Romans and tattoos

[Centurion Crastinus]

I read somewhere that Vegetius mentioned that Roman soldiers were marked with tattoos. I was wondering if anyone could expand a bit on the topic.

[Maximus Aurelius]

I read somewhere that roman legionaries had tattoos, but that was in the later period (third century AD i think).

[General Appo]

I think I´ve read that somewhere too, but as I recall it was the German and other foreign members of the Legions that were tattooed, not actual Italian legionaries. Not that there were many of those in the third century AD anyway.

[underthesun]

I was under the impression that Romans believed that tattoos, hair product, and to a lesser extent facial hair, were barbaric. But it would make sense for a 3rd century Germanic soldier in the employ of the Empire to have tattoos.

[Hax]

I know Roman soldiers were tattoed to avoid them deserting.

[Maximus Aurelius]

There is also the scene in The Gladiator when Maximus removes the SPQR tattoo
from his shoulder. But movies dont care about historical accuracy.