Gallo-Roman Statuette of a Boar

This picture is part of a series about archeological digs which took place in Toulon-sur-Allier (France) in 1856-1857. The wild boar was sacred to the Gauls and more generally to the Celts. It was related to knowledge and to the realm of the dead and deities, and as such it was associated with the religious class, represented by the druids.

Figures of wild boars are frequent throughout Europe, on helmets or shields, on coins, engraved in metal or in stone. A number of votive bronze wild boars have been found as well.