Dragon
04-11-2008, 01:49 PM
Historical Overview
It is apparent that tattooing was widely practiced in many cultures in the ancient world and was associated with a high level of artistic endeavor. The imagery of ancient tattooing is very similar to that of modern tattooing.
Throughout history, tattooing, like other forms of body decoration, has been related to the sensual, erotic, and emotional aspects of the psyche. Inca tattooing is characterized by bold abstract patterns that resemble contemporary tribal tattoo designs. Pazyryk tattoos are images of animals. Animals are the most frequent subject matter of tattooing.
In many cultures tattoos are traditionally associated with magic, totems, and the desire of the tattooed person to become identified with the spirit of the animal. Tattooing in the ancient world had many things in common with modern tattooing, and tattooing around the world has profound and universal psychic origins.
Upper Paleolithic (10,000 to 38,000 BC)
Tattoo instruments from this period have been found and typically these instruments consist of a disk made of clay and red ochre together with sharp bone needles that are inserted into holes in the top of the disk. The disk served as reservoir and source of pigment, and the needles were used to pierce the skin. Clay and stone figurines with engraved designs, which probably represent tattooing, have also been found.
European Iceman Mummy
A Bronze Age tattooed man around 5,500 years old was found in October 1991 between Austria and Italy in the Tyrolean Alps. The Iceman, "Oetzi" is the oldest known human to have medicinal tattoos preserved upon his mummified skin.
Oetzi the Iceman Mummy
Oetzi the Iceman (also spelled Otzi and known also as Frozen Fritz) is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the valley of discovery. He rivals the Egyptian "Ginger" as the oldest known human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the habits of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.
Some of his tattoos were located as follows:
Four groups of lines to the left of the lumbar spine; one group of lines to the right of the lumbar spine; a cruciform mark on the inside of the right knee; three groups of lines on the left calf; a small cruciform mark on the left of the left Achilles tendon; a group of lines on the back of the right foot; a group of lines next to the right outer ankle; a group of lines above the right inner ankle.
Oetzi had 57 tattoos, some of which were located on or near acupuncture points that coincide with the modern points that would be used to treat symptoms of diseases that he seems to have suffered from, such as digestive parasites and osteoarthrosis. Some scientists believe that these tattoos may indicate an early type of acupuncture.
Life of Early Egyptians (2160-1994 BC) Middle Kingdom
Many traditional cultures also use tattoos on the flesh as a sort of passport to the world after death, although interestingly, with all the emphasis on the next world in ancient Egyptian culture, there is no indication that this was the case there.
Egypt is generally accepted as the cradle of tattoo art and by the Middle Kingdom tattoos seem to have been popular and culturally acceptable
2,000 BC to 3,000 BC
Bodies have been recovered dating to as early as the XI Dynasty (2160-1994 BC) exhibiting tattoo art forms. One of the most famous early mummies is that of Amunet, a priestess of the goddess Hathor, found at Thebes. This female mummy displayed several lines and dots tattooed about her body. Tattoo patterns were clearly visible on her flesh.
Several other female mummies from this period show similar tattoos in addition to ornamental scarring (cicatrization) which is still popular today in some parts of Africa across the lower part of the abdomen. The series of dots and dashes held protective and fertility promoting significance. The lozenges are connected to the primal female power of the universe – motherhood.
The traditional reasons for tattooing include:
• to connect with the Divine.
• as a tribute or act of sacrifice to a deity.
• as a talisman, a permanent amulet that cannot be lost.
• to provide magical or medical protection.
Certainly, the connection between tattoos and the divine existed in ancient Egypt.
Beyond the geometric designs that were favoured, other designs discovered were found that were intrinsically connected to religion. Mummies dating from roughly 1300 BC are tattooed with pictographs symbolizing Neith, a prominent female deity with a militaristic bent. These are the only tattoos that at this point seem to have a link with male bearers.
The God Bes
The earliest known tattoo with a picture of something specific, rather than an abstract pattern, represents the god Bes. Bes is the lascivious god of revelry and he served as the patron god of dancing girls and musicians. Bes’s image appears as a tattoo on the thighs of dancers and musicians in many Egyptian paintings, and Bes tattoos have been found on female Nubian mummies dating from about 400BC.
Greek and Roman Tattoos
Tattooing was only associated with barbarians in early Greek and Roman times. The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians, and used it to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified if they tried to escape. The Romans in turn adopted the practice from the Greeks, and in late antiquity when the Roman army consisted largely of mercenaries; they also were tattooed so that deserters could be identified.
Many Greek and Roman authors mentioned tattooing as punishment. Plato thought that individuals guilty of sacrilege should be tattooed and banished from the Republic.
Suetone, a early writer reports that the degenerate and sadistic Roman Emperor, Caligula, amused himself by capriciously ordering members of his court to be tattooed.
According to the historian, Zonare, the Greek emperor, Theophilus, took revenge on two monks who had publicly criticized him by having eleven verses of obscene iambic pentameter tattooed on their foreheads.
