Ancient Civilisations


This pack of playing cards is dedicated to the GREAT EMPIRES OF ANCIENT TIMES, to the cultures which signified the birth in the Near East of history as we know it.

These cultures already possessed a political framework which went beyond that of prehistoric times and, what is more, left us the first written commentaries of Humanity.

The states which sprung up along the banks of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates owed their existence to the fertility of those regions, for which reason they are referred to as "Agrarian Empires".
Original designs by Perellón, printed by Fournier 1973.

§  CLUBS Egypt: The origins of Ancient Egypt can be traced back to 3000 BC. The Ancient Empire was formed by the coalescence of two primitive kingdoms, formerly bitter enemies, and Memphis was chosen as the capital in 2650 BC. This gave way in 2000 BC to the Middle Empire whose capital was at Thebes, and in 1580 BC a third dynasty followed, the New Empire, which continued until the so-called "dark ages" when the Princes of Sais were predominant until their final conquest in 332 BC at the hands of Alexander the Great, with whom the chapter on Egypt as an in dependant power closes.

¨ DIAMONDS Sumeria: It is also about 3000 BC that the first traces of organized existence can be found in Mesopotamia where two peoples, the Sumerian and the Akkadian, struggled for supremacy which finally went to the former. This was a period of continual shifts in the balance of power, with moments of splendour alternating with decadence in the capitals of Ur, Lagash and Babylon.

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