The golden bough
Subtitle: a study in magic and religion
Edition: Abridged ed.
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1925
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 756
Subjects: Religion; Mythology; Magic; Superstition
Description: The Golden Bough attempts to define the shared elements of religious belief, ranging from ancient belief systems to relatively modern religions such as Christianity. Its thesis is that old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship of, and periodic sacrifice of, a sacred king. This king was the incarnation of a dying and reviving god, a solar deity who underwent a mystic marriage to a goddess of the earth, who died at the harvest, and was reincarnated in the spring. Frazer claims that this legend is central to almost all of the world's mythologies. The germ for Frazer's thesis was the pre-Roman priest-king at the fane of Nemi, who was ritually murdered by his successor.
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