Hadrian's Roman soldiers 'had military tattoo'
'It's a little known fact, but it would appear that all of the legionaries and some of the auxiliaries on Hadrian's Wall would have had a tattoo', says Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities Director of Archaeological Museums and Roman expert, Lindsay Allason-Jones.
The evidence comes from the Roman writer Vegetius, whose Epitome of Military Science, written around the 4th Century AD, is the only account of Roman military practice to have survived intact.
'Vegetius recorded that a recruit to the Roman army "should not be tattooed with the pin-pricks of the official mark as soon as he has been selected, but first be thoroughly tested in exercises so that it may be established whether he is truly fitted for so much effort",' says Lindsay. (Source: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitome of Military Science, Chapter 8).
'We do not know what this official mark looked like. It was possibly an eagle or the symbol of the soldier's legion or unit', she said.
Lindsay has even unearthed evidence that the legionaries would have sported the tattoo on their hands. Aetius, the 6th century Roman doctor, recording that tattoos were found on the hands of soldiers, even documented the Roman technique for tattooing, which included first washing the area to be tattooed with leek juice, known for its antiseptic properties. Aetius even went so far as to document the formula for the tattooing ink, which combined Egyptian pine wood (especially the bark), corroded bronze, gall and vitriol with more leek juice. The design was pricked into the skin with pointed needles 'until blood is drawn', and then the ink was rubbed on. (see below)
Stigma
The Latin word for "tattoo" was stigma, and the original meaning is reflected in modern dictionaries. Among the definitions of "stigma" listed in the Webster dictionary are "a prick with a pointed instrument", "a distinguishing mark …cut into the flesh of a slave or a criminal", and "a mark of disgrace or reproach."
The oldest known description of tattoo techniques together with a formula for tattoo ink, is found in Medicae artis principes by the sixth century Roman physician, Aetius. He writes:
Stigmates are the marks that are made on the face and other parts of the body. We see such marks on the hands of soldiers. To perform the operation they use ink made according to this formula:
Egyptian pine wood (acacia) and especially the bark, one pound; corroded bronze, two ounces; gall, two ounces; vitriol, one ounce. Mix well and sift.
Grind the corroded bronze with vinegar and mix it with the other ingredients to make a powder. Soak the powder in two parts of water and one part of leek juice and mix thoroughly.
First wash the place to be tattooed with leek juice and then prick in the design with pointed needles until blood is drawn. Then rub in the ink.
Early tattoo removal
Because of the disgrace associated with tattooing, Greek and Roman physicians did a brisk business in tattoo removal, and Aetius had a recipe for that. He wrote:
In cases where we wish to remove such tattoos, we must use the following preparations…There follow two prescriptions, one involving lime, gypsum and sodium carbonate, the other pepper, rue and honey. When applying firs clean the tattoos with nitre, smear them with resin of terebinth, and bandage for five days. On the sixth prick the tattoos with a pin, sponge away the blood, and then spread a little salt on the pricks, then after an interval of stadioi (presumably the time taken to travel this distance), apply the aforesaid prescription and cover it with a linen bandage. Leave it on five days, and on the sixth smear on some of prescription with a feather. The tattoos are removed in twenty days, without great ulceration and without a scar.” Translated by C.P. Jones
Other Greek and Roman physicians had special formulas that they used:
Pigeon feces mixed with vinegar and applied as a poultice "for a long time"
The Greek philosopher Bion of Borysthenes (circa 300 B.C.) described the brutally tattooed face of his father, a former slave, as "a narrative of his master's harshness."
During the early Roman Empire, slaves exported to Asia were tattooed "tax paid." Words, acronyms, sentences, and doggerel were inscribed on the bodies of slaves and convicts, both as identification and punishment. A common phrase etched on the forehead of Roman slaves was "Stop me, I'm a runaway."
GREEK – 4th Century AD
Over 40 painted vases dating from the fourth century AD portray the murder of Orpheus, who according to myth was inconsolable after the death of his wife, Eurydice. He thereafter avoided women and turned his amorous attentions to young men, whom he hypnotized and seduced with his music. The jilted fiancées and wives of these young men took revenge by hacking Orpheus to pieces with a remarkable variety of instruments, which included swords, scythes, lances, double-bladed axes, skewers, pestles and rocks. According to myth, Thracian women were tattooed to commemorate their victory over Orpheus, and it has been speculated that these tattoos also served to remind Thracian husbands what fate awaited them if they proved unfaithful.
Tattooing of Slaves and Criminals in the Roman Empire
As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, the tattooing of slaves and criminals was gradually abandoned. The Roman Emperor Constantine, who declared Christianity the official religion of the Empire in 325 AD, decreed that a man who had been condemned to fight as a gladiator or to work in the mines should be tattooed on the legs or hands, but not on the face, "so that the face, which has been formed in the image of the divine beauty, should be defiled as little as possible."
In 787 AD Pope Hadrian I forbade tattooing of any kind, and the popes who followed him continued this tradition. It is for this reason that tattooing was virtually unknown in the Christian world until the 19th century.
