The Tarot has its roots in that ancient land of wisdom and occult practice, Egypt. The Mamluks introduced a deck of playing cards to Europe in the late fourteenth century with four suits: polo sticks (wands), swords, cups, and coins (pentacles). This deck evolved into modern playing cards, and is still used in divination Tarot sets. The ”coins“ of the original Egyptian tarot deck were silver dirhams like this one, which circulated throughout the vast Mamluk territory for 300 years.
