Introduction
Pigs are much discussed especially in the literature on ancient religions. The view of pigs as associated with waste, dirt, and disorder in antiquity and as impure in certain belief systems has been underlined in some scholarship. This association is also present in the pig’s role in Greek purificatory rituals: they were required as sacrifices yet were also prohibited in certain sanctuaries. Their meat was eaten with gusto yet also excluded from certain diets, and the habits of the pigs, their omnivorous appetite and noisy behaviour, were metaphors for negativity on many levels.In this article I will not delve into these broader issues but instead look at one particularity of a pig, namely its skin, and thereby make an attempt to explain some of the specificity of the pig with reference to the particularity of its skin. The issue is scrutinised in two interrelated domains, namely practical and conceptual/ideological.
When we start paying attention to skins and hides, and ...




