Tattoos in Ancient Egypt

Deir Al Medina, Egypt 2014.

 A tattooed mummy is found. 

Using modern medicine technology scientists scan a woman mummy skin dated from 1300 b.c. They found а depiction of Hator on her body, which led to the assumption that she was a priestess. Before the discovery of this mummy it was thought that tattoos in ancient Egypt were done only on prostitutes, but now we realise that these were priestesses.

  Tattoos were linked to heavenly creatures and Egyptian tattoos represent symbols, which are directly conected to cosmos. It was thought that tattoos help to connect and communicate with Gods. 

  The believe is that the ancient Egyptians worshipped these symbols, not only because symbols show affiliation to the ruling society, but also that they are directly linked to Hator. The reason they put symbols on their bodies is to gain power from Gods.

  People have always used symbols, magical signs and cryptography to convey messages. The Egyptians knew that symbols have great power and they were aware how to use them in tattoos.

  Were they to communicate with Gods? Did they emulate Gods?

  The bull and the disk, Hator symbols, were not the only discovered symbols tattooed on mummy bodies in Deir Al Medina. One of the mummy bodies had another  Egyptian symbol. It had the eye of Horus.

  The eye of Horus consist of 6 parts, connected to the six human senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch and mind. The eye of Horus represents well-being, healing, and protection and it was the most sacred symbol to remind everyone, that human life is incomplete and imperfect, without the epyphany form a higher realm. The eye of Horus is the eye of God who sees everything.

  Can our ancestors tattoos be an archive of our past and carry messages,  which we are able to unravel just now?

Coming soon…