Victorian comparative religion
The concluding volume of Frazer's first edition expands the investigation into dying and reviving gods, fire festivals, and scapegoat rituals. This volume explores the death and resurrection myths of vegetation deities across cultures, examining figures like Osiris, Adonis, Attis, and Dionysus. Frazer analyzes European fire festivals, harvest customs, and the practice of ritual sacrifice including human sacrifice and the scapegoat. The work culminates in returning to the mystery of the King of the Wood at Nemi, proposing that this priest-king embodied the dying god who must be slain to ensure nature's renewal.
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