1) The 5th century BC Greek historian,
Herodotus, records how Histiaeus of Miletus, who was being held
against his will by King Darius of Susa, sent a tattooed secret
message to his son-in-law, Aristagoras. Histiaeus shaved the hair
of his slave and tattooed the message on to the man's head. When
the slave's hair had grown back sufficiently to hide the tattoo,
he was sent to Aristagoras, who shaved his head and read the hidden
message. The message instructed Aristagoras to begin a rebellion.
2) The world's most tattooed person is
Tom Leppard from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, who has 99.9 per
cent of his body covered with a leopard-skin design. Guinness
Book of World Records states that the only parts of Tom's body
that remain untattooed are the skin between his toes and the insides
of his ears.
3) In October 1991, the 5200 year-old frozen
body of a Bronze Age hunter was found in the Italian Austrian
border. His body bore a total of 57 tattoos. The body, nicknamed
Özti, the iceman, was found in a glacier and was so well
preserved that scientists were able to make out his tattoos. These
included a cross on the inside of the left knee, six straight
lines 15 cm above the kidneys and a series of parallel lines on
the ankles. The position of the tattoos has caused some to speculate
that the man had his body marked for therapeutic reasons, because
many of the marks correspond to the position of acupuncture points.
4) The word 'tattoo' is derived from the
Tahitian word 'tatau', meaning to mark. The word 'tattaw' was
first used in the published account of Captain Cook's first voyage,
which appeared in 1769. It has been suggested that 'tatau' is
an onomatopoeic word. 'Tat' refers to tapping the tattooing instrument
into the skin; 'au' to the cry of pain from the person being tattooed.
5) According to popular belief, most triad
members in Hong Kong have a tattoo of a black dragon on the left
biceps and one of a white tiger on the right. In fact, many people
in Hong Kong use "left a black dragon, right a white tiger"
as a euphemism for a triad member. It is widely believed that
one of the initiation rites in becoming a triad member is silently
withstanding the pain of receiving a large tattoo in one sitting,
usually performed in the traditional "hand-poked" style.
6) In the late-18th and early-19th centuries
collecting tattooed Maori heads became so popular in Europe that
many Maoris were murdered to supply the trade. The Maori people
in New Zealand tattooed their heads (moko) and buttocks by chiselling
a design into the skin and rubbing ink into it. If one of their
chiefs died, they would remove and preserve the tattooed head,
keeping it as a treasured possession. Europeans considered these
heads to be curiosities and before long a trade sprang up, with
the Maori exchanging heads for firearms. Soon the Maori began
to trade the heads of their enemies killed in battle, but when
demand started to exceed supply, men began to be murdered in cold
blood for their tattoos. In some cases, slaves were tattooed so
that their heads could be cut off and sold. In 1831 Governor Darling
of New South Wales took steps to outlaw the practice.
7) Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph
Churchill, had a snake tattooed on her wrist. It became fashionable
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for aristocrats, including
women, to be tattooed. At the time, tattooing was very expensive
and people paid large sums for their designs. Later, as the costs
were reduced, tattooing was adopted by the lower classes and the
practice fell out of favour with the social elite. The strategic
positioning of Lady Churchill's tattoo meant that she could choose
not to display it by wearing a bracelet to cover it.
8) This is the most famous tattoo in Chinese
history. ( Click
to view). According to legend, Yue Fei was a famous
general in the Song Dynystry. When he served under a Field Marshal
defending the enemy from the North, The Field Marshal defected
to the enemy. Disgusted, Yue Fei resigned and returned home to
care for his mother. His mother was very upset, and reminded him
that a soldier's first duty is loyalty to his country. To ensure
that her advice will never be forgotten, she tattooed the 4 words
on his back with her sewing needle! Yue Fei went back and led
another army to defend the country. The first word, from the left,
means the most, the ultimate. The second word means loyalty. The
third word means to serve. The fourth word means country.
9) In ancient Africa, where people have
dark skin, it is difficult to make coloured tattoos that we know
of. So they have developed a technique where they make scarifications
by lifting the skin a little, and making a cut with a knife or
some other sharp object. Then special sands or ashes were rubbed
in to make raised scars in patterns on the body, it can be felt
like braille lettering, and these patterns often follow local
traditions.
We are trying to compile a more comprehensive
list of tattoo facts and history, so if you come across any that
are worth mentioning, please do not hesitate to inform us at mail@tattoocity.com.my