African Tattoos
A form of tattooing called cicatrisation or scarification is widely practiced in traditional African societies. Rubbing charcoal into small cuts made with razors or thorns forms decorative patterns of scar tissue in the skin. These designs are often indicative of social rank, traits of character, political status and religious authority. For African women, scarification is largely associated with fertility. Scars added at puberty, after the birth of the first child, or following the end of breastfeeding highlight the bravery of women in enduring the pain of childbirth. Scars on the hips and buttocks, on the other hand, both visually and tactually accentuate the erotic and sensual aspects of these parts of the female body.
South American Tattooing
(Peru) 11th Century
In 1920, archaeologists in Peru unearthed tattooed mummies dating from the 11th Century AD. Not much is known about the significance of tattooing within the culture of pre-Incan peoples like the Chimu who tattooed, but the elaborate nature of the designs suggests that tattooing underwent a long period of development during the pre-Inca period.
According to Lars Krutak (Cultural Anthropologist and our Technical Advisor): "The Chimú of Pre-Columbian Peru applied tattoo pigments with various types of needles (fishbone, parrot quill, spiny conch) which have been found in mummy burials. The technical application of tattooing was a form of skin-stitching, and it has been suggested that women were the primary tattoo artists.
Paleopathological studies of Chimú mummies (1100-1470 A.D.) indicate that the practice of tattooing was quite common among both males and females. In some coastal settlements, it has been estimated that at least thirty percent of the population may have been tattooed. "
Later, during the Incan period, nobility NEVER tattooed because it was believed that the Sun God already gave them perfect bodies.
Gauls, Celts, Goths, Teutons, Picts and Scots
Greek and Roman historians reported that Britons, Iberians, Gauls, Goths, Teutons, Picts and Scots bore tattoo marks.
The Celts were a tribal people who moved across Western Europe between C.1200 and 700 BC. They reached the British Isles around 400 BC and most of what has survived from their culture is in the areas now known as Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The Celtic culture celebrated body art and permanent body painting was done with woad, which left a blue design on the skin. Spirals were a common motif and appeared single, doubled or tripled. Knot work is probably the most recognized form of Celtic art, with lines forming complex braids which weave across themselves. Celtic knots symbolize the connections in life and the step or key patterns, like those found in early labyrinth designs, can be seen both in simple borders and full complex mazes. Designs are symbolic of the various paths that life’s journey can take.
In his 1925 book, THE HISTORY OF TATTOOING AND IT'S SIGNIFICANCE, W.D. Hambly wrote, "It seems clear that the Picts tattooed by puncture and that animals were the chief subject portrayed. The forms of beast, birds, and fish which the Cruithnae, or Picts tattooed on their bodies may have been totem marks. Certain marks on faces of Gualish coins seem to be tattoo marks. Tattooing by puncture was possibly known among such Gualish tribes as Ambiani, Baiocasses and Caletes. The markings of Picts is historically important in showing the advances of tattoo by puncture to an extreme northerly point of Great Britain before the Christian era."
Picts
The Picts were the tattooed tribal nations of the north of Britain, the area now known as Scotland. In 600 AD, Isadore of Seville makes reference that the Picts took their name from the fact that their bodies had designs pricked into their skin by needles.
The Picts were known to have existed from about 7000BC until about the year 845 AD.
The Romans referred to them in Latin as "Pictii", which translates as "The Painted Ones". This was in reference to the elaborate tribal tattoos with which the Picts decorated their entire bodies.
In the third century AD, Herod of Antioch, wrote: "the Britons incise on their bodies colored pictures of animals, of which they are very proud."
In the seventh century AD, St. Isidore of Seville reported that:
The Scots derive their name in their own language from their painted bodies, because these are marked with various designs by being pricked with iron needles with ink on them and the Picts also are thus named because of the absurd marks produced on their bodies by craftsmen with tiny pinpricks and juice extracted from local grasses.
Chinese & Japanese Tattooing
5,000 BC
The earliest evidence of tattooing in Japan is found in the form of clay figurines that have faces painted or engraved to represent tattoo marks. The oldest figures of this kind have been recovered from tombs dated to 5,000 BC or older.
297 AD
The first written record of Japanese tattooing is found in a Chinese dynastic history was compiled. According to the text, Japanese "men young and old, all tattoo their faces and decorate their bodies with designs." Japanese tattooing is also mentioned in other Chinese histories, but always in a negative context. The Chinese considered tattooing a sign of barbarism and used it only as punishment.
7th Century
By the early seventh century, the rulers of Japan had adopted much of the culture and attitudes of the Chinese, and as a result decorative tattooing fell into official disfavor.
720AD
The first record of Japanese tattooing as punishment was mentioned in a history. that reads: "The Emperor summoned before him Hamako, Muraji of Azumi and commanded him saying: You have plotted to rebel and overthrow the state. This offence is punishable by death. I shall, however, confer great mercy on you by remitting the death penalty and sentence you to be tattooed."
17th Century
By the early seventeenth century, there was a generally accepted codification of tattoo marks used to identify criminals and outcasts in Japan. Outcasts were tattooed on the arms: a cross might be tattooed on the inner forearm, or a straight line on the outside of the forearm or on the upper arm.
