1,300 year-old mummy and her intimate tattoo

Telegraph ^ | March 27, 2014 | Robert Mendick

[NYer]

Wrapped in bandages and caricatured as figures of terror in Hollywood movies, Egypt’s mummies have long captivated and bewildered scientists and children alike.

Now a new exhibition at the British Museum will disclose the human side of the mummies of the Nile.

Eight have been – scientifically speaking – stripped bare revealing secrets taken to the grave thousands of years ago.

snip

One of the mummies, whose remains were found just seven years ago, was so well preserved that archaeologists could almost make out the tattoo on her skin on the inner thigh of her right leg with the naked eye. Infra-red technology helped define it more clearly.

The woman, aged between 20 and 35, had been buried wrapped in a linen and woollen cloth and her remains had mummified in the dry heat. The tattoo has been deciphered by curators and spells out in ancient Greek – M-I-X-A-H-A, or Michael.

The owner of the tattoo was a woman who died in about AD 700 and lived in a Christian community on the banks of the Nile.

The tattoo represents the symbol of the Archangel Michael, who features in both the Old and New Testaments. The symbol has previously been found in ancient churches and on stone tablets, but never before in the form of a tattoo.

“You can see her tattoo really clearly using infra red reflectography,” said Dr Antoine, “The tattoo on her right inner thigh represents a monogram that spells Michael in ancient Greek.

“She is the first evidence of a tattoo from this period. This is a very rare find.”

[NYer]

Ping!

[NYer]

Ping!

[FroggyTheGremlim]

“Tattoos - while you wait.”

[Erik Latranyi]

I wonder if it is like a cattle brand, indicating she was the property of Michael.

[knarf]

NO one is asking ...

How far 'inner' in the thigh and what would a woman tattooing a man's name in her 'inner' thigh be thinking?

You ladies that have such tats ... you know what YOU were thinking ... DON'T you ?

[Iron Munro]

Another story about Nancy Piglosi ???

[bert]

My first impression was butterfly but the archangel seems to be a modern phenomenon as well. The depiction above is the least elaborate modern example I could find.

[GeronL]

Probably the brand of her owner

[CIB-173RDABN]

Gives new meaning to the phrase “Tattoos are forever”

[Biggirl]

No. That sure looks like a Christian cross.

[KSCITYBOY]

Did they check for a tramp stamp?

[GeronL]

I doubt that it is

[Biggirl]

For you that is.

[Biggirl]

Very early Christian art forms.

[Justa]

Obviously you did not finish reading the article.

[daku]

Looks like she promised herself to someone named michael
If she wasn’t entombed with him ...
Egypt her

[TexasFreeper2009]

could this have been added after death as some form of burial ritual?

Because body tattoos are stickly prohibited in the bible

[Fresh Wind]

Has Bill Clinton asked her for a date?

[VanShuyten]

Given the name, the hidden location, that it was in Greek, and she lived in the 700’s, I’d say that she was a “secret Christian” during the time of Muslim conquering. Christians were not allowed to wear signs of their faith in most Muslim lands.