Body Piercing In Ancient Times




Body piercing is becoming a fashion nowadays. But you will be surprised to know that the body piercing is not at all new and it was done even in ancient times. The Egyptians body piercing reveal status and beauty. Above 500 years, the Egyptian kings liked to pierce the ears and wear ornaments. The pharos also had done body piercing for decorating them elaborately. The other normal people in Egypt also loved to pierce their ears and wear golden ear rings like lotus. They believed that body piercing showed their wealth and status.

It was mentioned in the Bible that body piercing was made to wear body jewels and it was a part of bridal make up. It was also given as dowry. In Rome, people did body piercing purposefully. The Roman Emperor liked to pierce their nipple to show their status and strength. Julius Caesar had made nipple piercing to show his separate identification to his warriors.

Genital piercing was also made in Rome to the gladiators. The slaves were done genital piercing with the intention of restricting them from having sex without the approval of the owner.

Some American Indians and some tributes practiced tongue piercing for performing their religious rituals. The Mayas did body piercing to threaten their enemies. They pierce their nose and inserted long tusk inside the nose. It was a frightening sight for any enemy.

Some Indians liked to pierce nose to wear golden ornaments. It was considered as fashion and as a symbol of status. Generally women in rich families and queens wore ornaments in nose. In some parts of ancient America, lip labret was famous among woman. Women with lip labrets were considered attractive. The Mayas also pierced lips and wore lip labrets in which their god’s picture was engraved.

From 6 th century India had practiced ear piercing for wearing ornaments there. Ear rings made out of gold and diamonds fixed in it was considered as symbol of status. It was observed as a ceremony and usually ear piercing was made in the childhood days itself. In Bible it was specified that Abraham’s servant gave an ear ring o his wife. Normally body piercing was done for two purposes. For wearing ornaments n the part of the body where pierce was made and for the slaves to indicate that they are slaves.

Recommended Reading:

  1. Body Piercing Forklore - There are number of folklores associated with body piercing. Such stories were created by body piercing enthusiasts. They specified that...
  2. Personal Attitudes Of Body Piercing - Personal attitude to body piercing vary from people to people. Some people considered it as religious ritual. For instance, ancient...
  3. Body Piercing Jewelry - The jewelry is the thing of attraction for both women and men belonging to any age group. Everybody likes to...
  4. Standard Needle Metod For Body Piercing - Mostly body piercing is done by opening the part of the body with the sharp needle. This is called standard...
  5. Nose Piercing - Piercing can be applied to various body parts such as nose, lips, eyebrows, tongue, ears, nipples etc. Nose piercing is...



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