The History of Tarot: Where Tarot Cards Really Came From
The short answer: tarot began in northern Italy in the 1400s as a card game, not a fortune-telling tool. The earliest written mentions date to the 1440s and 1450s. People only started using the cards for readings in France in the late 1700s, more than 300 years later.
Below is the story in order, with a quick timeline, a look at a few cards then and now, and answers to common questions.
Quick timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Late 1300s | Playing cards reach Europe |
| c. 1415 | A game of picture cards is designed for the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti (a forerunner of tarot; the cards are lost) |
| 1440s–1450s | Earliest written references to tarot, in northern Italy |
| Mid-1400s | Luxury hand-painted decks made for the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan |
| Second half of the 1600s | Jean Noblet's Paris deck, the oldest known example of the "Tarot de Marseille" design |
| 1770s | Etteilla, a Paris card reader, is telling fortunes with cards |
| 1781 | Antoine Court de Gébelin claims tarot came from ancient Egypt |
| 1854–1856 | Éliphas Lévi's Dogme et rituel de la haute magie appears, tying tarot to occult ideas |
| 1888 | The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is founded in London |
| 1909 | The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is published |
Playing cards arrive in Europe
Ordinary playing cards came into Europe in the late 1300s. Exact first dates vary between sources, so "late 1300s" is the safest way to put it. Italian packs used four suits that tarot still uses today: Cups, Swords, Batons (Wands) and Coins (Pentacles).
Tarocchi: a Renaissance card game
Tarot was a trick-taking game, a bit like whist or bridge, where a higher card beats a lower one. A tarot pack took the usual 56 suit cards (ten number cards plus a King, Queen, Knight and Knave in each suit) and added two things:
- 21 picture cards called trumps (trionfi, "triumphs"), which beat any ordinary card
- The Fool (il matto), who worked as a sort of wild card
That makes 78 cards, the same number as a tarot deck today. Early trumps weren't numbered, so their order changed from city to city. You can still see that Fool on our The Fool page, and familiar trumps such as The Lovers, Wheel of Fortune and Death were already there in the 1400s.
The Visconti-Sforza decks
The oldest tarot cards that survive are beautiful hand-painted, gilded packs made for the ruling families of Milan in the mid-1400s. Three main decks survive in part, now kept in New York (the Morgan Library and Yale), Milan (the Brera gallery) and Bergamo. They're credited to the workshop of the Milan court painter Bonifacio Bembo. In those decks The Magician appears as a street entertainer or trickster, and The Hanged Man was once called "the traitor". Compare them with our The Magician and The Hanged Man pages.
The Tarot de Marseille
By the 1600s and 1700s, printers in France and Switzerland were making cheaper woodcut tarot packs in a shared design. The oldest known example is Jean Noblet's pack, printed in Paris in the second half of the 1600s. Despite the name, the design didn't start in Marseille. The city became the main producer later in the 1700s, and the label "Tarot de Marseille" was only given in the 1800s.
How tarot became a fortune-telling tool
Court de Gébelin and the Egypt idea (1781)
In 1781 the French scholar Antoine Court de Gébelin wrote that tarot was an ancient Egyptian book of wisdom in disguise. He had no evidence, but the idea caught on in a France that loved all things Egyptian.
Etteilla, the first professional tarot reader
Jean-Baptiste Alliette, who went by "Etteilla" (his name backwards), was already telling fortunes with ordinary cards in the 1770s. After the Egypt claims appeared, he took up tarot too, and is credited with helping make tarot reading a popular pastime.
Éliphas Lévi and the "Arcana"
Éliphas Lévi (real name Alphonse-Louis Constant) was a French writer on magic. His book Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (Dogma and Ritual of High Magic) linked the 22 trumps to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and helped turn tarot into a serious subject for occultists. Lévi also brought in the terms "Major Arcana" (the trumps) and "Minor Arcana" (the suit cards) that most readers use today.
On the date: the book first came out in parts between 1854 and 1856, and was issued as two volumes in Paris in 1856. A second, much enlarged edition followed in 1861, which is the date some sources (including the V&A) give.
The Golden Dawn and the Rider-Waite-Smith deck
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a London society interested in the occult, was founded in 1888. Two of its members, the writer Arthur Edward Waite and the artist Pamela Colman Smith, created the deck most people picture when they think of tarot. It was published by Rider of London in 1909.
Pamela Colman Smith's illustrated Minor Arcana
Before this deck, the number cards usually just showed a pattern of cups, swords and so on. Smith drew a full scene on every card, which made them far easier to read by eye. Waite gave her detailed directions for the trumps, but she had a free hand with the Minor Arcana. Many modern decks still follow her pictures, including the dramatic The Tower.
Myth check: did tarot come from Egypt?
No. The Egypt story began with Court de Gébelin in 1781 and was repeated by later occult writers. There's no evidence for it. Every early tarot card we have comes from Renaissance Italy.
Where does the word "tarot" come from?
"Tarot" is the French form of the Italian tarocco (plural tarocchi). Before about 1500 the Italians simply called the game trionfi. The word tarocco only appears in the early 1500s, and where it came from is unknown. Leading dictionaries, including Collins and Italy's Treccani, say so plainly. Any confident explanation you see online is a guess.
Tarot today
Tarot is now enjoyed all over the world, with thousands of decks in print and new ones designed every year. People use the cards to pause, reflect and see their day from a fresh angle. Our daily three-card reading is free, and you can look up any card in our card meanings, or read more about Well Read.
Today Well Read offers tarot as a fun daily reflection, for entertainment only.
Frequently asked questions
Where did tarot come from?
Northern Italy, in the first half of the 1400s. The earliest written references are from the 1440s and 1450s.
Who invented tarot cards, and why?
No single inventor is known. Tarot grew up in the courts of northern Italy as a card game for entertainment, where picture cards were added to an ordinary pack as trumps.
When did tarot become fortune-telling?
In France in the late 1700s, through writers such as Court de Gébelin and the card reader Etteilla. It grew much more popular in the 1800s.
Did tarot come from Egypt?
No. That idea dates from 1781 and has no historical evidence behind it.
Where does the word "tarot" come from?
It comes from the Italian tarocco, through French. Nobody knows for sure where the Italian word itself came from.
What is the Rider-Waite-Smith deck?
An English tarot deck published in 1909, created by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. Most modern decks are based on it.