A mysterious tattoo depicting Christ. On an unusual place on the body
Tattoos seem distant from Christian traditions. This belief is not necessarily correct. In Sudan, a body was dug up that was 1300 years old, on which there was a tattoo of Christ.
Nubia is a region that should be sought in northern Sudan. It no longer exists, but in the Middle Ages, it was a stronghold of Christianity in a sea of Islam. It turns out that the art of tattooing reached Nubia and may have had a religious dimension.
Monastery cemeteries in Ghazali
Between the years 2012-2018, a Polish-Sudanese team of archaeologists visited this area, targeting the monastery in Ghazali. However, the surrounding cemeteries provided an extraordinary discovery.
The human remains there are currently being studied in the bioarchaeology laboratories of the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archaeology UW. During photographic documentation, the right foot of one of the men buried in Ghazali intrigued the scientists.
A tattoo depicting Christ
The mark present on it turned out to be a tattoo with distinctive symbolism.
These are the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, but also Chi and Rho. This is a Christogram (monogram of the name Christ: Chi-Rho), which is accompanied by the Christian symbol of the beginning and end (Alpha and Omega).
The tattoo indicates that its owner was a Christian, but not necessarily a monk. His body rested near a monastery, but in a cemetery, which could have been used by the local population.
The use of symbolism is not surprising. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the deceased lived between the years 667 and 774. The Greek Chi-Rho monogram became popular among Christians during Emperor Constantine's reign (around 325). However, the mystery remains as to why it was tattooed.
Christian religious tattoo
It was not a popular practice in medieval Nubia. The tattoo of the deceased is the second example found in this region. Scientists also note that its location on the top of the right foot may be significant.
This is not a place where stigmatization has a significant social impact. It seems, however, to correspond to the points where nails were driven into the crucified body of Christ.
If this hypothesis is correct, the tattoo was something intimate and religiously significant. It was a form of penance, a symbol of conversion, or another type of significant mystical experience for the deceased.
