Pretty cool! I came across this write up last night. Have you ever com3 across a connection between these card designs and uses and Tarot. I’ve heard there is a connection, but never found and clear evidence. Obviously, the minor arcana is very similar.
Like how “humans didn’t evolve from monkeys, but they share a common ancestor”
playing cards (modern and tarot), dominoes, mahjong etc all evolved from a common ancestor - where the tokens were both playing objects and representations of debt/money/stakes/alcohol
I dont know how strong the scholarship is but it’s roughly 900AD China > 1100AD Egypt > 1300AD Europe.
Neat. I wonder if its a similar story to paper. There’s a mythic story of how the Arabic army captured some Chinese soldier in the Battle of Talas in 793. Those prisoners showed their capturers paper making. Soon thereafter, there were paper mills set up in Bhagdad.
That story isn’t probably the origination of the practice in the Arabic empire. More likely it originated along the silk road a few decades earlier. However, I don’t think it led to paper mills in Bhagdad.
Pretty cool! I came across this write up last night. Have you ever com3 across a connection between these card designs and uses and Tarot. I’ve heard there is a connection, but never found and clear evidence. Obviously, the minor arcana is very similar.
Like how “humans didn’t evolve from monkeys, but they share a common ancestor”
playing cards (modern and tarot), dominoes, mahjong etc all evolved from a common ancestor - where the tokens were both playing objects and representations of debt/money/stakes/alcohol
I dont know how strong the scholarship is but it’s roughly 900AD China > 1100AD Egypt > 1300AD Europe.
Neat. I wonder if its a similar story to paper. There’s a mythic story of how the Arabic army captured some Chinese soldier in the Battle of Talas in 793. Those prisoners showed their capturers paper making. Soon thereafter, there were paper mills set up in Bhagdad.
That story isn’t probably the origination of the practice in the Arabic empire. More likely it originated along the silk road a few decades earlier. However, I don’t think it led to paper mills in Bhagdad.