Probably the most important of the mythological Birds, and a favorite motif in tattoo artwork, the phoenix was known in ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and the Middle East. In the many stories that surround it, two aspects remain constant—its matchless...

The intelligent and friendly dolphin, which is a mammal and not a FISH. has long attracted interest from mariners, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Mediterranean area. For the ancient Greeks, dolphins were symbols of both the divine and of wisdom....

Bettie Page epitomizes a type of tattoo that represents a significant percentage of those acquired by men. Though not particularly symbolic, the art of the pinup girl is intimately connected to the emergence of tattoo in the West. Descending from early...

Deoxyribonucleic acid (abbreviated DNA) is the genetic code of life. Its spiraling double-helix structure, which looks like a tall thin twisting ladder, is symbolic of what makes us biologically human and is something that we all share. Today the graphic...

In Oriental myth, the dragon could not be more opposite to its Western counterpart. Dragons in Oriental art do not have WINGS nor do they necessarily breathe fire, although FLAMES erupt from their limbs. They are not creatures of EARTH, but rather...