, especially for such card games as Rams and Canasta. Thus, the material from which the cards are made can be different. The most suitable, however, turned out to be cards made from special paper. Moreover, such paper appeared almost simultaneously in many countries.

If paper was indeed invented in China as early as 105 AD, then apparently paper maps appeared not much later.

There are many legends about the invention of cards. According to one of them, in prehistoric times, a beautiful princess was kidnapped by a robber. While imprisoned, she made cards from leather and taught her enslaver to play them. The robber would allegedly be so enamored with playing cards that he released the princess as a token of gratitude.

One Greek legend ascribes the invention of maps to Palamedes, the son of the Euboean king Nauplius, very clever and cunning, who managed, for example, to expose Odysseus himself. Odysseus wanted to stay out of the Greek war against Troy. When Palamedes found him in connection with this. Odysseus pretended to be crazy. And he did it this way: he harnessed a donkey to the plow to his bulls, and began to sow the field not with grains, but sprinkle salt into the furrows. However, Palamedes immediately figured out the deception. He returned to the palace, took the son of Odysseus - Telemachus - from the cradle, brought him into the field and put him in a furrow in front of a team of oxen and a donkey. Odysseus, of course, turned aside, giving himself away. This cunning of Palamedes was the basis for various inventions to be attributed to him. He allegedly invented scales, letters, dice, some measures, and during the long-term siege of Troy, playing cards. And it happened 1000 years before our era!

There are researchers who name another person who allegedly invented the cards. He is allegedly one of the seven sages of ancient Greece, namely the philosopher Cylon, who wanted to help the poor forget about food. To do this, he invented cards that the poor began to play and completely forgot about hunger during the game.

The list of legends and tales about the invention of cards can be continued, but it is clear that they are not the invention of a single person.

How were the rules of the old card games developed?

It can be assumed that these were, first of all, combination games of the type of the current games of Rams and Canasta, i.e. such games in which it was considered necessary to combine cards as soon as possible according to pictures, colors, etc. This is evidenced by the fact that there were games that used cards not only with 3 and 4 images, but also with 5, 6 and more. In Korea, they play cards with the image of 8 figures: men, horses, antelopes, rabbits, pheasants, crows, fish and stars. And for each of these figures there are 10 different cards, that is, the deck consists of 80 cards.

The Chinese in the old days even played on depreciated banknotes. Since there were few coins, and a long journey with a lot of money was dangerous, already in the 7th century the state allowed the so-called "flying money". For the wasteful life of their courts, the rulers needed more and more money and ordered to print them in heaps. Money depreciated with catastrophic speed, and it came to the point that in the 9th century they lost all value. Old banknotes were exchanged for new ones in the ratio of 1:100, 1:500, 1:1000, 1:2000... It was at this time that they began to play cards with old money. And these money cards existed in China almost until the end of the 9th century. In China, even now they play cards that depict a general, two advisers, elephants, horses, war chariots, guns, and 5 soldiers. These 16 figures are colored red, white, yellow and green. Each suit is repeated twice, and thus, the total number of cards in the deck is 128 pieces. Characteristic of Chinese maps has always been their shape: they are long and narrow.

Indian cards have a completely different shape, they are square, and sometimes round. Indian cards usually had 4 suits, but there were also 12 color cards, and each color had 12 cards, i.e. the number of cards in the deck was 144.

When playing cards appeared in Russia

Presumably, cards appeared in Russia shortly after their appearance in Europe, in particular in Germany and France. They quickly penetrated primarily into the ruling circles. In any case, already under Anna Ioannovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, card games, especially in court circles, flourished, and card games reached their peak in the reign of Catherine II. It is authentically known that Catherine's grandees played almost all without exception. Many of them put colossal fortunes at stake, while losing lands worth tens of thousands of acres and serfs. Peasants very often, waking up in the morning, found out that, at the whim of the owner, they were lost to another person and become his property. Yard girls, especially beautiful ones, sometimes went on the map for a colossal sum, and along with them hunting dogs and thoroughbred horses went on the map.

There is no exact information about when the cards appeared in Russia. Some researchers believe that this happened rather late, approximately in the second quarter of the 9th century. However, this contradicts other obvious facts. Researcher Yu. Dmitriev reports that back in 1759, the mechanic Pyotr Dyumolin, who arrived in Moscow, demonstrated "moving cards" in one of the houses in the German Quarter. And another Russian researcher A. Vyatkin relates the appearance of cards in Russia to an even earlier period, to the 7th century, and substantiates this with the well-known royal Code of 1649, which ordered the players to act "as with tatami", i.e. with thieves. According to the same Vyatkin, the cards came to Russia through Ukraine, from Germany ("the local Cossacks whiled away the time playing a card game").

The fact that the cards appeared in Russia simultaneously with their arrival in Europe is also evidenced by the fact that the Russians "kept pace" with the Europeans in mastering the secrets of many card games.

