H OF THT UNIVERSITY Qf ILLINOIS 2.91 The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN MOV 21 1!79 J ** MOV 1 5192S fiu G i nut J O V./ D MAY 2 0 1381, m 3 0 2 1335 m 4 l< 81 oc T 5 0 4985 'JAN 4 1982 MU ■ . NOV 048J? L 8 1985 JUN 1! > IQgi Ss&C J iv: 1Y If i 0 1 1385 f mfi D€T ■ h m ’ j JH191981 OCT 3 0£C 1 1 2 £84 ~ La" ft ^. > • -)lt ■„" -- ZZL « ! - CO 2 Q Ck . ^ — a. Um ^ L16T—0-1096 THE GOLDEN BOUGH A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION BY Sir JAMES GEORGE FRAZER, F.R.S., F.B.A. FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE HON. D.C.L., OXFORD; LION. LITT. D. , CAMBRIDGE AND DURHAM; HON. LL. D., GLASGOW; DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA OF THE - > i UNIVERSITIES OF PARIS AND STRASBOURG ABRIDGED EDITION MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1923 COPYRIGHT First Edition November 1922 Reprinted January 1923 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN O l H pv PREFACE The primary aim of this book is to explain the remarkable rule which regulated the succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia. When I first set myself to solve the problem more than thirty years ago, I thought that the solution could be propounded very briefly, but I soon found that to render it probable or even intelligible it was necessary to discuss certain more general questions, some of which had hardly been broached before. In successive editions the discussion of these ai;d kindred topics has occupied more and more space, the enquiry has branched out in more and more directions, until the two volumes of the original work have expanded into twelve. Meantime a wish has often been expressed that the book should be issued in a more compendious form. This abridgment is an attempt to meet the wish and thereby to bring the work within the range of a wider circle of readers. While the bulk of the book has been greatly reduced, I have endeavoured to retain its leading principles, together with an amount of evidence sufficient to illustrate them clearly. The language of the original has also for the most part been preserved, though here and there the exposition has been somewhat condensed. In order to keep as much of the text Us possible I have sacrificed all the notes, and with them all exact references to my authorities. Readers who desire to ascertain the source of any particular statement must therefore consult the larger work, which is fully documented and ' provided with a complete bibliography. In the abridgment I have neither added new matter nor altered the views expressed in the last edition ; for the evidence which has come to my knowledge in the meantime has on the whole served either to confirm my former conclusions or to furnish fresh illustra¬ tions of old principles. Thus, for example, on the crucial question of the practice of putting kings to death either at the end of a fixed period or whenever their health and strength began to fail, the body of evidence which points to the wide prevalence of such a custom has VI PREFACE been considerably augmented in the interval. A striking instance o.. a limited monarchy of this sort is furnished by the powerful mediaeval kingdom of the Khazars in Southern Russia, where the kings were liable to be put to death either on the expiry of a set term or whenever some public calamity, such as drought, dearth, or defeat in war, seemed to indicate a failure of their natural powers. The evidence for the systematic killing of the Khazar kings, drawn from the accounts of old Arab travellers, has been collected by me elsewhere . 1 Africa, again, has supplied several fresh examples of a similar practice of regicide. Among them the most notable perhaps is the custom formerly observed in Bunyoro of choosing every year from a particular clan a mock king, who was supposed to incarnate the late king, co¬ habited with his widows at his temple-tomb, and after reigning for a week was strangled . 2 The custom presents a close parallel to the ancient Babylonian festival of the Sacaea, at which a mock king was dressed in the royal robes, allowed to enjoy the real king’s concubines, and after reigning for five days was stripped, scourged, and put to death. That festival in its turn has lately received fresh light from certain Assyrian inscriptions , 3 which seem to confirm the interpretation which I formerly gave of the festival as a New Year celebration and the parent of the Jewish festival of Purim . 4 Other recently discovered parallels to the priestly kings of Aricia are African priests and kings who used to be put to death at the end of seven or of two years, after being liable in the interval to be attacked and killed by a strong man, who there¬ upon succeeded to the priesthood or the kingdom . 