The Cock in Antiquity: Revered, Venerated, Deified

Cockfighting, the deliberate act of pitting two or more birds against each other, was introduced into Britain in antiquity. When, and by whom, is a matter of conjecture, but the practice has its genesis in the secular and spiritual beliefs and practices of the ancient Near East. The cock itself (gallus gallinaceus), is a descendant of the red jungle fowl (gallus gallus) that originated in Southeast Asia, and the oldest remains of which, dating from 12,000 years ago, have been found in Nanzhuang province in northern China. These bones are considered too small to have been from domesticated birds but where and when chickens were first domesticated is a matter of conjecture, although DNA evidence from the archaeological site at Chishan in the Hebe province of China point to domestication by 5400 BC. The first dispersal of birds out of Asia began about 3000 years ago, westwards to Europe and eastwards into the Pacific. Archaeological, historical and iconographic evidence from the Southern Levant (Israel, Palestine and Jordan), especially from Maresha in Israel, suggest that chickens were widely used as domestic livestock in the Hellenistic period (fourth to second century BC), where their husbandry was important for economic and dietary purposes. However, for thousands of years before that they were considered an exotic species. With their inherent characteristics mythologised, they were used for symbolic and social purposes such as cockfighting or displayed in royal zoos.