Ancient & modern
Boars, which became extinct in Britain in the 17th century, are on the come-back, and their number is estimated at about a thousand. They have very thick hides, can weigh up to 40 stone, are extremely quick, and their razor-sharp tusks rip open dogs with ease. They root up and lay waste large areas of crops in a very short time.
The ancient Greeks knew all about the destructive power of these animals. One complete epic cycle centred on the boar sent by the goddess Artemis to punish king Oeneus of Calydon for insulting her; this boar destroyed Oeneus' orchards, uprooting trees and causing general havoc. It took heroes and heroines from all over Greece — Jason, Theseus, Nestor, Atalanta — to deal with it. Boars feature frequently in Homeric battle similes, sharpening their tusks, rounding on those that pursue them and fighting to the bitter end with their 'strength that is not easily exhausted' — a splendid image of the warrior on the defensive.
Greeks hunted boars keenly, and Xenophon (429-354 BO in his treatise On Hunting explains how. The boar's lair is surrounded by nets, round which the hunters, spears at the ready, take up their positions. Dogs are then sent in to flush the animal out. Xenophon emphasises how dangerous the boar is, and instructs the hunter what to do if the boar knocks the spear out of his hand: he is to lie flat on the ground, clinging to the undergrowth. Since the boar's curved tusks cannot lift him from this position, the hunter may get trampled on and bitten but he will not be gored. Meanwhile, a companion must distract the boar by thrusting his spear at him, though not throwing it, allowing the fallen man to get to his feet, spear this time firmly in hand.
Odysseus, we are told in Homer's Odyssey, bore the scars of one such encounter. The boar, holed up in a lair impenetrable by wind, sun or rain, came charging out, back bristling and eyes aflame. Odysseus, with all the rashness of youth, charged forward, spear poised, but the boar was too quick for him and caught him with a cross-lunge of his tusk above the knee, But it was just a flesh wound, and Odysseus' spear-thrust into the right shoulder went home, killing it instantly. Hunting boar was one arena in which a man could show he was a man. That is not allowed these days, of course, and the hunters finish off their prey with guns. The animal lobby could actually do some good here: let them agree to boarhunting with dogs as long as the only weapon permitted for use is the spear.
Peter Jones
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