ROMAN INC FIGURINES SERIES

These new marks were often used to symbolize that these men and women no longer served their earthly slave masters, but instead were now in service to a certain god or goddess. The early Greek historian Herodotus discussed how runaway slaves at Canopus voluntarily tattooed themselves as both a way to cover up the branding performed on them by their masters and out of religious devotion. In both cases, these ancient tattoos were regarded as a kind of talisman of protection for women who were about to give birth. There were also tattoos of the Egyptian Goddess Bes, seen as the protector of women in labor, on a womanвЂ™s upper thigh.

ROMAN INC FIGURINES SERIES

In both cases, the tattoos were a series of dots, often applied like a protective net across a womanвЂ™s abdomen. In addition, engraved and painted figures in tomb reliefs and small carved figurines depicting women with tattoos date back to 4000-3500 B.C. The mummified remains of women in Egypt shows tattoos dating back to 2000 B.C. As a tattoo historian and scholar, I have seen how tattoos have historically been used for ceremonial healing, religious rites and to show belonging to both cultural and religious groups throughout the ancient world and leading all the way up to modern times. Of course, the idea that Г–tziвЂ™s tattoos may have held deep cultural or religious meaning for him and his people is not beyond reason. Theories of the purpose behind this set of tattoos, which were discovered using new imaging techniques in 2015, range from early acupuncture or ceremonial healing rituals to being part of a system of ritual or religious beliefs. However, not all of Г–tziвЂ™s tattoos were on places usually affected by the wear and tear of everyday life on joints.

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