And in general
it may perhaps be said that all so-called unclean animals were
originally sacred; the reason for not eating them was that they were
divine.
4. Osiris, the Pig and the Bull
IN ANCIENT Egypt, within historical times, the pig occupied the same
dubious position as in Syria and Palestine, though at first sight
its uncleanness is more prominent than its sanctity. The Egyptians
are generally said by Greek writers to have abhorred the pig as a
foul and loathsome animal. If a man so much as touched a pig in
passing, he stepped into the river with all his clothes on, to wash
off the taint. To drink pig's milk was believed to cause leprosy to
the drinker. Swineherds, though natives of Egypt, were forbidden to
enter any temple, and they were the only men who were thus excluded.
No one would give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or marry
a swineherd's daughter; the swineherds married among themselves. Yet
once a year the Egyptians sacrificed pigs to the moon and to Osiris,
and not only sacrificed them, but ate of their flesh, though on any
other day of the year they would neither sacrifice them nor taste of
their flesh.
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