Video: History of playing cards

Every inhabitant of our country has played cards at least once in his life. Whether it's a simple throw-in fool or an aristocratic preference. At the same time, most fans of card games are sure that some abstract characters are depicted as jacks, queens and kings. This is not true…

Joker: a fun sorcerer

The most surprising thing is that the only card in the deck that does not have a real prototype is the Joker. In many card games, it is not used at all, while in others it acts as the highest trump card. At the same time, the word Joker itself, translated into Russian, means a merry fellow, a jester and a mischievous one. True, sometimes the Joker is drawn in the form of a little imp, thereby emphasizing the story of his appearance from fortune-telling Tarot cards. In a deck of magic cards, the Joker is an evil wizard. At the same time, the most popular version of the origin of the word "Joker" is the name of the game Juker, in which this card character first appeared.

Card Kings: The Best Among Equals

According to historical chronicles, people started playing cards in Europe in the 14th century. They did not disdain to spread to the cards and persons of royal blood. At this time, by the middle of the 15th century, the main images of ladies, jacks and kings appeared in Europe. At that distant time, as today, a deck of cards consisted of 52 sheets, divided into four suits. Such a figure is not accidental, because 52 is the number of weeks in a year, and the suits are the four seasons. The most amazing thing is that today it is known exactly who was the prototype of the images of kings in a card deck. The King of Spades was King David, known to readers from the Old Testament. The role of the king of clubs was played by the great conqueror Alexander the Great. King of tambourine, no less famous ruler - Julius Caesar. The youngest from a historical point of view was the king of worms - Charlemagne. It is symbolic that each of the prototypes of the card kings left its indelible mark on the history of mankind. Alexander the Great conquered half the world. King David turned out to be the most famous crowned figure in the Old Testament. Well, Charlemagne created the Holy Roman Empire. Gaius Julius Caesar - became famous as the most popular dictator of ancient Rome.

Card ladies: perfection itself

Card ladies also had their real prototypes. However, these were not wives at all, people who gave the prototype to the card kings, but completely strangers to them. The Lady of Hearts is the warlike Judith, who accomplished many feats on the pages of the Old Testament. It was she who cold-bloodedly cut off the head of the leader of the Assyrians, saving the city of childhood from the invasion of the conquerors. According to other sources, which are considered more reliable, the magnificent Elena of Troy became the Queen of Hearts. According to legend, her mother was the queen of Sparta, Leda, and Zeus himself was her father. Lady of Diamonds is the wife of one of the Knights of the Round Table - Ragnel. As a lady of clubs, the artists depicted either the Greek goddess Argina, who was responsible for vanity and empty fuss, or Lucretia, representing virtue. It turned out to be more difficult with the lady of spades. Three real women claim her role at once, the image of each of which appeared on card sheets at different times. Most often it is Minerva - the goddess of wisdom, war and victory. Less often, Athena, who was also responsible for successful military operations, or the legendary heroine of the Middle Ages, Joan of Arc, became the lady of spades.

Jack: servant of kings

Real historical figures acted as jacks in a deck of playing cards, as in the case of queens and kings. True, if these people found out how the treacherous artists who created decks of cards treated them, they would be very offended. Jack in French means servant or lackey. However, the prototype jacks never were. The Jack of Hearts is the knight Etienne de Vignelet, Joan of Arc's closest associate. The jack of spades is the noble knight Ogier of Denmark. According to legend, he repeatedly killed dragons, exterminated many giants, and in general was a bosom friend of the fairy Morgana. Subsequently, the sorceress rewarded Ogier with the gift of eternal youth for nights of passionate love. Jack of clubs - the famous knight Lancelot. The frantic Roland plays the role of the jack of diamonds.

Chinese and dominoes

Who invented playing cards: Italians, Spaniards, French, or are they a gift to humanity from evil spirits? Alas! The author of playing cards is known - these are the Chinese. The most surprising thing is that cards in China are not an independent game, but a simpler and cheaper variety of dominoes to manufacture. Once upon a time, the Chinese recklessly played dice, then they transformed into dominoes, which in turn were reborn into cards. It happened at the moment when the dominoes were transferred to cardboard. We got cards with a scale of points, to which figures were added over time. Ching-tse-tung's dictionary mentions that cards were invented in 1120 AD, and after 12 years they were distributed throughout China. True, there is an alternative version of the origin of playing cards from ancient Egypt. As if thousands of years ago, Egyptian priests encrypted all the wisdom of the world in 78 golden tablets. Some of them were symbolically depicted in the form of cards, and 56 of them (Minor Arcana) were playing, and 22 (Major Arcana) were used exclusively for divination. However, both the Chinese and the Egyptian versions of the origin of playing cards are nothing more than a legend, while in Europe the cards have been known since the 14th century. For example, in 1367 in Bern, card games were banned by an official decree, and in 1377, an envoy of the Pope complained that the monks were cutting cards right at the walls of their monastery.