The Mamluk Deck

The direct ancestor of the European deck of cards is the deck of Mamluk Egypt. The evidence is the only complete deck that survives — kept at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, discovered in 1931. Its four suits are coins, scimitars, polo sticks, and cups. Today's arrangement of diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts is thought to descend from these four. In a culture that avoided depicting figures, the cards carried no human faces — instead, intricate patterns and calligraphy. A deck with no pictures became the parent of the picture card.