The oldest Tarot deck.
Tractatus de deificatione sexdecim heroum is the
only known work by Marziano da Sant'Alosio, better
known as Marziano da Tortona, secretary to the
duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti. It describes
the structure and symbolism of a new kind of card
game with a new kind of cards. In addition to four
suits of number cards headed by a king, the deck has
a fifth suit, the deified heroes of the title, which serve
as trump cards in the game. This set of permanent,
ranked trumps, is nowadays associated with Tarot,
which had not been invented when Marziano wrote.
Therefore, as the first deck to have this feature, it has
been justifiably described as the oldest known Tarot.