Criminals were marked with a variety of symbols that designated the places where the crimes were committed. In one region, the pictograph for "dog" was tattooed on the criminal’s forehead. Other marks included patterns which included bars, crosses, double lines, and circles on the face and arms. Tattooing was reserved for those who committed serious crimes, and individuals bearing tattoo marks were ostracized by their families and denied all participation in community life. For the Japanese, tattooing was a very severe and terrible form of punishment.
By the end of the seventeenth century, penal tattooing had been largely replaced by other forms of punishment. One is reason is that decorative tattooing became popular, and criminals covered their penal tattoos with larger decorative tattoos. This is also thought to be the historical origin of the association of tattooing and organized crime in Japan.
The earliest reports of decorative tattooing are found in fiction published toward the end of the seventeenth century.
18th Century
Pictorial tattooing flourished during the eighteenth century in connection with the popular culture of Edo, as Tokyo was then called. Early in the 18th century, publishers needed illustrations for novels, theatres needed advertisements for their plays and the Japanese wood block print was developed to meet these needs. The development of the wood block print parallels, and had great influence on, the development of tattooing. Because of the association between tattooing and criminal activity, tattooing was outlawed on the grounds that it was "deleterious to public morals."
Tattooing continued to flourish among firemen, laborers and others considered to be at the lower end of the social scale. Tattoos were favored by gangs called Yakuza, outlaws, penniless peasants, laborers and misfits who migrated to Edo in the hope of improving their lives.
The Yakuza felt that because tattooing was painful, it was a proof of courage; because it was permanent, it was evidence of lifelong loyalty to the group; and because it was illegal, it made them outlaws forever.
Around the middle of the 18th century, the popularity of tattooing was stimulated by a popular Chinese novel, Suikoden, with many of its novel’s heroes extensively tattooed. The Japanese version of Suikoden was illustrated by a variety of artists, each of whom created prints with new interpretations of the tattoos described in the novel.
This novel and the new illustrations influenced all Japanese arts and culture.
19th Century
By 1867, the last of the Tokugawa shoguns was deposed and an emperor was restored to power. The laws against tattooing were strictly enforced because the new rulers feared that Japanese customs would seem barbaric and ridiculous to Westerners. Ironically, under the new laws Japanese tattoo artists were allowed to tattoo foreigners but not Japanese. The best tattoo masters established studios in Yokohama and did a lot of business tattooing foreign sailors. Their skills were so great that they attracted a number of very distinguished clients including the Duke of York (Later King George V), the Czarevich of Russia (Later Czar Nicholas II), and other European dignitaries.
The Japanese tattoo masters also continued to tattoo Japanese clients illegally, but after the middle of the 19th century, their themes and techniques remained unchanged. Classical Japanese tattooing is limited to specific designs representing legendary heroes and religious motifs which were combined with certain symbolic animals and flowers and set off against a background of waves, clouds and lightning bolts.
The original designs used in Japanese tattooing were created by some of the best ukiyoe artists. The tattoo masters adapted and simplified these designs to make them suitable for tattooing, but didn’t invent the designs on their own.
Traditional Japanese tattoo differs from Western tattoos in that is consists of a single major design that covers the back and extends onto the arms, legs and chest. The design requires a major commitment of time, money and emotional energy.
During most of the 19th century, an artist and a tattooist worked together. The artist drew the picture with a brush on the customer’s skin, and the tattooist just copied it.
20th Century
In 1936, when fighting broke out in China, almost all the men were drafted into the army. People with tattoos were thought to be discipline problems, so they weren’t drafted and the government passed a law against tattooing. After that the tattooists had to work in secret. After WWII, General MacArthur liberalized the Japanese laws, and tattooing became legal again. But the tattoo artists continued to work privately by appointment, and this tradition continues today.
Eastern Europe and Western Asia (The Pazyryk)
6th through 2nd Centuries
In 1948, an elaborately tattooed mummy was found in Pazyryk tombs about 120 miles north of the border between China and Russia.
The Pazyryks were formidable Iron Age horsemen and warriors who lived in the steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia from the sixth to the second centuries BC. They left no written records but their artifacts demonstrate a sophisticated level of artistry and craftsmanship.
A Pazyryk chief who had died around 50 years old was discovered and it was found that his body was elaborately tattooed. He had a series of interlocking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts.
Tribal Tattoo Overview
There were three major factors that took the practice of tribal tattooing from the realm of art and into the plane of the spiritual: Pain, Permanence and Loss of the Life Source (blood). This mystical trio elevated the tattoo from mere art and transformed it into a chance to draw people into a relationship with God, a god, magic powers, or a trance or vision state.
Because body and soul were generally thought to be identical to one another, your tattoos then existed on two planes: the physical and spiritual realms. Many of the tribes from Borneo believed that tattoos would not only be enough to get them to the proper spirit world, but that their tattoos also offered them special qualifications for advantageous occupations upon their arrival.
It has been found that most (if not all) primitive tribes used some form of body marking, be they tattoos, scarification or the use of plain, temporary body paints. This art prevailed worldwide until the arrival of civilization as we know it, when the tattoo fell into a temporary loss of popularity.
