The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion

James George Frazer

The Floating Press, May 1, 2009 - Religion - 1036 pages

Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a broad comparative study of mythology and religion. Treating religion as a cultural phenomenon rather than discussing it from a theological perspective, the effect of The Golden Bough on both European literature and the emerging discipline of anthropology was substantial. The pioneering anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski said of it: "No sooner had I read this great work than I became immersed in it and enslaved by it. I realized then that anthropology, as presented by Sir James Frazer, is a great science, worthy of as much devotion as any of her elder and more exact studies and I became bound to the service of Frazerian anthropology."

Contents

• Preface: 7
• I The King of the Wood: 12
• II Priestly Kings: 31
• III Sympathetic Magic: 36
• IV Magic and Religion: 121
• V The Magical Control of the Weather: 148
• VI Magicians as Kings: 201
• VII Incarnate Human Gods: 220
• VIII Departmental Kings of Nature: 256
• IX The Worship of Trees: 264
• X Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe: 289
• XI The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation: 324
• XII The Sacred Marriage: 334
• XIII The Kings of Rome and Alba: 350
• XIV The Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium: 363
• XV The Worship of the Oak: 380
• XVI Dianus and Diana: 387
• XVII The Burden of Royalty: 402
• XVIII The Perils of the Soul: 426
• XIX Tabooed Acts: 463
• XX Tabooed Persons: 482
• XXI Tabooed Things: 530
• XXII Tabooed Words: 578
• XXIII Our Debt to the Savage: 620
• XXIV The Killing of the Divine King: 625
• XXV Temporary Kings: 669
• XXVI Sacrifice of the Kings Son: 682
• XXVII Succession to the Soul: 691
• XXVIII The Killing of the TreeSpirit: 697
• XXIX The Myth of Adonis: 761
• XXX Adonis in Syria: 771
• XXXI Adonis in Cyprus: 776
• XXXII The Ritual of Adonis: 790
• XXXIII The Gardens of Adonis: 803
• XXXIV The Myth and Ritual of Attis: 817
• XXXV Attis as a God of Vegetation: 829
• XXXVI Human Representatives of Attis: 833
• XXXVII Oriental Religions in the West: 839
• XXXVIII The Myth of Osiris: 853
• XXXIX The Ritual of Osiris: 867
• XL The Nature of Osiris: 888
• XLI Isis: 899
• XLII Osiris and the Sun: 904
• XLIII Dionysus: 908
• XLIV Demeter and Persephone: 925
• XLV The CornMother and the CornMaiden in Northern Europe: 939
• XLVI The CornMother in Many Lands: 969
• XLVII Lityerses: 997
• XLVIII The CornSpirit as an Animal: 1050
• XLIX Ancient Deities of Vegetation as Animals: 1089
• L Eating the God: 1124
• LI Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet: 1157
• LII Killing the Divine Animal: 1169
• LIII The Propitiation of Wild Animals by Hunters: 1212
• LIV Types of Animal Sacrament: 1244
• LV The Transference of Evil: 1260
• LVI The Public Expulsion of Evils: 1278
• LVII Public Scapegoats: 1314
• LVIII Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity: 1350
• LIX Killing the God in Mexico: 1372
• LX Between Heaven and Earth: 1385
• LXI The Myth of Balder: 1420
• LXII The FireFestivals of Europe: 1424
• LXIII The Interpretation of the FireFestivals: 1498
• LXIV The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires: 1519
• LXV Balder and the Mistletoe: 1538
• LXVI The External Soul in FolkTales: 1559
• LXVII The External Soul in FolkCustom: 1585
• LXVIII The Golden Bough: 1635
• LXIX Farewell to Nemi: 1658
• Endnotes: 1666

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion
• Author: James George Frazer
• Publisher: The Floating Press, 2009
• ISBN: 1775410560, 9781775410560
• Length: 1036 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Religion / General; Social Science / General; Social Science / Sociology / General