Tattoos: Represent an act of stigmatization in ancient Greece and uncover the dark history of tattoos
As evidenced by ancient art and archaeological records, tattooing is a permanent form of body modification dating back to the late Neolithic period, and the art of tattooing has developed independently in many different cultures around the world and serves extremely different purposes.
It was the ancient Greeks who first developed the tradition of tattooing. Written records providing evidence of tattoos date back to the 5th century BC. In this era, tattoos were seen as a punitive or hereditary act that represented a sign of status or social status.
Although the ancient Greeks did not have tattoos on their bodies, they used them to punish those who were on the margins of society. In general, tattoos were considered a barbaric Xi, and the upper class showed contempt for them.
In 484-426 BC, according to the historian Herodotus, the ancient Greeks learned the idea of penal tattooing and the art of tattooing from the Persians around the sixth century.
In the writings of Herodotus, the disciplinary significance of the use of tattoos on captives, slaves, criminals, deserters and prisoners of war is described. Slaves, in particular, often had the letters "slave" tattooed. Prisoners convicted of heinous crimes have their charges engraved on their foreheads or other places that are easily visible.
This not only made them easily recognizable when they tried to escape from prison, but also prolonged their punishment after their release, and many prominent Greek writers and philosophers of antiquity, such as Xenophon, Plato, Aristophanes, and Ellius Aristides, described in their writings this practice, which was feared and despised by Greek citizens.
Herodotus discovered this phenomenon early on, and shortly before the Battle of Thermopyrae, some Thebans led by Leonidas, who fled and joined the Persians immediately after seeing the Persian victory, were tattooed on the orders of the Persian king Xerxes. After the defeat and flight of the Persians, it was impossible for the Thebans to return to Thebes, as they were considered traitors.
Plutarch describes the story of the Athenians, who tattooed an owl on their foreheads after defeating the Samians in naval battles, a sacred symbol of the Athenians and a symbol of wisdom.
When the Samians later defeated the Athenians, they tattooed a "Samina" on their Samian warships as a sign of revenge, Plutarch also described how the Syracuse warriors tattooed a horse, and the coat of arms of Syracuse appeared on the foreheads of 7,000 prisoners in 413 BC after the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily.
Both literary and archaeological evidence suggest that the only exception was the ancient Thracians. According to Herodotus, the tattoo in it was considered a sign of politeness and high social status, while the absence of a tattoo was a sign of low birth.
On the contrary, the tattoo was considered a symbol of punishment for Thracian women (witches) who mutilated and beheaded the ancient legendary musician Orpheus, who, according to legend, used his music to drive out their husbands.
Among the Thracians, male tattoos were a sign of high social status and nobility, clearly distinguishing between nobles and peasants. In contrast, the Greek essayist Plutarch believed that Thracian women's names were roughly equivalent to "mad women" or "madmen" whose husbands tattooed them as punishment for killing Orpheus.
Although the ancient Greeks were reluctant to do so, they were also fascinated by the idea of tattoos, and in the 5th century, Greek artists often depicted Thracian women wielding swords, spears, daggers, and axes. On these vases, geometric tattoos of the female body suggest the strength of movement and are used to emphasize musculature and movement.
Another acceptable form of voluntary tattooing is a way to transmit secret messages across enemy lines, a well-known example being the tyrant of Miletus under the Persian king Darius I, Histius, who conquered the latter. Around 500 BC, Histiaeus was imprisoned by Darius.
After AD, the first shaved off the hair of his most trusted slave and tattooed the words "Histieus to Aristagoras: The Ionian Revolt" on his skull.
When the slave's hair grew back, he was sent to his son-in-law, Aristagoras, to inspire him to rebel, and upon arriving at his destination, his head was shaved again, and Aristagoras read the news and pushed for an uprising that ended the Persian invasion of Greece.
Despite the fact that tattoos have historically been associated with the wayward and marginalized population of ancient Greece, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the use of tattoos has become a legal art form.
Since the time of the Hellenistic era, the form and function of contemporary tattoos have changed, and now tattoos have been accepted and popular, becoming not only a fashion, but also a way to express oneself through tattoos.
