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Title: The Golden Bough

A study of magic and religion

 

Author: Sir James George Frazer

 

Release Date: January, 2003 [EBook #3623]

[This file was last updated on March 23, 2003]

 

Edition: 11

 

Language: English

 

Character set encoding: ASCII, with some ISO-8859-1 characters *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BOUGH ***

 

This etext was produced by David Reed

 

The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion by Sir James George Frazer

 

CONTENTS

Preface

Subject Index

 

Chapter 1. The King of the Wood

1. Diana and Virbius

2. Artemis and Hippolytus 3. Recapitulation

 

Chapter 2. Priestly Kings

 

Chapter 3. Sympathetic Magic

1. The Principles of Magic 2. Homoeopathic or Imitative Magic 3. Contagious Magic

4. The Magician’s Progress Chapter 4. Magic and Religion

 

Chapter 5. The Magical Control of the Weather 1. The Public Magician

2. The Magical Control of Rain 3. The Magical Control of the Sun 4. The Magical Control of the Wind Chapter 6. Magicians as Kings

 

Chapter 7. Incarnate Human Gods

 

Chapter 8. Departmental Kings of Nature Chapter 9. The Worship of Trees

1. Tree-spirits

2. Beneficent Powers of Tree-Spirits Chapter 10. Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe Chapter 11. The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation Chapter 12. The Sacred Marriage

1. Diana as a Goddess of Fertility 2. The Marriage of the Gods Chapter 13. The Kings of Rome and Alba 1. Numa and Egeria

2. The King as Jupiter

Chapter 14. Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium Chapter 15. The Worship of the Oak

 

Chapter 16. Dianus and Diana

 

Chapter 17. The Burden of Royalty

1. Royal and Priestly Taboos 2. Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power Chapter 18. The Perils of the Soul

1. The Soul as a Mannikin 2. Absence and Recall of the Soul 3. The Soul as a Shadow and a Reflection Chapter 19. Tabooed Acts

1. Taboos on Intercourse with Strangers 2. Taboos on Eating and Drinking 3. Taboos on Showing the Face 4. Taboos on Quitting the House 5. Taboos on Leaving Food over Chapter 20. Tabooed Persons

1. Chiefs and Kings tabooed 2. Mourners tabooed

3. Women tabooed at Menstruation and Childbirth 4. Warriors tabooed

5. Manslayers tabooed

6. Hunters and Fishers tabooed Chapter 21. Tabooed Things

1. The Meaning of Taboo

2. Iron tabooed

3. Sharp Weapons tabooed

4. Blood tabooed

5. The Head tabooed

6. Hair tabooed

7. Ceremonies at Hair-cutting 8. Disposal of Cut Hair and Nails 9. Spittle tabooed

10. Foods tabooed

11. Knots and Rings tabooed Chapter 22. Tabooed Words

1. Personal Names tabooed 2. Names of Relations tabooed 3. Names of the Dead tabooed 4. Names of Kings and other Sacred Persons tabooed 5. Names of Gods tabooed

 

Chapter 23. Our Debt to the Savage

 

Chapter 24. The Killing of the Divine King 1. The Mortality of the Gods 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term Chapter 25. Temporary Kings

 

Chapter 26. Sacrifice of the Kings Son Chapter 27. Succession to the Soul

 

Chapter 28. The Killing of the Tree-Spirit 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers 2. Burying the Carnival

3. Carrying out Death

4. Bringing in Summer

5. Battle of Summer and Winter 6. Death and Resurrection of Kostrubonko 7. Death and Revival of Vegetation 8. Analogous Rites in India 9. The Magic Spring

 

Chapter 29. The Myth of Adonis

 

Chapter 30. Adonis in Syria

 

Chapter 31. Adonis in Cyprus

 

Chapter 32. The Ritual of Adonis

 

Chapter 33. The Gardens of Adonis

 

Chapter 34. The Myth and Ritual of Attis Chapter 35. Attis as a God of Vegetation Chapter 36. Human Representatives of Attis Chapter 37. Oriental Religions in the West Chapter 38. The Myth of Osiris

 

Chapter 39. The Ritual of Osiris

1. The Popular Rites

2. The Official Rites

Chapter 40. The Nature of Osiris

1. Osiris a Corngod

2. Osiris a Tree-spirit

3. Osiris a God of Fertility 4. Osiris a God of the Dead Chapter 41. Isis

 

Chapter 42. Osiris and the Sun

 

Chapter 43. Dionysus

 

Chapter 44. Demeter and Persephone

 

Chapter 45. Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in N. Europe Chapter 46. Corn-Mother in Many Lands

1. The Corn-mother in America 2. The Rice-mother in the East Indies 3. The Spirit of the Corn embodied in Human Beings 4. The Double Personification of the Corn as Mother and Daughter Chapter 47. Lityerses

