We know Vikings had tattoos not from Scandinavian sagas but from Ibn Fadlan, a 10th-century Arab scholar sent on a diplomatic mission to the Volga Bulgars. In 921 AD he met the Rus — Swedish Viking traders — and recorded that every man wore tattoos from fingertips to neck resembling trees and symbols. It's one of the most vivid eyewitness descriptions in medieval history, and it comes from Baghdad, not Scandinavia.
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