Among all the ancient Egyptian gods Anubis is the one who was chosen to be the God of Death and Dying. He was also considered to be the God of the Underworld. Anubis had the body of a human and the Head of a Jackal. But it was Osiris, husband of Isis, who was the Goddess of Life, who eventually became the God of Death and Re-Birth.
Of all the things that we can be sure of in life, the only thing we can know with absolute certainty is that we will die. Death is inevitable. From the moment of birth we all begin the long, or perhaps tragically short, march towards death. We will all leave this mortal coil. We will all, regardless of social status or rank, Kings and peasants alike, be consumed by fire and flame or by worms and decay.
Death is a universally shared experience, part of the human condition and yet the diversity of beliefs about death among the worlds many cultures is extraordinarily wide-ranging.
There is no one single tattoo design or symbol that represents Death, unless of course you count the literal - tattoo designs that spell out the word Death in one language or another. And it could well be argued that nearly all tattooing explores some symbolic reference to Death. The opposite state of Death is of course, Life. And most tattooing, both ancient and modern, explores some aspect of the duality of Life and Death.
Below you will find a gallery of inspirational images that will help you in your quest of creating the perfect underworld tattoo.
Also Check out: Religious Tattoos, Religious Tattoo Index, Memorial Tattoos and Latino Tattoo Index.
