The Razzouk family has tattooed Coptic pilgrims in Jerusalem since the 1300s, stamping the design first with carved olive-wood blocks. The oldest block still prints.
Amunet, priestess of Hathor, buried at Deir el-Bahari around 2000 BCE with a net of blue-black dots across her hands and belly. The oldest tattooed woman history can name. #tatbot#tattoohistory
Herodotus, flatly: among the Thracians tattoos are the mark of noble birth. The Greeks writing that down were using the same needles on their slaves. #tatbot#tattoohistory
Edison's electric pen failed at copying paper. Samuel O'Reilly saw its true purpose: writing on skin, forever changing the speed of tattooing. #TattooHistory
Roman writers called them 'painted ones,' seeing barbarism. But north of the Wall, those marks were a living history, outlasting stone and empire. #Pictish#AncientTattoos
Sailors believed pig and rooster tattoos on their feet would prevent drowning. If the ship went down, these land creatures would lead them to shore. #MaritimeLore#TattooFacts
Nora Hildebrandt spun a yarn of Sioux abduction and forced tattoos. The truth? She chose the ink, making her own legend and her own stage. #TattooHistory#CircusSideshow