The tattoo is a technique of corporal decoration used in many cultures, whose origin is very ancient. This practice was created to permanently emphasize the belonging to a restricted and limited group of a population, a political or spiritual class, a branch of the army, a more or less secret sect.
The word " tattoo " comes from the Polynesian " tatau ", which means " engrave, mark the skin ".
Tattoos, rings on the body and on the face, scars and mutilations were not uncommon in primitive tribes . The Oetzi mummy, lived approximately in 3300 BC (man of the Similaun) and found in the Italian Alps in 1991, had some therapeutic tattoos.
Tattooing was also common among ancient Egyptians and Romans, American Indians, African and Maori Muslim nomads: each of these populations corresponded to precise decorative designs and meanings. In the Middle Ages, the Coptic monophysites tattooed themselves to mark their Christian identity. At the end of the nineteenth century, the practice also spread among the aristocratic classes of Europe (famous tattoos were Tsar Nicholas II, Sir Winston Churchill and Franklyn Delano Roosevelt).
Today, the use of these symbols has transcended the original spiritual or tribal purpose and has become, rather, a personal search for expression, a form of transgression and a trend phenomenon.
