Victorian comparative religion

The Golden Bough: Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12

James George Frazer1913Vol. 9 of 12
Advancedcomplete

This volume returns to the central mystery of The Golden Bough—the priest-kingship of Nemi and the ritual of the King of the Wood. Frazer synthesizes his accumulated evidence to explain why the priest of Diana at Nemi could only assume office by slaying his predecessor. The work analyzes Roman religion, the sacred grove, the golden bough itself, and proposes that the King of the Wood embodied a vegetation deity who must be ritually killed to ensure nature's renewal and transfer vitality to a stronger successor.

Also known asFrazer's Golden Bough · Magical Origins
This edition1913
EditionThird edition, Volume 9 of 12: The Scapegoat (second part)
Comparative ReligionRoman religionkingship successionpriest-kingshipSolar & Vegetation MythsAnthropology of ReligionMythologyClassical mythologysuccession by combatFolklore PatternsComparative MythologyAnthropologyritual king-killingClassical Studiessympathetic magicvegetation magic

Contents44 chapters

  1. 01Contents
  2. 02Preface.
  3. 03Chapter I. The Transference of Evil.
  4. 04§ 1. The Transference to Inanimate Objects.
  5. 05§ 2. The Transference to Stones and Sticks.
  6. 06§ 3. The Transference to Animals.
  7. 07§ 4. The Transference to Men.
  8. 08§ 5. The Transference of Evil in Europe.
  9. 09§ 6. The Nailing of Evils.
  10. 10Chapter II. The Omnipresence of Demons.
  11. 11Chapter III. The Public Expulsion of Evils.
  12. 12§ 1. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils.
  13. 13§ 2. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils.
  14. 14Chapter IV. Public Scapegoats.
  15. 15§ 1. The Expulsion of Embodied Evils.
  16. 16§ 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle.
  17. 17§ 3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle.
  18. 18Chapter V. On Scapegoats in General.
  19. 19Chapter VI. Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity.
  20. 20§ 1. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Rome.
  21. 21§ 2. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece.
  22. 22Chapter VII. Killing the God in Mexico.
  23. 23Chapter VIII. The Saturnalia and Kindred Festivals.
  24. 24§ 1. The Roman Saturnalia.
  25. 25§ 2. The King of the Bean and the Festival of Fools.
  26. 26§ 3. The Saturnalia and Lent.
  27. 27§ 4. Saturnalia in Ancient Greece.
  28. 28§ 5. Saturnalia in Western Asia.
  29. 29§ 6. Conclusion.
  30. 30Note. The Crucifixion Of Christ.920
  31. 31Index.
  32. 32Footnotes
  33. 33THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
  34. 34"Cover"
  35. 35The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)
  36. 36The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  37. 37The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  38. 38The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  39. 39The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  40. 40The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  41. 41The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  42. 42The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  43. 43The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer
  44. 44The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 9 of 12) by James George Frazer

Influences & Sources

By the Same Author

Ask the Hermetikon Archivist about this text

Search within this book, retrieve direct quotations with page references, or explore related ideas.

Ask the Archivist