Editing Wild boar (section)

=== In culture ===
[[File:Altamira paintings 01.jpg|thumb|[[Upper Paleolithic]] [[cave painting]], [[Cave of Altamira|Altamira]], Spain. This is a modern interpretation of one of the earliest known depictions of the species.<ref name="cabanau63">{{Harvnb|Cabanau|2001|p=63}}</ref>]]
[[File:PELSO.png|thumb|Depiction of wild boars at [[Lake Balaton]] on silver dish (part of the 4th century [[Sevso Treasure]])]]
[[File:Luumäki.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|The head of a wild boar on the left side of the coat of arms of [[Luumäki]], Finland. A wild boar refers to the [[Svinhufvud (family)|family]] of [[President of Finland|President]] [[P. E. Svinhufvud]] from Luumäki (''Svinhufvud'' literally means the "swine head").<ref>{{cite news|title=Finland: Wet Threats|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 December 1931}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Suomen kunnallisvaakunat |publisher=Suomen Kunnallisliitto |year=1982 |page=145 |isbn=951-773-085-3 |language=fi}}</ref>]]

The wild boar features prominently in the cultures of [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] people, many of which saw the animal as embodying warrior virtues.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Beresnevičius |first=Gintaras |title=Aisčių mater deum klausimu |trans-title=On the question of Mater Deum of the Aisčiai |language=Lithuanian |journal=Liaudies kultūra |date=2006 |number=2 |page=6 |issn=0236-0551 |url=https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/4244 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206065216/https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/4244 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Cultures throughout Europe and Asia Minor saw the killing of a boar as proof of one's valor and strength. [[Neolithic]] [[hunter gatherers]] depicted reliefs of ferocious wild boars on their temple pillars at [[Göbekli Tepe]] some 11,600 years ago.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Charles C. |last=Mann |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text |title=Göbekli Tepe: The Birth of Religion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318190622/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text |archive-date=18 March 2012 |magazine=National Geographic |date=June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Sandra |last=Scham |url=http://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html |title=The World's First Temple |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808174031/http://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html |archive-date=8 August 2017 |journal=Archaeology |volume=61 |number=6 |date=2008}}</ref> Virtually all heroes in [[Greek mythology]] fight or kill a boar at one point. The [[demigod]] [[Herakles]]' [[Labours of Hercules|third labour]] involves the capture of the [[Erymanthian Boar]], [[Theseus]] slays the wild sow [[Crommyonian Sow|Phaea]], and a disguised [[Odysseus]] is recognised by his handmaiden [[Eurycleia]] by the scars inflicted on him by a boar during a hunt in his youth.<ref name=mallory1997>{{cite book |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |last2=Adams |first2=D. Q. |date=1997 |title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=426–428 |isbn=1-884964-98-2}}</ref> To the mythical [[Hyperborea]]ns, the boar represented spiritual authority.<ref name="cabanau63" /> Several Greek myths use the boar as a symbol of darkness, death and winter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Evans Lansing |date=1997 |title=The Hero Journey in Literature: Parables of Poesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6ujnlUsMFgC&pg=PA254 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |pages=253–254 |isbn=978-0-761-80509-0 |access-date=18 January 2022 |archive-date=5 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305145157/https://books.google.com/books?id=e6ujnlUsMFgC&pg=PA254 |url-status=live }}</ref> One example is the story of the youthful [[Adonis]], who is killed by a boar and is permitted by [[Zeus]] to depart from [[Greek underworld|Hades]] only during the spring and summer period. This theme also occurs in [[Irish mythology|Irish]] and [[Egyptian mythology]], where the animal is explicitly linked to the month of October, therefore autumn. This association likely arose from aspects of the boar's actual nature. Its dark colour was linked to the night, while its solitary habits, proclivity to consume crops and nocturnal nature were associated with evil.<ref name="scheggi14">{{Harvnb|Scheggi|1999|pp=14–15}}</ref> The [[Origin myth|foundation myth]] of [[Ephesus]] has the city being built over the site where Prince Androklos of [[Athens]] killed a boar.<ref name="scheggi16">{{Harvnb|Scheggi|1999|pp=16}}</ref> Boars were frequently depicted on Greek funerary monuments alongside [[lion]]s, representing gallant losers who have finally met their match, as opposed to victorious hunters as lions are. The theme of the doomed, yet valorous boar warrior also occurred in [[Hittites|Hittite]] culture, where it was traditional to sacrifice a boar alongside a dog and a prisoner of war after a military defeat.<ref name=mallory1997 />

[[File:Clan member crest badge - Clan Campbell.svg|thumb|left|The head of wild boar is prominent in the [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] of the [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Clan Campbell]]. ]]
[[File:WLA lacma Varaha the Boar Avatar of Vishnu Mathura.jpg|thumb|left|3rd century sandstone Varaha sculpture from [[Mathura]], depicting the Hindu boar god [[Varaha]] rescuing the earth, depicted as a goddess dangling from his tusks.]]
The boar as a warrior also appears in [[Germanic peoples|Germanic cultures]], with its image having been frequently engraved on shields and swords. They also feature on [[Germanic boar helmets]], such as the [[Benty Grange helmet]], where it was believed to offer protection to the wearer and has been theorised to have been used in spiritual transformations into swine, similar to [[berserkers]]. The boar features heavily in religious practice in [[Germanic paganism]] where it is closely associated with [[Freyr]] and has also been suggested to have been a totemic animal to the Swedes, especially to the [[Yngling|Yngling royal dynasty]] who claimed descent from the god.<ref name="Kovářová">{{cite journal |last1=Kovářová |first1=L. |title=The Swine in Old Nordic Religion and Worldview |journal=Háskóla Íslands |date=2011 |s2cid=154250096}}</ref>

