|
SD! :
SD! Wiki : Branding : history
This article is part of the SD! Wiki hosted
by Seek Discipline!
Branding
Burning the skin with a mark to indicate the status of property (or
criminal conviction in some cases.) As with livestock, branding slaves
has a long history.
The Babylonian "Code of Hammurabi" from 1780 BC recorded laws regulating
the branding of slaves (and penalties for surgeons obscuring such
brands), and this image shows a bronze branding iron with the cunieform
characters for "I am his slave", apparently from 2000-1800 BC.
As largely permanent marks, brands identifying owners are unsuitable if
the owner is likely to change. However, the mark can carry other
information. For example, the Roman practice of branding recaptured
slave fugitives with "FVG"; and the branding of African slaves to be
shipped to the Americas with a symbol for their port of origin, or the
company that exported them.
In SM fiction, branding appears in both Story of
O and John Norman's Gor books.
With the growth of modern body modification, branding is a small but
increasingly common practice within the ownership subculture.See also
External links
This article is published under the terms of the
GFDL. People with profiles on
Seek Discipline! can improve
this article: see the SD! Wiki help page
for details.
|
