Pigs in the Pergamon Museum

Today I visited the Pergamon Museum here in Berlin. Of course, I scanned all the exhibits searching for pig motifs, and I indeed found a few.

I apologise for the bad quality of some (most) of the photos. Bad lighting conditions, no flash, handheld camera, crappy white balance, and all that.



Above: Double vessel in the form of two little pigs, Assyria, 8th/7th century BCE. They are likely to be domestic pigs, which makes them quite interesting - pigs didn't seem to be all that common in Assyrian arts and crafts. And is there some particular meaning behind the double shape?



Above and below: Boar's head, Babylon, 1st century BCE/year 12 of Nebukadnezar II. It's hard to tell what exact meaning the boar might have in this case.



Below: This piece was described only collectively as one of a number of "riders and animal figures", but it can hardly be anything but a boar. 2nd-1st century BCE, Babylon. The hairiness of the pig suggests that it's likely to be a wild boar.





Below: An object from Luristan, a province in western Iran inhabited by nomadic tribes. These objects are usually offerings from graves. Somewhere between 8th/7th - mid-3rd century BCE. I'm not sure about its function. The similar piece with a deer above it and the nomadic culture of its makers suggest a hunting theme.



Below: A wall relief plate with a jumping boar, Iraq (Ktesiphon area), 7th-6th century. From the intrados of a house in Umm az-Za'âtir. I'm guessing this piece is related to hunting, as well.



Below: Hunting bowl with a Sassanid great king attacked by a boar, Iran, 7th century. Silver, partly gilded. The wild boar as a dangerous adversary. Of course, the king will be victorious in the end ...



Below: A seal stone (to the left) with a wild boar and Pahlavi inscription, Iran, 5th-6th century. To the right is an enlarged image of its impression. I wish I knew what the incription says.

Pigs in service of humanity ...

Pigs have previously been trained to find truffles and narcotics, and now, also mines. In Israel, of all places.

The Wonderful Pig of Knowledge writes about Giva Zin and his sapper pigs. He has also linked to an article about Zin by Jeanette Townsend at MAIC, and the London Imperial War Museum's exhibition Animals at War.

Other animals used by armies around the world throughout history are, for instance, horses, camels, donkeys, mules and elephants (cavalry and transport); pigeons (messengers); dogs (messengers and a variety of life-saving missions); rats (detecting mines); dolphins and sea lions (detecting mines and other objects under water).

Suicide bombers and suidae bummers

A number of factors appears to have led to why the pig is considered a "filthy animal" in Islam and Judaism. However, at the face of 'extreme situations', concessions can apparently be made from this position.

In the struggle to prevent suicide bombers in Israel, there have been propositions, approved by religious authorities, to form a force of 'guard pigs', that would function like guard dogs, sniffing at people crossing security checkpoints and detecting arms and explosives. Likewise, there have been ideas about placing pieces of pork in buses. The point would be that potential fundamentalist Muslim suicide bombers would change their mind about their mission, since if a Muslim touches a pig or pork, he/she can supposedly say goodbye to all those virgins that had been waiting in paradise.

But have the people behind these propositions considered what might happen if the suicide bomber is Christian, secular, or just not so very fundamentalist? And anyway, if they themselves are desperate enough to look away from religious prohibitions against pigs and pork, who says that the potential suicide bomber isn't?

Actually, the notion that a Muslim would be denied entrance to Heaven after touching parts of a pig is "ridiculous", according to Raeed Tayeh of the American Muslim Association in North America. In fact, it seems to be based on urban legends and false caricatures of muslim beliefs.