Kaynak: vanishingtattoo.com
It is apparent that tattooing was widely practiced in many cultures in the ancient world and was associated with a high level of artistic endeavor. The imagery of ancient tattooing is very similar to that of modern tattooing.
Throughout history, tattooing, like other forms of body decoration, has been related to the sensual, erotic, and emotional aspects of the psyche. Inca tattooing is characterized by bold abstract patterns that resemble contemporary tribal tattoo designs. Pazyryk tattoos are images of animals. Animals are the most frequent subject matter of tattooing.
In many cultures tattoos are traditionally associated with magic, totems, and the desire of the tattooed person to become identified with the spirit of the animal. Tattooing in the ancient world had many things in common with modern tattooing, and tattooing around the world has profound and universal psychic origins.
Upper Paleolithic (10,000 to 38,000 BC)
Tattoo instruments from this period have been found and typically these instruments consist of a disk made of clay and red ochre together with sharp bone needles that are inserted into holes in the top of the disk. The disk served as reservoir and source of pigment, and the needles were used to pierce the skin. Clay and stone figurines with engraved designs, which probably represent tattooing, have also been found.
European Iceman Mummy
A Bronze Age tattooed man around 5,500 years old was found in October 1991 between Austria and Italy in the Tyrolean Alps. The Iceman, "Oetzi" is the oldest known human to have medicinal tattoos preserved upon his mummified skin.
Oetzi the Iceman Mummy
Oetzi the Iceman (also spelled Otzi and known also as Frozen Fritz) is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the valley of discovery. He rivals the Egyptian "Ginger" as the oldest known human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the habits of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.
Some of his tattoos were located as follows:
Four groups of lines to the left of the lumbar spine; one group of lines to the right of the lumbar spine; a cruciform mark on the inside of the right knee; three groups of lines on the left calf; a small cruciform mark on the left of the left Achilles tendon; a group of lines on the back of the right foot; a group of lines next to the right outer ankle; a group of lines above the right inner ankle.
Oetzi had 57 tattoos, some of which were located on or near acupuncture points that coincide with the modern points that would be used to treat symptoms of diseases that he seems to have suffered from, such as digestive parasites and osteoarthrosis. Some scientists believe that these tattoos may indicate an early type of acupuncture.
Life of Early Egyptians (2160-1994 BC) Middle Kingdom
Many traditional cultures also use tattoos on the flesh as a sort of passport to the world after death, although interestingly, with all the emphasis on the next world in ancient Egyptian culture, there is no indication that this was the case there.
Egypt is generally accepted as the cradle of tattoo art and by the Middle Kingdom tattoos seem to have been popular and culturally acceptable
2,000 BC to 3,000 BC
Bodies have been recovered dating to as early as the XI Dynasty (2160-1994 BC) exhibiting tattoo art forms. One of the most famous early mummies is that of Amunet, a priestess of the goddess Hathor, found at Thebes. This female mummy displayed several lines and dots tattooed about her body. Tattoo patterns were clearly visible on her flesh.
Several other female mummies from this period show similar tattoos in addition to ornamental scarring (cicatrization) which is still popular today in some parts of Africa across the lower part of the abdomen. The series of dots and dashes held protective and fertility promoting significance. The lozenges are connected to the primal female power of the universe – motherhood.
The traditional reasons for tattooing include:
• to connect with the Divine.
• as a tribute or act of sacrifice to a deity.
• as a talisman, a permanent amulet that cannot be lost.
• to provide magical or medical protection.
Certainly, the connection between tattoos and the divine existed in ancient Egypt.
Beyond the geometric designs that were favoured, other designs discovered were found that were intrinsically connected to religion. Mummies dating from roughly 1300 BC are tattooed with pictographs symbolizing Neith, a prominent female deity with a militaristic bent. These are the only tattoos that at this point seem to have a link with male bearers.
The God Bes
The earliest known tattoo with a picture of something specific, rather than an abstract pattern, represents the god Bes. Bes is the lascivious god of revelry and he served as the patron god of dancing girls and musicians. Bes’s image appears as a tattoo on the thighs of dancers and musicians in many Egyptian paintings, and Bes tattoos have been found on female Nubian mummies dating from about 400BC.
Greek and Roman Tattoos
Tattooing was only associated with barbarians in early Greek and Roman times. The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians, and used it to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified if they tried to escape. The Romans in turn adopted the practice from the Greeks, and in late antiquity when the Roman army consisted largely of mercenaries; they also were tattooed so that deserters could be identified.
Many Greek and Roman authors mentioned tattooing as punishment. Plato thought that individuals guilty of sacrilege should be tattooed and banished from the Republic.
Suetone, a early writer reports that the degenerate and sadistic Roman Emperor, Caligula, amused himself by capriciously ordering members of his court to be tattooed.
According to the historian, Zonare, the Greek emperor, Theophilus, took revenge on two monks who had publicly criticized him by having eleven verses of obscene iambic pentameter tattooed on their foreheads.
Hadrian's Roman soldiers 'had military tattoo'
'It's a little known fact, but it would appear that all of the legionaries and some of the auxiliaries on Hadrian's Wall would have had a tattoo', says Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities Director of Archaeological Museums and Roman expert, Lindsay Allason-Jones.
