So You Want to Get a Classics Tattoo?
Some Suggestions From Inked Classicists
Have you been considering getting a classical tattoo? Perhaps a nice owl reverse from an Athenian Tetradrachm c. 450 BCE? Your favorite line of epic poetry? Grad school cohort group tattoo after passing your comprehensive examinations? Just as the process of rendering, say, The Odyssey into English requires informed choice and careful consideration, so too does the translation of one’s love of classical tradition into body art demand more consideration than you might think. What follows is advice to help you navigate these difficult waters, drawn from the experiences of inked classicists (I myself am a Classics grad student, currently working on leg sleeves, piece by piece).
Preparation
Consider why you want a tattoo
For many of my fellow graduate students, tattoos are an extension of our weird obsession with the ancient world. Frequently they express commitment to the discipline in some way, a form of self-fashioning as students begin graduate school and a difficult course of study. They can be celebratory too, marking the completion of a particularly important milestone.
In this sense, some Classics-themed tattoos are tied up with the broader idea that academic work is more than just a job, and convey a sort of devotion and personal expression of intellectual identity. Tattoos offer a narrative of academic development in the same way one might look back on a personal library and remember when they read a certain book or article for the first time.
That said, not all tattoos have to be serious or representative of some life changing event. I am still waiting to see “λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων” casually inked on a lover of Aristophanes.
I have a sauroter (spear butt) and rose on my left leg. It aesthetically fits with my other tattoos but it does not have a particular textual reference. Lately, friends have begun to suggest nuanced freudian interpretations for the composition! Others suggest my flowers are unmanly in some capacity.
Do be sure you can take a joke.
Do not get a Classics-themed tattoo if your enjoyment of it is contingent on getting a tenure track job (or otherwise remaining in the field). Sadly, while everyone with a Classics degree can get a tattoo, not all of us will get a job.
Perhaps consider a tattoo for your first archaeological find while participating in fieldwork; a fellow student at Eleon declared his intention for such a tattoo on the first day of our dig, having discovered a miniature votive vessel.
Consider what you want
The tattoo you have in your mind will dictate much of the process. Lettering, as far as designs go, can be fairly straightforward, no questions asked. Maybe you want something on a flash sheet on the wall that is more spur-of-the-moment? If you want a custom piece of art, be prepared for a collaborative process of sharing images and listening to advice from an expert on what works and what does not. Do not just go from artist to artist until you find someone who agrees to tattoo exactly what you want. You are paying for their expertise. Similar to the editorial process, your initial vision may change in order to better suit the medium of your own skin.
For instance, as seen at the top of this piece, I initially wanted a tattoo of an image of an aulos from the Ure Museum. The curator, Professor Amy Smith, sent me a post card with this artifact on it after hiking Mt. Olympus and listening to me obsess over apotropaic ritual performances for an entire summer session at the ASCSA. My artist then translated this image into a traditional snake themed tattoo. This tattoo is effective on a few levels: a connoisseur of traditional tattooing will appreciate the snake and color scheme in the composition; a classicist might consider the links between the aulos and Apollo as well as the killing of Python. It is an apotropaic tattoo of sorts.
Find an artist
Always remember: getting tattooed by an artist without first viewing a portfolio of their work is comparable to getting married to a blind date! A good artist will successfully consider and interpret their customer’s ideas into a strong, readable image that is composed in a way that works with the customer’s body, not against it.
Do look at their other work, consider their particular artistic aesthetic, and what you are considering for your own tattoo.
Don’t pull up your Instagram account with your favorite #hashtags and inform the artist that you want a unique custom tattoo, just like this one you found online…
Establish a relationship
Will you be getting multiple tattoos from this artist? Will your tattoo take multiple sessions for linework, shading and coloring? Are you interested in a sleeve? As I have stressed above, tattooing is a collaborative process. You should take the time to find someone you like, artistically and otherwise, since you will be sitting in a chair for at least a couple of hours while they tattoo you.
A friend studying ancient philosophy suggested to me that tattooing is a pretty intimate act, since you are essentially allowing another human to traumatize your skin. Of course, you can also casually get a tattoo at a convention or in your local shop. In this sense, as the buyer, you are able to decide on what is significant or important for yourself. Depending on what you want to have tattooed, this can be an important consideration.
Don’t walk into your local tattoo shop and say, “what will $100 get me?” (This happens more often than you would think).
Developing a Tattoo
Size of Project
Are you considering a sleeve? This requires some serious forethought. Frequently, folks start with lettering and then progress to more “serious” tattoos. You can also consider sewing a number of standalone pieces into a traditional patchwork that makes a sleeve, filling in each piece as you go.
Old themes, new aesthetic
You do not have to reinvent the wheel here. If you like Classical imagery but want to deviate from ancient aesthetics, consider looking at reception images in their many, many forms.
