Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

s, widespread in societies around the world since

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

times, have been used for many purposes in art, literature, and other expressions of human

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

. In classical times, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

considered

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

the finest of meats, enjoying

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s, and depicting them in their art. Across Europe, pigs have been celebrated in carnivals since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, becoming specially important in

Medieval Germany The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman ge ...

in cities such as

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, and in Early Modern Italy in cities such as

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. In literature, both for children and adults, pig characters appear in allegories, comic stories, and serious novels. In art, pigs have been represented in a wide range of media and styles from the earliest times in many cultures. Pig names are used in idioms and

animal epithet An animal epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal. Epithets may be formulated as similes, explicitly comparing people with the named animal, as in "he is as sly as a fox", or as ...

s, often derogatory, since pigs have long been linked with dirtiness and greed, while places such as Swindon are named for their association with swine. The eating of pork is forbidden in Islam and Judaism, but pigs are sacred in some other religions.

Celebration of meat

Arch of Constantine, Lustration of the troops

Classical times

The scholar Michael MacKinnon writes that "

Pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

was generally considered the choicest of all the domestic meats consumed during

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, and it was ingested in a multitude of forms, from

s to steaks, by rich and poor alike. No other animal had so many

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

names (e.g. ''sus, porcus, porco, aper'') or was the ingredient in so many ancient recipes as outlined in the culinary manual of

Apicius ''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer ...

." Pigs have been found at almost every

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

in Roman Italy; they are described by Roman agricultural writers such as Cato and

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

, and in

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

's '' Natural History''. MacKinnon notes that ancient breeds of pig can be seen on monuments such as the

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine ( it, Arco di Costantino) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milv ...

, which portrays a lop-eared, fat-bellied, and smooth breed.

Carnival

Benton Jay Komins, a scholar of culture, notes that the pig has been celebrated throughout Europe since ancient times in its carnivals, the name coming from the Italian ''carne levare'', the lifting of meat. Komins quotes the scholars Peter Stallybrass and Allon White on the pig's ambiguous role:

English tradition

In England, pork pies were being made in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

, Leicestershire by the 1780s, according to the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association (founded in 1998). The pies were originally baked in a clay pot with a pastry cover, developing to their modern form of a pastry case. Local tradition states that farm hands carried these while at work; aristocratic

fox hunters Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...

of the

Quorn Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin. Quorn is sold as b ...

, Cottesmore and Belvoir hunts supposedly saw this and acquired a taste for the pies. A slightly later date of origin is given by the claim that pie manufacture in the town began around 1831 when a local baker and confectioner, Edward Adcock, started to make pies as a sideline.

Melton Mowbray pork pie A pork pie is a traditional English meat pie, usually served either at room temperature or cold (although often served hot in Yorkshire). It consists of a filling of roughly chopped pork and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied pork stock ...

s were granted PGI status in 2008.

German tradition

German cities such as

have made pork sausages since at least 1315 AD, when the ''Würstlein'' (sausage controller) office was introduced. Some 1500 types of sausage are produced in the country. The Nuremberg

bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is o ...

is required to be at most long and to weigh at most ; it is flavoured with mace, pepper, and

marjoram Marjoram (; ''Origanum majorana'') is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted marj ...

. In Early Modern times starting in 1614, Nuremberg's butchers paraded through the city each year carrying a long sausage. File:Nürnberg - Bratwurstglöcklein.jpg, The ''Bratwurst Glöcklein'' ("Little-bell sausages"), Germany's most renowned inn of the time, founded in

in the 14th century. The inn was destroyed in the Second World War. 1914 postcard. File:German Bratwürste.jpg, A range of

Bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is o ...

grilled sausages at the main market in Nuremberg

Italian tradition

The pig, and pork products such as mortadella, were economically important in Italian cities such as

and Modena in the Early Modern period, and celebrated as such; they have remained so into modern times. In 2019, the ''Istituzione Biblioteche Bologna'' held an exhibition ''Pane e salame. Immagini gastronomiche bolognesi dalle raccolte dell'

Archiginnasio The Archiginnasio of Bologna is one of the most important buildings in the city of Bologna; once the main building of the University of Bologna, it currently houses the Archiginnasio Municipal Library and the Anatomical Theatre. In the heart of ...

'' ("Bread and salami. Bolognese gastronomic images from the Archiginnasio collection") on the gastronomic images in its collection. File:La Vera Historia della Piacevolissima Festa Della Porchetta 1599.jpg, ''La Vera Historia della Piacevolissima Festa Della Porchetta'' ("The True History of the Most Pleasant Feast of the Little Pig") by

Giulio Cesare Croce Giulio Cesare Croce (1550–1609) was an Italian writer, actor/producer of cantastoria and enigma writer. The son of a blacksmith and a blacksmith himself, after the death of his father, his uncle continued his cultural education. He never had a ...

, 1599 File:Canzone Sopra La Porcellina 1622.jpg, ''Canzone Sopra La Porcellina'' ("Song Upon the Piglet") by

, 1622 File:Dichiarazione del Bando delle Mortadelle Bologna 1661.jpg, ''Dichiarazione del Bando delle Mortadelle'' ("Declaration of the Band of the Mortadellas"),

, 1661 File:Gli Elogi del Porco 1761.jpg, ''Gli Elogi del Porco'' ("The Praises of the Pig"), Modena, 1761 File:Bologna amazing hams sausages mortadella.jpg, Hams, pigs' trotters, sausages, and mortadella in

, 2019

Literature

For adults

Story of the Learned Pig by an Officer of the Royal Navy 1786

Pigs have been brought into literature for varying reasons, ranging from the pleasures of eating, as in

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

's ''A Dissertation upon Roast Pig'', to

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...

's ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...

'' (with the fat character "Piggy"), where the rotting boar's head on a stick represents

Beelzebub Beelzebub ( ; he, ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ'') or Beelzebul is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Can ...

, "lord of the flies" being the direct translation of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

בעל זבוב, and George Orwell's

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

novel ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to c ...

'', where the central characters, representing

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

leaders, are all pigs. The pig is used to comic effect in

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

's stories set in

Blandings Castle Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth (Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth), home to many of his family and the setting for numerous ta ...

, where the eccentric

Lord Emsworth Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of t ...

keeps an extremely fat prize pig called the

Empress of Blandings Empress of Blandings is a fictional pig, featured in many of the Blandings Castle novels and stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Owned by the doting Lord Emsworth, the Empress is an enormous black Berkshire sow, who wins many prizes in the "Fat Pigs" c ...

which is frequently stolen, kidnapped or otherwise threatened. Quite a different use is made of the pig in

Lloyd Alexander Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was an American author of more than 40 books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. Over his seven-decade career, Alexander wrote 48 books, and his work has been tran ...

's fantasy books ''

The Chronicles of Prydain ''The Chronicles of Prydain'' is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published by Henry Holt and Company. The series includes: ''The Book of Three'' (1964), ''The Black Cauld ...

'', where Hen Wen is a pig with foresight, used to see the future and locate mystical items such as The Black Cauldron. One of the earliest literary references is

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

, who speaks of the preference pigs have for mud over clean water in the ''Fragments''. In

Wu Cheng'en Wu Cheng'en (, c. 1500–1582Shi Changyu (1999). "Introduction." in trans. W.J.F. Jenner, ''Journey to the West'', volume 1. Seventh Edition. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 1–22. or 1505–1580), courtesy name Ruzhong (), was a Chines ...

's 16th century Chinese novel ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popul ...

'',

Zhu Bajie Zhu Bajie (), also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of Tang Sanzang and a major character of the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West''. Zhu means " swine" and Bajie means " eight precepts". Buddhist scholars consider that both e ...

is part human, part pig. In books, poems and cartoons in 18th century England, The Learned Pig was a trained animal who appeared to be able to answer questions. Thomas Hardy describes the killing of a pig in his 1895 novel ''

Jude the Obscure ''Jude the Obscure'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley ...

''.

For children

Pigs have featured in children's books since at least 1840, when ''

Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house ...

'' appeared in print; the story has appeared in many different versions such as Disney's 1933 film and Roald Dahl's 1982 ''

Revolting Rhymes ''Revolting Rhymes'' is a 1982 collection of Roald Dahl poems first published in 1982 originally under the title ''Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes''. A parody of traditional folk tales in verse, Dahl gives a re-interpretation of six well-known fa ...

''. Even earlier is the popular 18th-century English nursery rhyme and

fingerplay Fingerplay, commonly seen in early childhood, is hand action or movement combined with singing or spoken-words to engage the child's interest. According to Erikson, many children develop autonomy and "want to learn and imitate the activities and ...

, "

This Little Piggy "This Little Piggy" or "This Little Pig" is an English-language nursery rhyme and fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19297. Lyrics One popular version is: Fingerplay The rhyme is usually counted out on an infant or ...

", frequently in film and literature, such as the

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

cartoons ''

A Tale of Two Kitties ''A Tale of Two Kitties'' is a 1942 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, written by Warren Foster, and features music by Carl W. Stalling. The short was released on November 21, 1942, and features the debut of ...

'' (1942) and ''

A Hare Grows In Manhattan ''A Hare Grows In Manhattan'' is a Warner Bros. cartoon in the '' Merrie Melodies'' series, released on March 22, 1947. It was produced by Edward Selzer and directed by I. Freleng. The short features Bugs Bunny. Plot The cartoon begins with th ...

'' (1947) which use the rhyme to comic effect. Two of

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

's "little books", '' The Tale of Pigling Bland'' (1913) and '' The Tale of Little Pig Robinson'' (1930), feature the adventures of pigs dressed as people. Several

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

cartoon series have included pigs as prominent characters. One of the earliest pigs in cartoon was the gluttonous " Piggy", who appeared in four Warner Brothers '' Merrie Melodies'' shorts between 1931 and 1937, most notably ''

Pigs Is Pigs "Pigs Is Pigs" is a story by American writer Ellis Parker Butler. First published as a short story in '' American Illustrated Magazine'' in September 1905, "Pigs Is Pigs" went on to dozens of printings as a book and in anthologies over the next ...

'', and was followed by Porky Pig, with similar habits. Piglet is Pooh's constant companion in

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

stories and the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

films based on them, while in '' Charlotte's Web'', the central character Wilbur is a pig who formed a relationship with a spider named Charlotte. The 1995 film ''

Babe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Maj ...

'' humorously portrayed a pig who wanted to be a

herding dog A herding dog, also known as a stock dog, shepherd dog, sheep dog or working dog, is a type of dog that either has been trained in herding or belongs to breeds that are developed for herding. Herding behavior All herding behavior is mo ...

, based on the character in Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel '' The Sheep Pig''. Among new takes on the classic ''Three Little Pigs'' is Corey Rosen Schwartz and

Dan Santat Dan Santat (born 1975) is an American author and illustrator known for his children's book '' The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend'', which won the 2015 Caldecott Medal for distinguished illustration. He also wrote ''The Guild of Ge ...

's 2012 ''The Three

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

Pigs''.

Art

Pigs have appeared in art in media including pottery, sculpture, metalwork, engravings, oil paintings, watercolour, and stained glass, from neolithic times onwards. Some have functioned as amulets. File:Neolithic pottery pig, Hemudu Culture, Zhejiang, 1974 (cropped).jpg,

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

pottery pig,

Hemudu culture The Hemudu culture (5500 BC to 3300 BC) was a Neolithic culture that flourished just south of the Hangzhou Bay in Jiangnan in modern Yuyao, Zhejiang, China. The culture may be divided into early and late phases, before and after 4000 BC respec ...

, Zhejiang, China File:Demeter1.jpg, Two men sacrificing a pig to Demeter. red-figure pot,

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

File:7763 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - Sarcophagus with Calydonian Boar hunt - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Ort.jpg, Sarcophagus with

Calydonian Boar The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

hunt. Athens, 2nd century File:Boar-helmeted figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron.jpg, Boar-helmeted figure on the

Gundestrup Cauldron The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date from between 200 BC and 300 AD,Nielsen, S; Andersen, J; Baker, J; Christensen, C; Glastrup, J; et al. (2005). "The Gundestrup cauldron: New scientific and technical ...

. 3rd century File:Korea-Gyeongju-Bulguksa-Gilt bronze pig sculpture-01.jpg, Gilt bronze pig, Gyeongju Temple,

Bulguksa Bulguksa is located on the slopes of Mount Toham (Jinheon-dong, Gyeongju city, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea). It is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and encompasses six National treasures of South Korea, including th ...

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms ...

kingdom, Korea File:Eber-Pulverflasche-Buchsbaum-Silber-16Jhr.jpg, Wild boar with

boarhound The Great Dane is a large sized dog breed originating from Germany. The Great Dane descends from hunting dogs from the Middle Ages used to hunt wild boar and deer, and as guardians of German nobility. It is one of the largest breeds in the world ...

s. Silver

powder flask A powder flask is a small container for gunpowder, which was an essential part of shooting equipment with muzzle-loading guns, before pre-made paper cartridges became standard in the 19th century. They range from very elaborately decorated works o ...

, Germany, 16th century File:Rembrandt van Rijn - The Hog - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Hog''. Etching by

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consi ...

, 1643 File:Barent Fabritius - Het geslacht varken.jpg, ''The Slaughtered Pig'' by

Barent Fabritius Barent or Bernard Pietersz Fabritius (or Fabricius) (16 November 1624 (bapt.) – 20 October 1673 (buried)), was a Dutch painter. Fabritius was born at Middenbeemster, North Holland, the son of Pieter Carelsz. Fabritius. He studied with his brot ...

, 1656 File:Pig market in a Dutch town.jpg, ''Pig market in a Dutch town'' by

Nicolaes Molenaer Nicolaes (Klaes) Molenaer (1626-1629 in Haarlem – 1676 in Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter and draughtsman. Biography Molenaer was born and died in Haarlem in the family of tailor Jan Mienssen Molenaer and his second wife Gri ...

, 17th century File:Fr Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Lhor Saint Anthony the Great stained glass - pig detail.jpg, Pig at the feet of St Anthony the Hermit. Stained glass, Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Lhor, Moselle, France File:Brooklyn Museum - Prince Hunting Wild Boar (Miniature Painting).jpg, ''Prince Hunting Wild Boar''.

Gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

and gold on paper. India, c. 1765 File:Folding screens of Inoshishi-zu (portion) by Mori Sosen.jpg, ''Folding screens of Inoshishi-zu'' by

Mori Sosen was a Japanese painter of the Shijō school during the Edo period. Mori Sosen is famous for his many paintings depicting monkeys. He also painted other animals, such as deer, boars, and peafowl. Robert van Gulik called him "an undisputed mas ...

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, Japan, 18th-19th century File:Félicien Rops - Pornokratès - 1878.jpg, Pornokratès by

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

Watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, pastel, and gouache, 1878 File:Sepik pig mask Berlin-Dahlem.jpg, Ritual pig mask,

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

region,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed- canopy old-growth tropical fores ...

, palm leaf sheaths, and

cassowary Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones) and are native to the tropical fore ...

feathers. Collected 1914 File:Amulette cochon 06.jpg, Amulet in shape of a pig. Pottery, Mexico

Religion

Varaha avtar, killing a demon to protect Bhu, c1740

Pig meat has come to be seen as unacceptable to some world religions. In Islam and

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

the consumption of pork is forbidden. Many

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

are

lacto-vegetarian A lacto-vegetarian (sometimes referred to as a lactarian; from the Latin root lact-, ''milk'') diet is a diet that abstains from the consumption of meat as well as eggs, while still consuming dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, ...

, avoiding all kinds of meat. In

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

, the pig symbolises delusion (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: '' moha''), one of the

three poisons The three poisons (Sanskrit: ''triviṣa''; Tibetan: ''dug gsum'') or the three unwholesome roots (Sanskrit: ''akuśala-mūla''; Pāli: ''akusala-mūla''), in Buddhism, refer to the three root kleshas: '' Moha'' (delusion, confusion), ''Raga'' ...

(

: ''triviṣa''). As with Hindus, many Buddhists are vegetarian, and some sutras of the Buddha state that meat should not be eaten; monks in the

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

traditions are forbidden to eat meat of any kind. Pigs have in contrast been sacred in several religions, including the

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

of Ireland, whose priests were called "swine". One of the animals sacred to the Roman goddess Diana was the boar; she sent the

Calydonian boar The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

to destroy the land. In Hinduism, the boar-headed

Varaha Varaha ( sa, वराह, , "boar") is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. Varaha is most commonly associated with the leg ...

is venerated as an

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

of the god

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

. The sow was sacred to the Egyptian goddess

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

and used in sacrifice to

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

Places

Many places are named for pigs. In England such placenames include Grizedale ("Pig valley", from Old Scandinavian ''griss'', young pig, and ''dalr'', valley), Swilland ("Pig land", from Old English ''swin'' and ''land''), Swindon ("Pig hill"), and Swineford ("Pig ford"). In Scandinavia there are names such as Svinbergen ("Pig hill"), Svindal ("Pig valley"), Svingrund ("Pig ground"), Svinhagen ("Pig hedge"), Svinkärr ("Pig marsh"), Svinvik ("Pig bay"), Svinholm ("Pig islet"), Svinskär ("Pig skerry"), Svintorget ("Pig market"), and Svinö ("Pig island").

Idiom

Several idioms related to pigs have entered the English language, often with negative connotations of dirt,

greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as und ...

, or the monopolisation of resources, as in " road hog" or "

server hog {{citations needed, date=November 2013 A server hog is a user, program or system that places excessive load on a server such that the server performance as experienced by other clients is degraded, or such that the server itself is so heavily load ...

". As the scholar Richard Horwitz puts it, people all over the world have made pigs stand for "extremes of human joy or fear, celebration, ridicule, and repulsion". Pig names are used as epithets for negative human attributes, especially greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness, and these ascribed attributes have often led to critical comparisons between pigs and humans. "Pig" is used as a slang term for either a police officer or a male chauvinist, the latter term adopted originally by the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

in the 1960s.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cultural References To Pigs * Pigs in literature