The History Of Body Piercing

Body piercing has been around for thousands of years.  Although difficult to believe, the history of body piercing actually begins with the Bible.  It is mentioned in the Bible that body piercings represented wealth, prosperity, and power.  Society expected its members of high society to wear body jewelry to show off their beauty and affluence.

There are many other civilizations over the years that have added to the world’s body piercing history.  Both ear and body piercings were signs of success in ancient Egyptian societies.  They took piercing codes very seriously, for example, only the Pharaoh was permitted to have a navel piercing to distinguish him.  Additionally, some other body piercings were restricted to royalty alone. 

During the Roman empires, piercings were also a popular phenomenon.  The Romans were practical people, and they showed this quality even with the way they pierced their bodies.  For example, there were two types of piercings that were most popular in men during ancient Roman times.  They were penis piercings and nipple piercings.  They pierced the heads of their penises with a ring in order to tie them back to their testicles during combat to avoid injury, and the nipple piercings can be explained as being a symbol of honor and high loyalty to the Roman Empire. 

In civilizations such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and American Indians, piercings were a part of their rituals and traditions.  During ceremonies, tongue piercing would be performed to bring the people closer to their gods.  Before combat, septum piercing would be practiced to appear stronger and tougher than their opposing tribes. 

As time passed, piercing went in and out of being a fashionable and attractive trend, and became a sinful declaration.  Over the past several decades, the history of body piercing has made huge leaps toward general acceptance.  With rock stars and celebrities strengthening this trend, everyone follows to get piercings in various parts of their bodies.  Today, people are getting extremely creative in the places to get pierced.  It is becoming an art form, way of expression, as well as a fashionable look.