Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

It is probable that the adjoining town of Pozzuoli was the cradle of Playing Cards in Europe, for it was here that the mysteries of the Egyptian god Thoth were taught by the priests of that cult. Close to the edge of the water are the ruins of the vast temple of Osiris, or Serapis, called the Serapeon. Here the strangers worshipped, who landed there yearly from the Nile, from a vast fleet which was sheltered in the bay of Baiæ. Its arrival was heralded by a number of swift yachts that could be recognized as they passed through the narrow straits between Capri and the mainland with topsails flying, a privilege that was accorded to none but the visitors from Alexandria, who were too powerful to offend and too desirable not to conciliate.

The exports of corn from Alexandria were of such importance to Italy that the trade enjoyed the peculiar protection of the State, and “the Alexandrian corn fleet,” says Merivale (“Roman Empire,” Volume IV, page 392), “enjoyed the protection of a convoy of war galleys that was met by a deputation of senators.”

The visitors landed at Pozzuoli, at the spot where St. Paul disembarked from the Castor and Pollox, in a bay that sheltered mariners from Spain, Sardinia, Elba, Cyprus and all the great trading ports of Asia Minor, the isles of the Ægean Sea and, above all, Greece. This great centre received merchandise, iron and fine tools from the clever workmen of Elba, and gorgeous carpets from Phœnicia, as well as Egyptian goods and cults; so it was natural that what was presented at this port should also be exported from there. Thus it was with the learning and the arts of Egypt that were taught by her priests or initiates in the temple erected by them at this spot, which points to the probability that their great book was from this centre scattered over Europe.

What is now called the Serapeon is one of the most remarkable ruins in Italy, for through some volcanic action it was buried beneath the sea in the twelfth century during the last eruption of the Solfatara, reappearing after another volcanic outburst in 1538. It had been forgotten for centuries, but when the fresh movement of that ever-swaying shore made the waters recede, the temple again appeared above the surface. Some of its marble columns are still erect, although they are honeycombed with holes made by a little bivalve that is still found in the bay of Baiæ, and in these perforations countless of their shells can be seen. Enough of the temple remains to record the fact that the Egyptians were numerous and prosperous on the foreign shore, and it is probable that it was built 211 B. C., although many students think its erection was even earlier.

Serapis, or Osiris, was worshipped as Hermes, or Mercury, by the Romans, which worship was introduced into the neighbouring city of Rome by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, in A. D. 146, which may indicate the date of the Temple of Serapis (Mercury).

Serapis was the god of commerce, so his shrine was enriched by the merchants who thronged to the ever-busy port. It was probably after this temple (the original home of Mercury) was submerged, that the smaller one was erected to him at Baiæ. The latter was a famous marine watering place of ancient Italy, perched on an indentation of the western shore of the Bay of Naples. It is celebrated for the softness of its climate, and the abundance of its hot springs, so it became fashionable about the era of Lucullus, the ruins of whose magnificent villa, as well as those of Cæsar, Pompey and Augustus, still remain. It was a favourite resort until the invasion of the barbarians under Theodoric the Goth.

Horace alludes to the palaces and temples overhanging the sea, but most of these have now fallen into the water, where beautiful columns may be seen beneath the waves.

Besides these luxurious homes, and the vast temple of Serapis that was so near, there remain ruins of a temple to Jupiter, another to Venus, and others that are unidentified. But the one that remains in the best condition and state of preservation is Mercury’s, as the domed roof protected it when the others were destroyed by the ashes from the neighbouring volcano. The façade of the temple has been removed, but one long vaulted hall remains. It is not pierced with windows, and was probably intended to be dark, for the better perpetration of mysteries. On the ceiling may be traced oblong shaped paintings, “men portrayed upon the wall,” that are too much defaced to identify, but they recall the shape and approximate size of the Atouts of the Tarots. These may be seen at stated intervals, and, when originally placed there, would have accommodated the twenty-two Atout cards ranged in the order in which they are now numbered. It was supposed that the emblematic figures representing Osiris, Maut, Isis and other deities with the virtues, vices, love, marriage, death, etc., were placed in recesses or alcoves in the Egyptian temples, but if these half-obliterated figures in the temple at Baiæ were intended to represent the Atouts, a different plan was followed, more like that mentioned in Ezekiel xxiii:14. It may have been that the priests followed the idea of putting the figures on the ceiling, so that they might teach their followers the significance of the emblems when it was no longer worth while to make mysteries of them and to conceal them.

Beside the temple, and opening from it, is an inner room that was probably once covered by a roof, but that has fallen, and now the space is only an enclosed court. In the centre remains what might have been a platform or altar where the sacrifices of pigs or tongues, and of other things immolated to Mercury, were made yearly at the time of his festival, on the thirteenth of May.

Prof. Charles Anthon, in his “Classical Dictionary,” when describing Mercury, says: