Pigs in culture

Pigs, widespread in societies around the world sinceNeolithictimes, have been used for many purposes in art, literature, and other expressions of humanculture. In classical times, theRomansconsideredporkthe finest of meats, enjoyingsausages, and depicting them in their art. Across Europe, pigs have been celebrated incarnivalssince theMiddle Ages, becoming specially important inMedieval Germanyin cities such asNuremberg, and in Early Modern Italy in cities such asBologna.
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 andanimal epithets, often derogatory, since pigs have long been linked with dirtiness and greed, while places such asSwindonare named for their association with swine. The eating of pork isforbidden in Islamand Judaism, but pigs are sacred in some other religions.
The scholar Michael MacKinnon writes that "Porkwas generally considered the choicest of all the domestic meats consumed duringRoman times, and it was ingested in a multitude of forms, fromsausagesto steaks, by rich and poor alike. No other animal had so manyLatinnames (e.g.sus, porcus, porco, aper) or was the ingredient in so many ancient recipes as outlined in the culinary manual ofApicius."Pigs have been found at almost everyarchaeological sitein Roman Italy; they are described by Roman agricultural writers such asCatoandVarro, and inPliny the Elder'sNatural History. MacKinnon notes that ancient breeds of pig can be seen on monuments such as theArch of Constantine, which portrays a lop-eared, fat-bellied, and smooth breed.
Benton Jay Komins, a scholar of culture, notes that the pig has been celebrated throughout Europe since ancient times in itscarnivals, the name coming from the Italiancarne levare, the lifting of meat.Komins quotes the scholars Peter Stallybrass and Allon White on the pig's ambiguous role:
In England, pork pies were being made inMelton Mowbray, Leicestershire by the 1780s, according to theMelton 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; aristocraticfox huntersof theQuorn,CottesmoreandBelvoir huntssupposedly 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 pieswere grantedPGIstatus in 2008.
German cities such asNuremberghave made pork sausages since at least 1315 AD, when theWürstlein(sausage controller) office was introduced. Some 1500 types of sausage are produced in the country. The Nurembergbratwurstis required to be at most 90 millimetres (3.5 in) long and to weigh at most 25 grams (0.88 oz); it is flavoured withmace, pepper, andmarjoram. InEarly Moderntimes starting in 1614, Nuremberg's butchers paraded through the city each year carrying a 400 metres (440 yd) long sausage.
The pig, and pork products such asmortadella, were economically important in Italian cities such asBolognaandModenain theEarly Modernperiod, and celebrated as such; they have remained so into modern times. In 2019, theIstituzione Biblioteche Bolognaheld an exhibitionPane e salame.  Immagini gastronomiche bolognesi dalle raccolte dell'Archiginnasio("Bread and salami. Bolognese gastronomic images from the Archiginnasio collection") on the gastronomic images in its collection.
Pigs have appeared in literature with a variety of associations, ranging from the pleasures of eating, as inCharles Lamb'sA Dissertation upon Roast Pig, toWilliam Golding'sLord of the Flies(with the fat character "Piggy"), where the rotting boar's head on a stick representsBeelzebub, "lord of the flies" being the direct translation of theHebrewבעל זבוב, andGeorge Orwell'sallegoricalnovelAnimal Farm, where the central characters representingSovietleaders are pigs.The pig, is used to comic effect inP. G. Wodehouse's stories set inBlandings Castle, where the eccentricLord Emsworthkeeps an extremely fat prize pig called theEmpress of Blandingswhich is frequently stolen, kidnapped or otherwise threatened.Quite a different use is made of the pig inLloyd Alexander's fantasy booksThe Chronicles of Prydain, where Hen Wen is a pig withforesight, used to see the future and locate mystical items such asThe Black Cauldron.
One of the earliest literary references comes fromHeraclitus, who speaks of the preference pigs have for mud over clean water in theFragments.Pigs held significance for both ancientPyrrhonicphilosophers (for whom the pig was representative ofakrasia) and ancientEpicureanphilosophers (for whom it wasrepresentative of pleasure-seeking).Platoin theRepublicdiscusses a "healthy state" of simplicity as "a city for pigs" (Greek:huōn polis).InWu Cheng'en's 16th-century Chinese novelJourney to the West,Zhu Bajieis part human, part pig.In books, poems and cartoons in 18th-century England,The Learned Pigwas a trained animal who appeared to be able to answer questions.Thomas Hardydescribes the killing of a pig in his 1895 novelJude the Obscure.
Pigs have featured in children's books since at least 1840, whenThree Little Pigsappeared in print;the story has appeared in many different versions such asDisney's 1933 filmandRoald Dahl's 1982Revolting Rhymes. Even earlier is the popular 18th-century Englishnursery rhymeandfingerplay, "This Little Piggy",frequently in film and literature, such as theWarner BrotherscartoonsA Tale of Two Kitties(1942) andA Hare Grows In Manhattan(1947) which use the rhyme to comic effect. Two ofBeatrix Potter's "little books",The Tale of Pigling Bland(1913) andThe Tale of Little Pig Robinson(1930), feature the adventures of pigs dressed as people.
Severalanimatedcartoonseries have included pigs as prominent characters. One of the earliest pigs in cartoon was the gluttonous "Piggy", who appeared in four Warner BrothersMerrie Melodiesshorts between 1931 and 1937, most notablyPigs Is Pigs, and was followed byPorky Pig, with similar habits.
Pigletis Pooh's constant companion inA. A. Milne'sWinnie the Poohstories and theDisneyfilms based on them, while inCharlotte's Web, the central character Wilbur is a pig who formed a relationship with a spider named Charlotte.The 1995 filmBabehumorously portrayed a pig who wanted to be aherding dog, based on the character in Dick King-Smith's 1983 novelThe Sheep Pig.Among new takes on the classicThree Little Pigsis Corey Rosen Schwartz andDan Santat's 2012The ThreeNinjaPigs.
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 asamulets.
Pig meat has come to be seen as unacceptable to some world religions. InIslamandJudaismthe consumption of pork is forbidden.ManyHindusarelacto-vegetarian, avoiding all kinds of meat.InBuddhism, the pig symbolises delusion (Sanskrit:moha), one of thethree poisons(Sanskrit:triviṣa).As with Hindus, manyBuddhists are vegetarian, and somesutrasof the Buddha state that meat should not be eaten;monks in theMahayanatraditions are forbidden to eat meat of any kind.
Pigs have in contrast been sacred in several religions, including theDruidsof Ireland, whose priests were called "swine". One of the animals sacred to the Roman goddessDianawas the boar; she sent theCalydonian boarto destroy the land. In Hinduism, the boar-headedVarahais venerated as anavatarof the godVishnu.The sow was sacred to the Egyptian goddessIsisand used in sacrifice toOsiris.
Many places are named for pigs. In England such placenames includeGrizedale("Pig valley", from Old Scandinaviangriss, young pig, anddalr, valley),Swilland("Pig land", from Old Englishswinandland),Swindon("Pig hill"), andSwineford("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").
Several idioms related to pigs have entered the English language, often with negative connotations of dirt,greed, or themonopolisationof resources, as in "road hog" or "server hog". 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 asepithets 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 malechauvinist, the latter term adopted originally by thewomen's liberation movementin the 1960s.
Piggy banksare ceramic containers to save money into. Piggy banks in the shape of pigs are found in the 12th century on Java, Indonesia and in the 13th century in Thuringia, Germany.The connection between saving, prosperity and pigs may in East Asia come from their round bellies and a connection with the earth spirits.