The Golden Bough

The Golden Bough  (1922)  by James George Frazer

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a broad comparative cultural study of mythology and religion by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941). Aimed at a broad literate audience raised on tales as told in Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, Frazer's book joined the modernists in discussing religion dispassionately as a cultural phenomenon, rather than from within the field of theology itself. Though the final worth of its contribution to anthropology will be newly summed by each generation, its impact on contemporary European literature was unquestionably grand.

Contents

• Preface
• Subject Index
• Chapter 1. The King of the Wood
• Chapter 2. Priestly Kings
• Chapter 3. Sympathetic Magic
• Chapter 4. Magic and Religion
• Chapter 5. The Magical Control of the Weather
• Chapter 6. Magicians as Kings
• Chapter 7. Incarnate Human Gods
• Chapter 8. Departmental Kings of Nature
• Chapter 9. The Worship of Trees
• Chapter 10. Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe
• Chapter 11. The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation
• Chapter 12. The Sacred Marriage
• Chapter 13. The Kings of Rome and Alba
• 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
• Chapter 18. The Perils of the Soul
• Chapter 19. Tabooed Acts
• Chapter 20. Tabooed Persons
• Chapter 21. Tabooed Things
• Chapter 22. Tabooed Words
• Chapter 23. Our Debt to the Savage
• Chapter 24. The Killing of the Divine King
• Chapter 25. Temporary Kings
• Chapter 26. Sacrifice of the King’s Son
• Chapter 27. Succession to the Soul
• Chapter 28. The Killing of the Tree-Spirit
• 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
• Chapter 40. The Nature of Osiris
• 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
• Chapter 47. Lityerses
• Chapter 48. The Corn-Spirit as an Animal
• Chapter 49. Ancient Deities of Vegetation as Animals
• Chapter 50. Eating the God
• Chapter 51. Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet
• Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal
• Chapter 53. The Propitiation of Wild Animals By Hunters
• Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament
• Chapter 55. The Transference of Evil
• Chapter 56. The Public Expulsion of Evils
• Chapter 57. Public Scapegoats
• Chapter 58. Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity
• Chapter 59. Killing the God in Mexico
• Chapter 60. Between Heaven and Earth
• Chapter 61. The Myth of Balder
• Chapter 62. The Fire-Festivals of Europe
• Chapter 63. The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals
• Chapter 64. The Burning of Human Beings 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
• Chapter 68. The Golden Bough
• Chapter 69. Farewell to Nemi

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. It may be copyrighted outside the U.S. (see Help:Public domain).