Essay --

Once considered taboo, tattoos have shed the social outcast stigma once associated with getting inked. One might even say tattoos have become trendy. The ancient art form traces back 4,000 years to the Egyptians. The oldest mummy ever found –dating back to the Bronze Age of Europe – had 59 tattoos. Tattoos have adorned the arms of kings, queens and czars, representing power and wealth. King Harold of England’s body was identified on a battleground by his tattoo, which featured the name Edith inscribed over his heart. King Edward VII of England had a dragon on his forearm. In Great Britain, tattoos were a sacred familial ritual as the Danes, Norse and Saxon tattooed their family crests on their chests. Tattooing spread in the United States as a way to memorialize fallen soldiers during the Civil War. Tattoos’ elite status symbol plummeted in 1891 when Samuel O’Reilly patented his tattoo machine in New York. Tattoos, which were previously available only to the upper class, became popular with the general public. By the early 1900s, tattoos became associated with the lower class,...