Contributions to Egyptian anthropology : tatuing / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
[1903?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to Egyptian anthropology : tatuing / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    looked for, bore them. The Copts, however, are by no means ignorant of the ark. They frequently tatu themselves with a cross (Pl. XVIII, 27) on the wrist or arm. An elaborate pattern, copied by me from the arm of a Coptic priest, who had twice made a pilgrimage to the Beit el malcddis (as he termed it) of Jerusalem, is shown in Fig. 31,1 and a design, observed by Fouquet2 on a Copt, in PI. XVIII, 28. The peculiar distribution of tatuing, suggested by the above table, might lead one to suspect that the art has been introduced into Egypt from its western or Libyan side. We may, therefore, briefly institute a comparison between the tatu- marks of Algiers and Morocco and those of Egypt. The tatu-marks of Algiers have been elaborately studied by d’Hercourt3 and by Jacquot.4 5 It appears that both the Arabs and Kabyles tatu, and that no one pattern is confined to any particular tribe or family. The operation is performed by the mother on her child, often for mere decoration’s sake, at other times to ward off or to cure disease. Their tatu-patterns often reappear in native embroidery. Most of the designs are geometrical, and it is well worthy of note that the cross, pure or complicated with the diamond and other angular figures, is exceedingly common in this Mahommedan country. Through the kindness of Mr. W. B. Harris and Mrs. Talcott Williams I have been able to compare numerous Moorish tatu-patterns with the Algerian; the resemblance between them is remarkably close, and both bear a distinct likeness to some of the more purely geometrical patterns of modern Egypt. Xow the Copts of Egypt still tatu their children, while the Egyptian Moslems, as will be seen, call in an alien people to perform the operation. The cross, which is by far the most usual design among the Copts, occurs now and again also among the Egyptian Moslems (Pl. XVII, 8). There is hence a possibility that in pre- Christian times it was widely spread throughout North Africa, and that, devoid of later religious meaning, it still survives among the Algerian Moslems. Attention may be specially drawn to the design of the crested bird, observed by Jacquot, and to that of the plant growing in its pot. A leaf-bearing stem is also met with in Algiers, and apparently degenerates into one of the commonest of their geometrical patterns. This prevalence of Egyptian-like tatuing, not only among the Arabs, but also among the Kabyles or Berbers, who are generally considered to be the modern representatives of the ancient Libyans, makes worthy of mention the fact that on the walls of. the tomb of the eighteenth dynasty king, Seti I,6 Libyans are 1 Italian pilgrims to Jerusalem used to be tatued in like fashion (E. Yerrier, Du Tatouage en Afrique, Paris, 1895, pp. 26, 27). W. Jorst (Tatowiren, Berlin, 1887, S. 103) quotes Procopius’ testimony that very many Christians burnt the name of Christ (curare inuri sibfy* or the sign of the cross into their palms or arms ; so also did the crusaders. 2 Archives d1 Anthropologie criminelle, Paris et Lyon, 1898, tome xiii, p. 274. 3 Me'moires de la Soc. d’Anthropologie de Paris, 1868, tome iii, pp. 1-24. 4 V Anthropologie, 1899, tome x, pp. 430-438. 5 Ippolito Rosellini, Monumenti delV Egitto e della Nubia, Pisa, 1832, tome i, tav. CLVI.