The Pigeons in the oldest cultures

The beginning of our domestic animals and cultural plants is clothed in complete darkness. Even 4000 years ago the Inkas, whose descendants still live today and resemble the Japanese, grew the corn fruit on the highlands of Peru and Bolivia. They were not the first cultivators, but continued a corn farming from a millennia old culture which practiced farming up to 5000m in the Andes.

Like the surfacing of the breadfruit, the one of the domestic animal is unknown. Animals were taken into housings at a time from which no written document was found. Also we can only guess as to the beginning of our tame pigeon breeds. Nobody can say if pigeons were first kept in India or Persia, in Syria or Egypt as domestic animals. With the first historical transmission from these old cultural lands the pigeons are also named as a part of their cultural integrity.

From cuneiforms of Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians and other cultures was decrypted that the husbandry and training of pigeons and mail pigeons dates at over 3000 years BC. The oldest Egyptian memorials already show pictures of pigeon flocks being fed. The Egyptians were well known as excellent poultry farmers. Pigeons were used at the Pharaonic court for dinner and for other uses as well.

The half-taming of wild rock pigeons and their change to domestic animal happened probably in unknown prehistorical times. You will not assume wrong if you agree with Heinoth that the caveman first endured the rock pigeon as a cohabitant and then very soon cared for it because of it´s useful high fertility. Therefore the rock pigeon might have been brought up to domestic animal status in many places and countries simultaneously and autonomous from each other. By it´s way of living it practically offered itself to the caveman.

As in Egypt there was also a well developed pigeon breeding in Greece. The most ancient writers speak of the Greek pigeon breeding as something of common knowledge. The oracles of Delphi and Dodan already used pigeons as knowing and demonical birds. In Syria, where the pigeon was sacred, it lived with the people in their house and in many flocks on the streets and places.

In Greece, where there was a lively trade with surrounding countries, the pigeons were a popular trading object. The pigeons of noble breed came from Persia to Greece. The Persians brought along pigeons as scouts on their warships. There were tamed pigeons that saved themselves to land when the Persian fleet went down at Athos. And Noah´s pigeon also returned to the Arch when the waters of the deluge were not gone yet.

In Italy the pigeon was introduced by the Phoenicians. To the Phoenicians the pigeon was sacred and untouchable. The realistic Romans on the other hand went to breeding them to have an important income and a welcome feast more. They were gourmets, their sumptuous dinners are still talked of today.

Thousands of pigeon pairs populated the well tended and well furnished pigeonries. Large pigeonries, that sometimes held up to 5000 individuals, were tended to by a specially assigned pigeon caretaker. The ceiling and the walls of the pigeonry were smooth and painted, to hinder the climbing for lizards and mice. The doors and windows were protected with nets against vermin and snakes. Every pigeon pair had it´s own nesting box. The nesting boxes were put into the wall as alcove or made from wood and put to the walls in rows from the floor to the ceiling. In front of every nesting box there was a sitting board to facilitate coming and going. The pigeonry stood in a warm, sunny part of the house or on the roof. It´s ceiling was painted white from time to time because apparently pigeons love the colour white.

They always kept the same amount of males and females to better adapt the animals to the pigeonry. Lots of superstitious methods were used to hinder the fleeing to alien pigeonries. For example ropes on which humans hanged themselves were very sought after to hang into the pigeonry. Light cutting into the wrists of the pigeons, but with golden instruments, apparently had the same effect, as well as feeding them with lots of tufted vetch. As a protection from weasels, weasel ash was put to the food or a bunch of esparto was thrown into the pigeonry.

Because the Romans used the pigeon breeding mainly as a profitable enterprise, they fattened the pigeons with cruel methods. They ripped out the pinions from the growing animals, broke their legs and force-fed them with pre-chewed bred to make them as fat as possible through trapping. The fattening of the turtle dove and the culver was also popular with the Romans. They caught them and locked them into pigeonries without nesting boxes. Instead they drew pegs into the walls, put strips of cannabis tissue on it and barred the front of the rows with a net. The ideal fattening time was during harvest in summer. A fattened turtle dove was a delicacy. The very often wine soaked bread used to force-feed was kneaded with oil-fattened hands under addition of beans and spelt flour.

Along with the food pigeons the Romans also loved the elegant animals with pretty, flashy colours. For especially beautiful pigeons, of which they kept bloodlines, the pigeon admirers paid very high prices, in a way that the exaggeration and foolishness was openly mocked by the author Plinius. The large and strong Cambanian pigeon and the Alexandrinian pigeon were very popular.

In the ancient times the navigation was mainly coast navigation. They used the pigeons because of their swiftness and endurance and because of their good sense of orientation as scouts. Greeks, Egyptians, Phoenicians took them along on their ships and let them rise above the ship to determine the distance to the next land. After leaving from the home harbor, pigeons brought the last farewell and on return they served as messengers of a successfully finished journey. People of a besieged town used them as messengers and the athletes took them along to the Olympic games. With a red tissue around their feet as a sign of victory they returned home and the parents and siblings knew of their family member´s victory even before he could tell them himself. The fraction of Romans that had turned to Christendom soon brought the pigeon into their cult. In the older Christian catacombs the picture of a flying pigeon appears as a sign of the holy ghost to bring to mind: as the holy ghost came down to earth, so the detached true soul elevates itself back to heaven, where she once already lived, she returns back to father´s house. The pigeon becomes a sign for resurrection.

That´s why pigeons get put along into graves and the grave lamps are adorned with designs resembling pigeons, as well as the instruments of the church. Already with the creationism the pigeon acts as the mind of God. It flew over the waters from which life sprung. The Christian culture also took up the thought that stays consolatory at the end of the deluge saga: God makes peace with the humans, Noah´s pigeon stands for peace on Earth.

Dr. Fr. (1937)