Laurel wreath tattoo meaning is triumph, victory, and success. However, the most common meaning of laurel wreath tattoo remains victory. Very often laurel tattoo means victory over oneself, over bad qualities.
Such tattoo design is preferred by people who are used to win. Through laurel tattoo, they can show others that they are not used to lose or to remind themselves that they need to make every effort to achieve the best results.
Such a tattoo can be made on any part of the body, but most often it is preferred to be made on elbow or back. A laurel wreath tattoo also looks great on the inside of the forearm. It is a female tattoo, it looks especially beautiful on wrists and neck.
Laurel in history
In the ancient world, the laurel tree was considered as a protecting tree, and the laurel branch was used as a sprayer in the Roman sacrificial ceremonies. Being an evergreen tree, the laurels also means immortality. In this quality, the laurel trees grow on the top of Parnassus – the dwellings of muses.
Laurel is Apollo’s emblem – the Greek god of sun, poetry, and music. Nymph Daphna pursued by enamored god Apollo and she turned into a laurel bush in the god’s and the god decorated his head and lyre by the laurel wreath. On Olympic Games in Apollo’s honor, which included competitions, both in athletics and arts, the winners crowned with a laurel wreath.
The epithet “Poet-laureate” goes back to the ancient belief that the laurels are able to inspire. In portrait painting, the laurel leaf or branch specifies that the model concerns the literature or art.
Romans have extended the tradition of rewarding by a laurel wreath – the soldiers-winners. So, Julius Caesar put on the laurel wreath on all official ceremonies, and on English coins Charles I, George I, and George II, after a while and Elizabeth II also were represented with laurel wreaths. As the symbol of superiority, the laurel branches were represented in the emblems of such automobile companies, as “Alpha-Romeo”, “Fiat” and “Mercedes”.
The laurel tree was the Lorenzo Medici’s emblem (1448-1492) with the motto “Such virtue”, underlining that virtue does not wither so as the evergreen laurel.
Laurel wreath tattoo designs and ideas
