Boar
The boar denotes solar or lunar vitality, courage, fertility, warfare, lust, gluttony, and winter destruction, with sacred and hostile meanings varying sharply across traditions.
Our paraphrase of what the sources say it carries.
At a glance
- Type
- Symbol
- Borne by
- 6 figures (3 are this, 3 carry it)
- Traditions
- Greek mythology (3)European folklore (general) (2)Indonesian folklore (1)
Figures that bear it
A model judged each figure against its own description, one term at a time. Is: the figure is a kind of this thing. Bears: it carries the thing or is marked by it. What a figure does is filed under motifs and powers. Open "why" for the sentence the judgement rests on.
- Babi ngepet is Indonesian folklore
why
It amasses wealth by transforming into a boar and eating farm crops, transferring the value to its human form.
- Calydonian Boar is Greek mythology
why
In Greek mythology, the Calydonian Boar is a monstrous, divine swine.
- Catoblepas is Greek mythology
why
In Greek mythology, Catoblepas is a sluggish beast with a boar’s body and a heavy, downturned head.
- Monocerus bears European folklore (general)
why
Emerging from medieval European lore, the Monocerus is a wild and fierce beast resembling a horse, with an elephant’s feet and a boar’s tail.
- Stheno bears Greek mythology
why
Descriptions of Stheno's appearance vary somewhat in emphasis but agree on the essentials: hair made of serpents, tusks like a boar's, hands of bronze, and golden wings that let the Gorgons fly.
- Yale bears European folklore (general)
why
The Yale is a beast of medieval heraldry and bestiary tradition, most often described as roughly horse- or antelope-sized, with the jaw and tusks of a boar, a goat-like beard, and the tail of an elephant.