The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

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Cosimo, Inc., Jan 1, 2009 - Religion - 732 pages
In 1890, James George Frazer began publishing The Golden Bough, his monumental study of myth, ritual, and religion, which would, by 1936, run to 13 volumes and establish him as a pioneer in the study of religion as an aspect of culture. This abridged edition, assembled in 1922, condenses this fundamental work to one readable volume that is still a source for modern anthropology, thanks to its expansive discussions ancient cultish practices and their connections to the rites of modern Christianity. In eloquent prose, Frazer discusses legends of the woods, sympathetic magic, magicians as kings, the worship of trees, the concept of the sacred marriage, the links between priestly and royal power, ritual royal sacrifices, the concept of "eating the god," the myths of Osiris, Adonis, Isis, and other ancient deities, and much more. Lovers of mythology will be enraptured by this book, which draws all of human belief under one unifying umbrella, celebrating myth and ritual as part of the basis of all human culture. Scottish anthropologist SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER (1854-1941) also wrote the classic The Golden Bough (1890), *Man, God, and Immortality* (1927), and Creation and Evolution in Primitive Cosmogonies (1935).
 

Selected pages

Contents

THE KING OF THE WOOD
1
PRIESTLY KINGS
9
MAGIC AND RELIGION
48
MAGICIANS AS KINGS
83
INCARNATE HUMAN GODS
91
DEPARTMENTAL KINGS of Nature
106
RELICS OF TREEWORSHIP IN MODERN EUROPE
120
THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEXES ON Vegetation
135
The Magic Spring
320
THE MYTH OF ADONIS
324
ADONIS IN SYRIA
327
ADONIS IN CYPRUS
329
THE RITUAL OF ADONIS
335
THE GARDENS OF ADONIS
341
THE MYTH AND RITUAL OF ATTIS
347
ATTIS AS A GOD OF VEGETATION
352

THE KINGS OF ROME AND ALBA
146
CHAP PAGE XIV THE SUCCESSION TO THE KINGDOM IN ANCIENT LATIUM
152
THE WORSHIP OF THE OAK
159
DIANUS AND DIANA
161
THE GOLDEN BOUGH
163
PAGE
168
Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power
175
THE PERILS OF THE SOUL
178
Absence and Recall of the Soul
180
The Soul as a Shadow and a Reflection
189
TABOOED ACTS
194
Taboos on Eating and Drinking
198
Taboos on showing the Face
199
Taboos on quitting the House
200
TABOOED PERSONS
202
Mourners tabooed
205
Women tabooed at Menstruation and Childbirth
207
Warriors tabooed
210
Manslayers tabooed
212
Hunters and Fishers tabooed
216
TABOOED THINGS
223
Iron tabooed
224
Sharp Weapons tabooed
226
Blood tabooed
227
The Head tabooed
230
Hair tabooed
231
Ceremonies at Haircutting
233
9
237
Foods tabooed
238
TABOOED WORDS
244
Names of Relations tabooed
249
Names of the Dead tabooed
251
Names of Kings and other Sacred Persons tabooed
257
Names of Gods tabooed
260
CHAP PAGE XXIII OUR DEBT TO THE Savage
262
THE KILLING OF THE DIVINE KING
264
Kings killed when their Strength fails
265
Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term
274
TEMPORARY KINGS
283
SACRIFICE OF THE KINGS SON
289
SUCCESSION TO THE SOUL
293
THE KILLING OF THE TREESPIRIT
296
Burying the Carnival
301
Carrying out Death
307
Bringing in Summer
311
Battle of Summer and Winter
316
Death and Resurrection of Kostrubonko
317
Death and Revival of Vegetation
318
Analogous Rites in India
319
HUMAN REPRESENTATIVES OF ATTIS
353
ORIENTAL RELIGIONS IN THE WEST
356
THE MYTH OF OSIRIS
362
THE RITUAL OF OSIRIS
368
The Official Rites
373
THE NATURE OF OSIRIS
377
Osiris a Treespirit
380
Osiris a God of Fertility
381
ISIS
382
OSIRIS AND THE
384
DIONYSUS PAGE 384
385
Demeter and PersSEPHONE
393
THE CORNMOTHER AND THE CORNMAIDEN IN NORTHERN EUROPE
399
THE CORNMOTHER IN MANY LANDS 1 The Cornmother in America
412
The Ricemother in the East Indies
417
The Spirit of the Corn embodied in Human Beings
419
The Double Personification of the Corn as Mother
420
Daughter
421
LITVERSES 1 Songs of the Corn Reapers
424
Killing the Cornspirit
425
Human Sacrifices for the Crops
431
The Cornspirit slain in his Human Representatives
438
THE CORNSPIRIT AS AN ANIMAL 1 Animal Embodiments of the Cornspirit
447
The Cornspirit as a Wolf or a
448
The Cornspirit as a Cock
450
The Cornspirit as a Hare
452
The Cornspirit as a
453
The Cornspirit as a Goat
454
The Cornspirit as a Bull Cow or
457
The Cornspirit as a Horse or Mare
459
The Cornspirit as a Pig Boar or Sow
460
On the Animal Embodiments of the Cornspirit
462
ANCIENT DEITIES of Vegetation AS ANIMALS 1 Dionysus the Goat and the Bull
464
Demeter the Pig and the Horse
469
Attis Adonis and the
471
Osiris the Pig and the Bull
472
Virbius and the Horse
476
EATING THE
479
M
488
CHAP PAGE
499
THE PROPITIATION OF WILD ANIMALS BY HUNTERS
518
TYPES OF ANIMAL SACRAMENT
532
THE TRANSFERENCE OF EVIL
538
THE PUBLIC EXPULSION OF EVILS
546
PUBLIC SCAPEGOATS
562
LVIII HUMAN SCAPEGOATS IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
577
KILLING THE GOD IN MEXICO
587
48
607
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