Christopher showed us his philosopher tattoo and I have talked to a forum member who is about to have a tattoo, too, so I became interested in the matter.
Does anyone know if it was common in Greece and Rome to get tattoos? And if so, were they merely drawings or did they also have inscriptions as is normal today?
Perhaps it was considered something other peoples did? My dictionary has:
barbarus compunctus notis Threiciis (Cicero, Off. 2, 7, 25) mares corpora sua inscribunt (Plinius 22, I, 2) corpus omne notis persignare (Mel, I, 19, ad med.)
Googling produces several references which appear to be derived from the same source. i’ve not discovered its provenance but http://www.crystalinks.com/tattoo.html is typical with:
The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians. Tattooing is mentioned in accounts by Plato, Aristophanes, Julius Caesar and Herodotus. Tattoos were generally used to mark slaves and punish criminals.
The Romans adopted tattooing from the Greeks. In the 4th century, the first Christian emperor of Rome banned the facial tattooing of slaves and prisoners. In 787, Pope Hadrian prohibited all forms of tattooing.
You could try here as a starting point for further research. There is lots and lots of “research” on tattoos. It’s still slightly fringe, so as always, and in particular on the web, keep scientific method in mind - beware opinion, verify sources.
BTW, “inscriptions as is normal today” - inscriptions are not that normal today, except in dying occupational traditions such as seafaring and the military. (Of course, that’s opinion without source )
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