History of Tattooing

History of Tattooing Middle East -Egypt
A little known fact about the Egyptian Culture and Tattooing is that oddly enough that tattoos were worn by only the Egyptian females! Of course in the future, it may be possible that archaeologists may unearth new mummies with proof of tattooed male Egyptian mummies, but to date, the proof states that if you were a woman of Egypt thousands of years ago you and your female counter parts would be the only ones getting tattooed while the males just sat around and watched, perhaps in envy.

An Egyptian mummy known as "Amunet" was discovered in Thebes in 1891. Amunet (The Goddess of Love) was later to be found to be the remains of "The Priestess of Hathor, her time dates back to approximately 2200BC. Decorated with diamond shaped and elliptical dot patterns, groups of linear markings decorating her arms and thighs and a fairly large pattern with a mixture of dots and smaller lines resting below her navel area, this High Priestess and as well "dancer" may have been an inspiration to other dancers and performers of her area. Many other mummies were discovered to have basic renditions of the Goddess Amunet, tattooed upon their own bodies, along with similar linear and circular markings. Although there is no known word or glyph associated with tattooing in our current understanding of the Egyptian language, it must have been important to them as it is rumored that the Egyptians played a major role in the spreading the art of tattooing throughout the area and as well onto the world itself during the days of the Great Pyramid build. Many local and non local laborers and various artisans were traveling to Egypt to take their respective places in the audacious task of building the Pyramids.

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