The tattoo history is a very long one, it dates back to 12,000 years BC. Back then people were tattooing them selfs for a variety of reasons, depending on the time line, place and culture. But the common parts prevail from the earliest times until today.
Tattoos always had an importance in tradition and rituals. Along the time line tattoos have signified among others membership in a clan or lately in society. If a man/woman got a symbol indicating he/she was skilled in something, his/her status as prime marriageable material was raised. Even today, a tattoo my indicate a membership in a secret society, a secret clan, or a believe. Other times it has been believed that a tattoo calls the spirit of that image for who wears it.
Returning to recorded history, the firsts tattoos can be found in Egypt, when the Egyptians expanded their empire and the tattooing spread as well. The civilizations of Persia, Crete, Greece, and Arabia picked up and expanded it as a form of art. Only about 2000 BC the art of tattoo spread to China.
- In the ancient Greece spies used tattoos to identify their rang among them selfs.
- In the Roman empire slaves and criminals were tattooed in order to be easily identified.
- The Asians tattoos were made to show their social status.
- In Japan it developed and become a ceremonial – religious rite.
- Kayan women made nice arm tattoos which were similar to lacy gloves. (Tattoos around the wrist and fingers in general were made to protect from illness.)
- Polynesians brought their tattooing art to New Zealand where it developed into a facial style of tattooing called Moko. (That is still used even today.)
- There is some evidence that Incas, Mayan, Aztecs and others even among the isolated tribes in Alaska used tattooing in their rituals.
- Britons used to use tattoos in their ceremonies.
In 787 AD, Pope Hadrian refuse to accept tattooing and banned it. Yet the Normans disliked tattooing and eventually it disappeared from Western culture from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
More about the recent history of tattoo in my next post.