The evidence comes from the Roman writer Vegetius, whose Epitome of Military Science, written around the 4th Century AD, is the only account of Roman military practice to have survived intact.
'Vegetius recorded that a recruit to the Roman army "should not be tattooed with the pin-pricks of the official mark as soon as he has been selected, but first be thoroughly tested in exercises so that it may be established whether he is truly fitted for so much effort",' says Lindsay. (Source: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitome of Military Science, Chapter 8).
'We do not know what this official mark looked like. It was possibly an eagle or the symbol of the soldier's legion or unit', she said.
Lindsay has even unearthed evidence that the legionaries would have sported the tattoo on their hands. Aetius, the 6th century Roman doctor, recording that tattoos were found on the hands of soldiers, even documented the Roman technique for tattooing, which included first washing the area to be tattooed with leek juice, known for its antiseptic properties. Aetius even went so far as to document the formula for the tattooing ink, which combined Egyptian pine wood (especially the bark), corroded bronze, gall and vitriol with more leek juice. The design was pricked into the skin with pointed needles 'until blood is drawn', and then the ink was rubbed on. (see below)
Stigma
The Latin word for "tattoo" was stigma, and the original meaning is reflected in modern dictionaries. Among the definitions of "stigma" listed in the Webster dictionary are "a prick with a pointed instrument", "a distinguishing mark …cut into the flesh of a slave or a criminal", and "a mark of disgrace or reproach."
The oldest known description of tattoo techniques together with a formula for tattoo ink, is found in Medicae artis principes by the sixth century Roman physician, Aetius. He writes:
Stigmates are the marks that are made on the face and other parts of the body. We see such marks on the hands of soldiers. To perform the operation they use ink made according to this formula:
Egyptian pine wood (acacia) and especially the bark, one pound; corroded bronze, two ounces; gall, two ounces; vitriol, one ounce. Mix well and sift.
Grind the corroded bronze with vinegar and mix it with the other ingredients to make a powder. Soak the powder in two parts of water and one part of leek juice and mix thoroughly.
First wash the place to be tattooed with leek juice and then prick in the design with pointed needles until blood is drawn. Then rub in the ink.
Early tattoo removal
Because of the disgrace associated with tattooing, Greek and Roman physicians did a brisk business in tattoo removal, and Aetius had a recipe for that. He wrote:
In cases where we wish to remove such tattoos, we must use the following preparations…There follow two prescriptions, one involving lime, gypsum and sodium carbonate, the other pepper, rue and honey. When applying firs clean the tattoos with nitre, smear them with resin of terebinth, and bandage for five days. On the sixth prick the tattoos with a pin, sponge away the blood, and then spread a little salt on the pricks, then after an interval of stadioi (presumably the time taken to travel this distance), apply the aforesaid prescription and cover it with a linen bandage. Leave it on five days, and on the sixth smear on some of prescription with a feather. The tattoos are removed in twenty days, without great ulceration and without a scar.” Translated by C.P. Jones
Other Greek and Roman physicians had special formulas that they used:
Pigeon feces mixed with vinegar and applied as a poultice "for a long time"
The Greek philosopher Bion of Borysthenes (circa 300 B.C.) described the brutally tattooed face of his father, a former slave, as "a narrative of his master's harshness."
During the early Roman Empire, slaves exported to Asia were tattooed "tax paid." Words, acronyms, sentences, and doggerel were inscribed on the bodies of slaves and convicts, both as identification and punishment. A common phrase etched on the forehead of Roman slaves was "Stop me, I'm a runaway."
GREEK – 4th Century AD
Over 40 painted vases dating from the fourth century AD portray the murder of Orpheus, who according to myth was inconsolable after the death of his wife, Eurydice. He thereafter avoided women and turned his amorous attentions to young men, whom he hypnotized and seduced with his music. The jilted fiancées and wives of these young men took revenge by hacking Orpheus to pieces with a remarkable variety of instruments, which included swords, scythes, lances, double-bladed axes, skewers, pestles and rocks. According to myth, Thracian women were tattooed to commemorate their victory over Orpheus, and it has been speculated that these tattoos also served to remind Thracian husbands what fate awaited them if they proved unfaithful.
Tattooing of Slaves and Criminals in the Roman Empire
As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, the tattooing of slaves and criminals was gradually abandoned. The Roman Emperor Constantine, who declared Christianity the official religion of the Empire in 325 AD, decreed that a man who had been condemned to fight as a gladiator or to work in the mines should be tattooed on the legs or hands, but not on the face, "so that the face, which has been formed in the image of the divine beauty, should be defiled as little as possible."
In 787 AD Pope Hadrian I forbade tattooing of any kind, and the popes who followed him continued this tradition. It is for this reason that tattooing was virtually unknown in the Christian world until the 19th century.
