It’s easy to trace the tattoo on your co-workers wrist to a drunken night in Las Vegas, but where do the origins of tattoos begin? Ancient Egypt 3100 B.C. “The ancient Egyptians saw themselves and the agricultural land of the Nile Valley and Delta…[as] maintainers of a divine world…[where they kept] structured compositions of Egyptian art and texts.” (Riggs 1) Tattooing was a part of these ritualistic arts. Tattoos on the skin were not looked at as the trendy fad that they have grown to today, but rather as a revered form of distinction among the upper class of the ancients. Researchers around the world have spent centuries gathering needles, inks, and other relics that glorify the cultural traditions of the Egyptians. Reknowned worldly journalist, Aviva Briefel describes a mummified woman’s hand as “beautifully engraved with hieroglyphics.” (Briefel 3) That is quite a difference to how some people would describe tattoos on some of today’s young people. The Egyptians helped paved a way for art in new forms and started an art that has lasted far beyond just B.C. They definitely had the right idea when they started tattooing, thankfully though, the art has evolved far from the pyramids and more towards sterilization of needles.
Fletcher, Joann. "Tattoos" 2007. Photograph. El Algarrobal Museum, Ilo, Peru
Fletcher, Joann. "Tattoos" 2007. Photograph. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.
Riggs, Christina. "THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT (Book)." African Arts 35.2 (2002): 11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.
Briefel, Aviva. "Hands of Beauty, Hands of Horror: Fear and Egyptian Art at the Fin de Siècle." Victorian Studies 50.2 (2008): 263-271. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.
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