Pig

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica), commonly referred to simply as pig, is a domesticated subspecies of the wild boar. Domesticated pigs, unlike their wild cousins, have a lot less hair. Several species are known but the most common ones are pink in color.

History[]

Among the earliest animals domesticated by humans, pigs have been used as a source of meat in human societies across the world, from ancient Greece, where their tails were valued at 3 drachmae apiece,^[1] to the Philippines and the Thirteen Colonies during the 18th century.^[2]^[3]

In the 9th century, the Norse settlement of Ravensthorpe in England also raised pigs, not just for their meat, but also as pets.^[4] At one point, the shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir encountered a "pig of prophecy", Matilda, in Canterbury. After Eivor drank a psychoactive brew from a nearby tub, she hallucinated Matilda speaking to her, introducing herself as a seer and reciting various prophecies, some of which concerned events in the far future.^[5]

After a pig escapes to the wild, their offspring are often known as wild pigs.^[6]

Influence[]

In ancient Greece, the economy of Megaris and its main city of Megara relied on pig farming, for which reason the region's emblem featured the head of a pig. The Spartan misthios Kassandra once made a note of this, remarking "Megaris, the city of pigs" when she visited Megaris for the first itme.^[1]

In Chinese culture, pigs are considered symbols of good fortune, the same as jade.^[7]

Colloquially, the term pig has come to denote a greedy, dirty, or unpleasant person.