In this sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which at any time of the day, and probably far into the night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn sword, and he kept peering warily about him as if at every instant he expected to be set upon by an enemy. He was a priest and a murderer; and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary.—Preface Sir James George Frazer

The Golden Bough   A Study in Magic and Religion   Sir James George Frazer   A monumental study in comparative folklore, magic and religion, The Golden Bough shows parallels between the rites and beliefs, superstitions and taboos of early cultures and those of Christianity. It had a great impact on psychology and literature and remains an early classic anthropological resource.   CONTENTS Bibliographic Record  Preface  Subject Index   NEW YORK: MACMILLAN, 1922 NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2000 Home   Ch. 1. The King of the Wood      § 1. Diana and Virbius      § 2. Artemis and Hippolytus      § 3. Recapitulation Ch. 2. Priestly Kings Ch. 3. Sympathetic Magic      § 1. The Principles of Magic      § 2. Homoeopathic or Imitative Magic      § 3. Contagious Magic      § 4. The Magician’s Progress Ch. 4. Magic and Religion Ch. 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 Ch. 6. Magicians as Kings Ch. 7. Incarnate Human Gods Ch. 8. Departmental Kings of Nature Ch. 9. The Worship of Trees      § 1. Tree-spirits      § 2. Beneficent Powers of Tree-Spirits Ch. 10. Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe Ch. 11. The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation Ch. 12. The Sacred Marriage      § 1. Diana as a Goddess of Fertility      § 2. The Marriage of the Gods Ch. 13. The Kings of Rome and Alba      § 1. Numa and Egeria      § 2. The King as Jupiter Ch. 14. Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium Ch. 15. The Worship of the Oak Ch. 16. Dianus and Diana Ch. 17. The Burden of Royalty      § 1. Royal and Priestly Taboos      § 2. Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power Ch. 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 Ch. 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 Ch. 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 Ch. 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 Ch. 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 Ch. 23. Our Debt to the Savage Ch. 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 Ch. 25. Temporary Kings Ch. 26. Sacrifice of the King’s Son Ch. 27. Succession to the Soul Ch. 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 Ch. 29. The Myth of Adonis Ch. 30. Adonis in Syria Ch. 31. Adonis in Cyprus Ch. 32. The Ritual of Adonis Ch. 33. The Gardens of Adonis Ch. 34. The Myth and Ritual of Attis Ch. 35. Attis as a God of Vegetation Ch. 36. Human Representatives of Attis Ch. 37. Oriental Religions in the West Ch. 38. The Myth of Osiris Ch. 39. The Ritual of Osiris      § 1. The Popular Rites      § 2. The Official Rites Ch. 40. The Nature of Osiris      § 1. Osiris a Corn-god      § 2. Osiris a Tree-spirit      § 3. Osiris a God of Fertility      § 4. Osiris a God of the Dead Ch. 41. Isis Ch. 42. Osiris and the Sun Ch. 43. Dionysus Ch. 44. Demeter and Persephone Ch. 45. Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in N. Europe Ch. 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 Ch. 47. Lityerses      § 1. Songs of the Corn Reapers      § 2. Killing the Corn-spirit      § 3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops      § 4. The Corn-spirit slain in his Human Representatives Ch. 48. The Corn-Spirit as an Animal      § 1. Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit      § 2. The Corn-spirit as a Wolf or a Dog      § 3. The Corn-spirit as a Cock      § 4. The Corn-spirit as a Hare      § 5. The Corn-spirit as a Cat      § 6. The Corn-spirit as a Goat      § 7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox      § 8. The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare      § 9. The Corn-spirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow)      § 10. On the Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit Ch. 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 Ch. 50. Eating the God      § 1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits      § 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs      § 3. Many Manii at Aricia Ch. 51. Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet Ch. 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 Ch. 53. The Propitiation of Wild Animals By Hunters Ch. 54. Types of Animal Sacrament      § 1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament      § 2. Processions with Sacred Animals Ch. 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 Ch. 56. The Public Expulsion of Evils      § 1. The Omnipresence of Demons      § 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils      § 3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils Ch. 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 Ch. 58. Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity      § 1. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Rome      § 2. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece      § 3. The Roman Saturnalia Ch. 59. Killing the God in Mexico Ch. 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 Ch. 61. The Myth of Balder Ch. 62. The Fire-Festivals of Europe      § 1. The Fire-festivals in general      § 2. The Lenten Fires      § 3. The Easter Fires      § 4. The Beltane Fires      § 5. The Midsummer Fires      § 6. The Hallowe’en Fires      § 7. The Midwinter Fires      § 8. The Need-fire Ch. 63. The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals      § 1. On the Fire-festivals in general      § 2. The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals      § 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals Ch. 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 Ch. 65. Balder and the Mistletoe Ch. 66. The External Soul in Folk-Tales Ch. 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 Ch. 68. The Golden Bough Ch. 69. Farewell to Nemi