1. Songs of the Corn Reapers 2. Killing the Cornspirit 3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops 4. The Cornspirit slain in his Human Representatives Chapter 48. The CornSpirit as an Animal 1. Animal Embodiments of the Cornspirit 2. The Cornspirit as a Wolf or a Dog 3. The Cornspirit as a Cock 4. The Cornspirit as a Hare 5. The Cornspirit as a Cat 6. The Cornspirit as a Goat 7. The Cornspirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox 8. The Cornspirit as a Horse or Mare 9. The Cornspirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow) 10. On the Animal Embodiments of the Cornspirit Chapter 49. Ancient Deities of Vegetation as Animals 1. Dionysus, the Goat and the Bull 2. Demeter, the Pig and the Horse 3. Attis, Adonis, and the Pig 4. Osiris, the Pig and the Bull 5. Virbius and the Horse

 

Chapter 50. Eating the God

1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs 3. Many Manii at Aricia

 

Chapter 51. Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal

1. Killing the Sacred Buzzard 2. Killing the Sacred Ram 3. Killing the Sacred Serpent 4. Killing the Sacred Turtles 5. Killing the Sacred Bear Chapter 53. The Propitiation of Wild Animals By Hunters Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament

1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament 2. Processions with Sacred Animals Chapter 55. The Transference of Evil

1. The Transference to Inanimate Objects 2. The Transference to Animals 3. The Transference to Men 4. The Transference of Evil in Europe Chapter 56. The Public Expulsion of Evils 1. The Omnipresence of Demons 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils 3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils Chapter 57. Public Scapegoats

1. The Expulsion of Embodied Evils 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle 3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle 4. On Scapegoats in General Chapter 58. Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity 1. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Rome 2. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece 3. The Roman Saturnalia

 

Chapter 59. Killing the God in Mexico

 

Chapter 60. Between Heaven and Earth

1. Not to touch the Earth 2. Not to see the Sun

3. The Seclusion of Girls at Puberty 4. Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty Chapter 61. The Myth of Balder

 

Chapter 62. The FireFestivals of Europe 1. The Firefestivals in general 2. The Lenten Fires

3. The Easter Fires

4. The Beltane Fires

5. The Midsummer Fires

6. The Halloween Fires

7. The Midwinter Fires

8. The Needfire

Chapter 63. The Interpretation of the FireFestivals 1. On the Firefestivals in general 2. The Solar Theory of the Firefestivals 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Firefestivals Chapter 64. The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires 1. The Burning of Effigies in the Fires 2. The Burning of Men and Animals in the Fires Chapter 65. Balder and the Mistletoe

 

Chapter 66. The External Soul in Folk-Tales Chapter 67. The External Soul in Folk-Custom 1. The External Soul in Inanimate Things 2. The External Soul in Plants 3. The External Soul in Animals 4. The Ritual of Death and Resurrection Chapter 68. The Golden Bough

 

Chapter 69. Farewell to Nemi

Preface

THE PRIMARY aim of this book is to explain the remarkable rule which regulated the succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia. When I first set myself to solve the problem more than thirty years ago, I thought that the solution could be propounded very briefly, but I soon found that to render it probable or even intelligible it was necessary to discuss certain more general questions, some of which had hardly been broached before. In successive editions the discussion of these and kindred topics has occupied more and more space, the enquiry has branched out in more and more directions, until the two volumes of the original work have expanded into twelve. Meantime a wish has often been expressed that the book should be issued in a more compendious form. This abridgment is an attempt to meet the wish and thereby to bring the work within the range of a wider circle of readers. While the bulk of the book has been greatly reduced, I have endeavoured to retain its leading principles, together with an amount of evidence sufficient to illustrate them clearly. The language of the original has also for the most part been preserved, though here and there the exposition has been somewhat condensed. In order to keep as much of the text as possible I have sacrificed all the notes, and with them all exact references to my authorities. Readers who desire to ascertain the source of any particular statement must therefore consult the larger work, which is fully documented and provided with a complete bibliography.

 

In the abridgment I have neither added new matter nor altered the views expressed in the last edition; for the evidence which has come to my knowledge in the meantime has on the whole served either to confirm my former conclusions or to furnish fresh illustrations of old principles. Thus, for example, on the crucial question of the practice of putting kings to death either at the end of a fixed period or whenever their health and strength began to fail, the body of evidence which points to the wide prevalence of such a custom has been considerably augmented in the interval. A striking instance of a limited monarchy of this sort is furnished by the powerful mediaeval kingdom of the Khazars in Southern Russia, where the kings were liable to be put to death either on the expiry of a set term or whenever some public calamity, such as drought, dearth, or defeat in war, seemed to indicate a failure of their natural powers. The evidence for the systematic killing of the Khazar kings, drawn from the accounts