This article examines the role of the pig in the ancient sources that describe the violent confrontation between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Jews in the second century BCE. Comparing relevant passages from 1 and 2 Maccabees, Josephus, Diodorus Siculus’ Historical Library, and 4 Maccabees, I argue that there is much greater diversity in the representation of the pig than has been recognized to date; while the sources from the Roman era view the pig through the prism of the distinctive Jewish diet, earlier Jewish traditions emphasize the issue of sacrificial practices involving the pig and the resulting defilement of the Temple. This diversity in the representation of the pig thus provides important evidence of the multiple ways in which unclean animals could be connected to issues of Jewish identity in antiquity, as well as the complex roles they played in the narration of violent episodes of the past.