Bailey decided to get a half-sleeve featuring a maenad after completing a senior thesis on the topic. She sought out an artist who did work in the Art Nouveau style, and brought her some images of maenads depicted on vases and friezes so her artist could get a good idea of their poses and clothing.
Similarly, Stephanie had a Spartan shield and spear tattooed in profile after wrapping up coursework. The minimalist design avoids white supremacist connotations, while also sticking with a traditional theme, reflecting an interest in ancient military history.
Lately, I’ve been considering how ancient memento mori might be worked into traditional tattooing aesthetics.
Use your reference materials!
You don’t even have to go with a famous or well known image. Consider wall paintings, coins, or the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. A number of colleges and universities have public digital collections. (Maybe you really enjoy the original artwork displayed on Eidolon? One could commission an original piece …) Sources like the Beazeley Archive are also great for picking out a particular image to begin a project.
Color scheme
Shading can frequently be dictated by placement of the tattoo and how you want the piece to age. Frequently, for larger pieces, an artist will employ coordinated levels of shading and color to give the whole piece more depth and a more well rounded look. Consider Sarah Bond’s commentary on ancient polychromy if you want to get something like the Nike of Samothrace on your body.
Consider your font
Anything will do but Papyrus, really. In all seriousness, font plays an important role, especially with most lettering being done with a stencil (unless you want your Greek done in freehand).
Script
Please decide between uncial and miniscule script. If undecided, definitely bring your personal copy of Scribes and Scholars to discuss the finer points of each with your artist. They will love that, especially when you begin diving into the various kinds of copyist hands. Assure them you have friends. If all else fails, use the online scans from the Homer Multitext to find just the right style of calligraphy for your tattoo. This is relatable content, right? Right!?
Is the textual tradition genuine and trustworthy?
I’ve always found this the most hilarious aspect of molon labe tattoos. Herodotus does not even state Leonidas said it! Please learn the provenance of any images or words you want to get permanently inked on your body.
Proofread your Greek and Latin text
Compose your own Greek sayings at your own risk! Your tattoo artist is likely not checking to make sure that your accents are on the proper syllable or if you have noun-verb agreement. Consider consulting Eleanor Dickey’s prose composition textbook before you commit.
Level of obscurity
If you work in a digamma into your tattoo, consider competing in the hipster world olympics.
Meter
Will you include line breaks? Asking for a friend, who may have attempted to scan the hexameter on his leg, and forgot he had included the enjambed adjective…15 minutes were then devoted to considering what to do about the extra four syllables from οὐλομένην.
Diacritical Marks & Accents
Be sure to get your accents and breathing marks right. Or at least, wait to add them until you are know they are correct! Eryn had this socratic phrase tattooed as a graduation present to herself (left), but waited to finish the accents until she took prose composition in her post-bac program.
Odds and Ends
Tattoo placement
As Kelly McArdle has already discussed regarding being tattooed and working in academia, your colleagues may view your tattoos differently than you do. None of my tattoos are visible if I dress “professionally,” which was important to me. Leg sleeves are easily covered. That being said, get tattoos because you want tattoos; most folks I know who are inked are proud of their living art collections.
Involve your friends!
Art historians are nice people! I am considering a Triton/Herakles tattoo to commemorate my time working as a fish monger. Every museum is a possible source of inspiration and source material, and friends send me photos regularly of new images that they think I would like, especially of crazy gorgon heads and other interesting finds.
Tipping
Do you tip your hairstylist or your barber? Yes. Tip your tattoo artist.
Be patient and timely
Make your appointment and do not be a flake. The process for preparing a tattoo design takes some time; applying a stencil just right may take two or three takes. This will be permanent, so let the artist get things right. Depending on the size of the composition you may be sitting for several hours or multiple sessions, bring a book if you need to keep yourself entertained.
Touchups
Be prepared to get your tattoo touched up after it’s finished. Maybe you have a bad habit of bike accidents, or the artist just missed a few spots when the shading was done the first time around. After a tattoo heals, your artist may want to see it again, just to make sure the work is completely finished to their standards.
Care for your tattoo(s)
I’m looking at you, archaeologists. Use sunscreen! You do not want the colors to fade from your skin.
Take as much care researching your tattoos as you do your other research interests. Take the time to find an artist who will work with you to translate your ideas into a tattoo you will like, whether you are still studying Classics five years from now or have gone on to other things. Even if we remain in the field, our thinking on a particular piece of literature or a particular ancient artifact will evolve over time. A tattoo can remind you of your own continually changing questions and approaches to the discipline while also depicting a beautiful script or composition. Classical themes are foundational in tattoo artwork, so finding a way to express your favorite myth or archaic artifact is well worth the time.
Luke Madson is a former fishmonger and current PhD student in Ancient History at Rutgers University. You can find more of his writing here.