According to [[Tacitus]], the [[Baltic people|Baltic]] [[Aesti]] featured boars on their helmets and may have also worn boar masks. The boar and pig were held in particularly high esteem by the [[Celts]], who considered them to be their most important sacred animal. Some [[Celtic deities]] linked to boars include [[Moccus]] and [[Veteris]]. It has been suggested that some early myths surrounding the Welsh hero [[Culhwch]] involved the character being the son of a boar god.<ref name=mallory1997 /> Nevertheless, the importance of the boar as a culinary item among Celtic tribes may have been exaggerated in popular culture by the ''[[Asterix]]'' series, as wild boar bones are rare among Celtic archaeological sites and the few that do occur show no signs of butchery, having probably been used in sacrificial rituals.<ref name=green2002>{{cite book |last=Green |first=M. |date=2002 |title=Animals in Celtic Life and Myth |publisher=Routledge |page=46 |isbn=1-134-66531-8}}</ref>

The boar also appears in [[Vedic mythology]] and [[Hindu mythology]]. A story present in the [[Brahmanas]] has the god [[Indra]] slaying an avaricious boar, who has stolen the treasure of the [[Asura (Hinduism)|asuras]], then giving its carcass to the god [[Vishnu]], who offered it as a sacrifice to the gods. In the story's retelling in the [[Charaka Samhita]], the boar is described as a form of [[Prajapati]] and is credited with having raised the Earth from the primeval waters. In the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Puranas]], the same boar is portrayed as [[Varaha]], an [[avatar]] of Vishnu.<ref>{{cite book |last=Macdonell |first=A. A. |date=1995 |orig-date=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b7Meabtj8mcC&pg=PA41 |title=Vedic Mythology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305145147/https://books.google.com/books?id=b7Meabtj8mcC&pg=PA41 |archive-date=5 March 2023 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |page=41|isbn=978-81-208-1113-3 }}</ref>

[[File:Herakles Erymanthian boar BM B213.jpg|thumb|[[Herakles]] brings [[Eurystheus]] the [[Erymanthian boar]], as depicted on a black-figure amphora ({{Circa|550 BC}}) from [[Vulci]].]]
In [[Japanese culture]], the boar is widely seen as a fearsome and reckless animal, to the point that several words and expressions in [[Japanese language|Japanese]] referring to recklessness include references to boars. The boar is the last animal of the [[Chinese zodiac|Oriental zodiac]], with people born during the [[Pig (zodiac)|year of the Pig]] being said to embody the boar-like traits of determination and impetuosity. Among Japanese hunters, the boar's courage and defiance is a source of admiration and it is not uncommon for hunters and [[mountain people]] to name their sons after the animal ''inoshishi'' (猪). Boars are also seen as symbols of fertility and prosperity; in some regions, it is thought that boars are drawn to fields owned by families including pregnant women, and hunters with pregnant wives are thought to have greater chances of success when boar hunting. The animal's link to prosperity was illustrated by its inclusion on the [[¥]]10 note during the [[Meiji period]] and it was once believed that a man could become wealthy by keeping a clump of boar hair in his wallet.<ref name=knight2003>Knight, J. (2003), ''Waiting for Wolves in Japan: An Anthropological Study of People-wildlife Relations'', Oxford University Press, pp. 49–73, {{ISBN|0-19-925518-0}}</ref>

In the folklore of the [[Mongolian people|Mongol]] [[Altai Uriankhai]] tribe, the wild boar was associated with the watery underworld, as it was thought that the spirits of the dead entered the animal's head, to be ultimately transported to the water.<ref name=pegg2001>Pegg, C. (2001), ''Mongolian Music, Dance, & Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities'', University of Washington Press, p. 140, {{ISBN|0-295-98112-1}}</ref> Prior to the conversion to Islam, the [[Kyrgyz people]] believed that they were descended from boars and thus did not eat pork. In [[Buryats|Buryat]] mythology, the forefathers of the Buryats descended from heaven and were nourished by a boar.<ref name=holmberg1927>Holmberg, U. (1927), ''[[The Mythology of All Races]] volume 4: Finno-Ugric, Siberian'', New York, Cooper Square Publishing Inc. pp. 502–503</ref> In [[China]], the boar is the emblem of the [[Miao people]].<ref name="cabanau63" />

The boar ([[Boars in heraldry|sanglier]]) is frequently displayed in [[English heraldry|English]], [[Scottish heraldry|Scottish]] and [[Welsh heraldry]]. As with the [[Lion (heraldry)|lion]], the boar is often shown as armed and [[langued]]. As with the [[Bear in heraldry|bear]], Scottish and Welsh heraldry displays the boar's head with the neck cropped, unlike the English version, which retains the neck.<ref>Fox-Davies, A. C. (1909), [https://archive.org/stream/completeguidetoh00foxdrich#page/198/mode/2up ''A complete guide to heraldry''], London, Edinburgh, T.C. & E.C. Jack, pp. 198–199</ref> The [[white boar]] served as the [[Heraldic badge|badge]] of [[Richard III of England|King Richard III of England]], who distributed it among his northern retainers during his tenure as [[Duke of Gloucester]].<ref>Wagner, J. A. (2001) ''Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses'', ABC-CLIO, p. 15, {{ISBN|1-85109-358-3}}</ref>
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