African Tattoos
A form of tattooing called cicatrisation or scarification is widely practiced in traditional African societies. Rubbing charcoal into small cuts made with razors or thorns forms decorative patterns of scar tissue in the skin. These designs are often indicative of social rank, traits of character, political status and religious authority. For African women, scarification is largely associated with fertility. Scars added at puberty, after the birth of the first child, or following the end of breastfeeding highlight the bravery of women in enduring the pain of childbirth. Scars on the hips and buttocks, on the other hand, both visually and tactually accentuate the erotic and sensual aspects of these parts of the female body.
South American Tattooing
(Peru) 11th Century
In 1920, archaeologists in Peru unearthed tattooed mummies dating from the 11th Century AD. Not much is known about the significance of tattooing within the culture of pre-Incan peoples like the Chimu who tattooed, but the elaborate nature of the designs suggests that tattooing underwent a long period of development during the pre-Inca period.
According to Lars Krutak (Cultural Anthropologist and our Technical Advisor): "The Chimú of Pre-Columbian Peru applied tattoo pigments with various types of needles (fishbone, parrot quill, spiny conch) which have been found in mummy burials. The technical application of tattooing was a form of skin-stitching, and it has been suggested that women were the primary tattoo artists.
Paleopathological studies of Chimú mummies (1100-1470 A.D.) indicate that the practice of tattooing was quite common among both males and females. In some coastal settlements, it has been estimated that at least thirty percent of the population may have been tattooed. "
Later, during the Incan period, nobility NEVER tattooed because it was believed that the Sun God already gave them perfect bodies.
Gauls, Celts, Goths, Teutons, Picts and Scots
Greek and Roman historians reported that Britons, Iberians, Gauls, Goths, Teutons, Picts and Scots bore tattoo marks.
The Celts were a tribal people who moved across Western Europe between C.1200 and 700 BC. They reached the British Isles around 400 BC and most of what has survived from their culture is in the areas now known as Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The Celtic culture celebrated body art and permanent body painting was done with woad, which left a blue design on the skin. Spirals were a common motif and appeared single, doubled or tripled. Knot work is probably the most recognized form of Celtic art, with lines forming complex braids which weave across themselves. Celtic knots symbolize the connections in life and the step or key patterns, like those found in early labyrinth designs, can be seen both in simple borders and full complex mazes. Designs are symbolic of the various paths that life’s journey can take.
In his 1925 book, THE HISTORY OF TATTOOING AND IT'S SIGNIFICANCE, W.D. Hambly wrote, "It seems clear that the Picts tattooed by puncture and that animals were the chief subject portrayed. The forms of beast, birds, and fish which the Cruithnae, or Picts tattooed on their bodies may have been totem marks. Certain marks on faces of Gualish coins seem to be tattoo marks. Tattooing by puncture was possibly known among such Gualish tribes as Ambiani, Baiocasses and Caletes. The markings of Picts is historically important in showing the advances of tattoo by puncture to an extreme northerly point of Great Britain before the Christian era."
Picts
The Picts were the tattooed tribal nations of the north of Britain, the area now known as Scotland. In 600 AD, Isadore of Seville makes reference that the Picts took their name from the fact that their bodies had designs pricked into their skin by needles.
The Picts were known to have existed from about 7000BC until about the year 845 AD.
The Romans referred to them in Latin as "Pictii", which translates as "The Painted Ones". This was in reference to the elaborate tribal tattoos with which the Picts decorated their entire bodies.
In the third century AD, Herod of Antioch, wrote: "the Britons incise on their bodies colored pictures of animals, of which they are very proud."
In the seventh century AD, St. Isidore of Seville reported that:
The Scots derive their name in their own language from their painted bodies, because these are marked with various designs by being pricked with iron needles with ink on them and the Picts also are thus named because of the absurd marks produced on their bodies by craftsmen with tiny pinpricks and juice extracted from local grasses.
Chinese & Japanese Tattooing
5,000 BC
The earliest evidence of tattooing in Japan is found in the form of clay figurines that have faces painted or engraved to represent tattoo marks. The oldest figures of this kind have been recovered from tombs dated to 5,000 BC or older.
297 AD
The first written record of Japanese tattooing is found in a Chinese dynastic history was compiled. According to the text, Japanese "men young and old, all tattoo their faces and decorate their bodies with designs." Japanese tattooing is also mentioned in other Chinese histories, but always in a negative context. The Chinese considered tattooing a sign of barbarism and used it only as punishment.
7th Century
By the early seventh century, the rulers of Japan had adopted much of the culture and attitudes of the Chinese, and as a result decorative tattooing fell into official disfavor.
720AD
The first record of Japanese tattooing as punishment was mentioned in a history. that reads: "The Emperor summoned before him Hamako, Muraji of Azumi and commanded him saying: You have plotted to rebel and overthrow the state. This offence is punishable by death. I shall, however, confer great mercy on you by remitting the death penalty and sentence you to be tattooed."
17th Century
By the early seventeenth century, there was a generally accepted codification of tattoo marks used to identify criminals and outcasts in Japan. Outcasts were tattooed on the arms: a cross might be tattooed on the inner forearm, or a straight line on the outside of the forearm or on the upper arm.
