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Volume 105 No. 4
October 2001
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High on the Hog: Linking Zooarchaeological, Literary, and Artistic Data for Pigs in Roman Italy
Michael MacKinnon
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| Pig being led for sacrifice |
Three principal sources of data provide information about animals in antiquity. References to animals in the ancient texts furnish written accounts and descriptions. Depictions of them from ancient art yield visual images, while the analysis of their bones recovered from archaeological sites supplies further data about the actual animals themselves. Integration of these three sources of data is essential to form a complete understanding of the role of animals in antiquity, and to recognize the strengths and shortcomings associated with each source. Pigs were important animals to the ancient Romans in Italy. Linking the zooarchaeological, literary, and artistic data about them shows the presence of at least two different breeds - a large, fat, short-legged variety and a small, bristled, long-legged variety. Zooarchaeological data confirm that the smaller breed figured more prominently as a source of meat in the Roman diet. The texts suggest that this breed was kept in herds and pannaged in forests for its food. The larger breed seems to have been raised in a different manner, being stall fed, and in much reduced numbers compared to its smaller equivalent. Moreover, because of its grand size and the message of social and economic prosperity with which this quality is associated, this larger breed predominates among artistic depictions of pigs in Roman visual culture.
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