Criminals were marked with a variety of symbols that designated the places where the crimes were committed. In one region, the pictograph for "dog" was tattooed on the criminal’s forehead. Other marks included patterns which included bars, crosses, double lines, and circles on the face and arms. Tattooing was reserved for those who committed serious crimes, and individuals bearing tattoo marks were ostracized by their families and denied all participation in community life. For the Japanese, tattooing was a very severe and terrible form of punishment.
By the end of the seventeenth century, penal tattooing had been largely replaced by other forms of punishment. One is reason is that decorative tattooing became popular, and criminals covered their penal tattoos with larger decorative tattoos. This is also thought to be the historical origin of the association of tattooing and organized crime in Japan.
The earliest reports of decorative tattooing are found in fiction published toward the end of the seventeenth century.
18th Century
Pictorial tattooing flourished during the eighteenth century in connection with the popular culture of Edo, as Tokyo was then called. Early in the 18th century, publishers needed illustrations for novels, theatres needed advertisements for their plays and the Japanese wood block print was developed to meet these needs. The development of the wood block print parallels, and had great influence on, the development of tattooing. Because of the association between tattooing and criminal activity, tattooing was outlawed on the grounds that it was "deleterious to public morals."
Tattooing continued to flourish among firemen, laborers and others considered to be at the lower end of the social scale. Tattoos were favored by gangs called Yakuza, outlaws, penniless peasants, laborers and misfits who migrated to Edo in the hope of improving their lives.
The Yakuza felt that because tattooing was painful, it was a proof of courage; because it was permanent, it was evidence of lifelong loyalty to the group; and because it was illegal, it made them outlaws forever.
Around the middle of the 18th century, the popularity of tattooing was stimulated by a popular Chinese novel, Suikoden, with many of its novel’s heroes extensively tattooed. The Japanese version of Suikoden was illustrated by a variety of artists, each of whom created prints with new interpretations of the tattoos described in the novel.
This novel and the new illustrations influenced all Japanese arts and culture.
19th Century
By 1867, the last of the Tokugawa shoguns was deposed and an emperor was restored to power. The laws against tattooing were strictly enforced because the new rulers feared that Japanese customs would seem barbaric and ridiculous to Westerners. Ironically, under the new laws Japanese tattoo artists were allowed to tattoo foreigners but not Japanese. The best tattoo masters established studios in Yokohama and did a lot of business tattooing foreign sailors. Their skills were so great that they attracted a number of very distinguished clients including the Duke of York (Later King George V), the Czarevich of Russia (Later Czar Nicholas II), and other European dignitaries.
The Japanese tattoo masters also continued to tattoo Japanese clients illegally, but after the middle of the 19th century, their themes and techniques remained unchanged. Classical Japanese tattooing is limited to specific designs representing legendary heroes and religious motifs which were combined with certain symbolic animals and flowers and set off against a background of waves, clouds and lightning bolts.
The original designs used in Japanese tattooing were created by some of the best ukiyoe artists. The tattoo masters adapted and simplified these designs to make them suitable for tattooing, but didn’t invent the designs on their own.
Traditional Japanese tattoo differs from Western tattoos in that is consists of a single major design that covers the back and extends onto the arms, legs and chest. The design requires a major commitment of time, money and emotional energy.
During most of the 19th century, an artist and a tattooist worked together. The artist drew the picture with a brush on the customer’s skin, and the tattooist just copied it.
20th Century
In 1936, when fighting broke out in China, almost all the men were drafted into the army. People with tattoos were thought to be discipline problems, so they weren’t drafted and the government passed a law against tattooing. After that the tattooists had to work in secret. After WWII, General MacArthur liberalized the Japanese laws, and tattooing became legal again. But the tattoo artists continued to work privately by appointment, and this tradition continues today.
Eastern Europe and Western Asia (The Pazyryk)
6th through 2nd Centuries
In 1948, an elaborately tattooed mummy was found in Pazyryk tombs about 120 miles north of the border between China and Russia.
The Pazyryks were formidable Iron Age horsemen and warriors who lived in the steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia from the sixth to the second centuries BC. They left no written records but their artifacts demonstrate a sophisticated level of artistry and craftsmanship.
A Pazyryk chief who had died around 50 years old was discovered and it was found that his body was elaborately tattooed. He had a series of interlocking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts.
Tribal Tattoo Overview
There were three major factors that took the practice of tribal tattooing from the realm of art and into the plane of the spiritual: Pain, Permanence and Loss of the Life Source (blood). This mystical trio elevated the tattoo from mere art and transformed it into a chance to draw people into a relationship with God, a god, magic powers, or a trance or vision state.
Because body and soul were generally thought to be identical to one another, your tattoos then existed on two planes: the physical and spiritual realms. Many of the tribes from Borneo believed that tattoos would not only be enough to get them to the proper spirit world, but that their tattoos also offered them special qualifications for advantageous occupations upon their arrival.
It has been found that most (if not all) primitive tribes used some form of body marking, be they tattoos, scarification or the use of plain, temporary body paints. This art prevailed worldwide until the arrival of civilization as we know it, when the tattoo fell into a temporary loss of popularity.
Kaynak: vanishingtattoo.com