5 With these and other instances of like customs before us it is no longer possible to regard the rule of succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia as exceptional; it clearly exemplifies a widespread institution, of which the most numerous and the most similar cases have thus far been found in Africa. How far the .facts point to an early influence of Africa on Italy, or even to the existence of an African population in Southern Europe, I do not presume to say. The pre- 1 J. G. Frazer, “The Killing of the Khazar Kings,” Folk-lore , xxviii. (1917) pp. 382-407. 2 Rev. J. Roscoe, The Soul of Central Africa (London, 1922), p. 200. Compare J. G. Frazer, “ The Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa,” Man , xx. (1920) p. 181. 3 H. Zimmern, Ztim babylonischen Neujahrsfest (Leipzig, 1918). Compare A. H. Sayce, in fournal of the Royal Asiatic Society , July 1921, pp. 440-442. 4 The Golden Bough, Part VI. The Scapegoat , pp. 354 sqq. , 412 sqq. 6 P. Amaury Talbot, in Joto-nal of the African Society , July 1916, pp. 309^.; id., in Folk-lore, xxvi. (1916) pp. 79 sq. ; H. R. Palmer, in fournal of the African Society, July 1912, pp. 403, 407 sq. i / PREFACE Vll historic relations between the two continents are still obscure and still under investigation. Whether the explanation which I have offered of the institution is correct or not must be left to the future to determine. I shall always be ready to abandon it if a better can be suggested. Meantime in committing the book in its new form to the judgment of the public I desire to guard against a misapprehension of its scope which appears to be still rife, though I have sought to correct it before now. If in the present work I have dwelt at some length on the worship of trees, it is not, I trust, because I exaggerate its importance in the history of religion, still less because I would deduce from it a whole system of mythology ; it is simply because I could not ignore the subject in attempting to explain the significance of a priest who bore the title of King of the Wood, and one of whose titles to office was the plucking of a bough—the Golden Bough—from a tree in the sacred grove. But I am so far from regarding the reverence for trees as of supreme importance for the evolution of religion that I consider it to have been altogether subordinate to other factors, and in particular to the fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been prob¬ ably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion. I hope that after this explicit disclaimer I shall no longer be taxed with embracing a system of mythology which I look upon not merely as false but as preposterous and absurd. But I am too familiar with the hydra of error to expect that by lopping off one of the monster’s heads I can prevent another, or even the same, from sprouting again. I can only trust to the candour and intelligence of my readers to rectify this serious misconception of my views by a comparison with my own express declaration. J. G. FRAZER. i Brick Court, Temple, London, June 1922. Longior undecimi nobis decimique libelli A rtatus labor est et breve rasit opus. Plura legant vacui. Martial, xii. 5, CONTENTS / CHAP. i. The King of the Wood . § i. Diana and Virbius v § 2. Artemis and Hippolytus § 3. Recapitulation 11. Priestly Kings .... hi. Sympathetic Magic § 1. The Principles of Magic § 2. Homoeopathic or Imitative Magic § 3. Contagious Magic § 4. The Magician’s Progress iv. Magic and Religion v. 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 vi. Magicians as Kings ' . vii. Incarnate Human Gods . viii. Departmental Kings of Nature . ix. The Worship of Trees § 1. Tree-spirits .... § 2. Beneficent Powers of Tree-spirits x. Relics of Tree-worship in Modern Europe xi. The Influence of the Sexes on Vecetation xii. The Sacred Marriage § 1. Diana as a Goddess of Fertility § 2. The Marriage of the Gods xiii , The Kings of Rome and Alba § 1. Numa and Egeria § 2. The King as Jupiter . PAGE I I 6 7 9 11 i~i 12 37 45_ 48 60 60 62 78 80 83 9i 106 109 109 n 7 120 135 139 139 142 146 146 148 ix CHAP. CONTENTS v^nAi • xiv. The Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium xv. The Worship of the Oak xvi. Dianus and Diana xvii. The Burden of Royalty § i. Royal and Priestly Taboos . § 2. Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power xviii. The Perils of the Soul § i. The Soul as a Mannikin § 2. Absence and Recall of the Soul § 3. The Soul as a Shadow and a Reflection xix. 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 xx. Tabooed Persons § 1. Chiefs and Kings tabooed . § 2. Mourners tabooed . § 3. Women tabooed at Menstruation and Childbi § 4. Warriors tabooed § 5. Manslayers tabooed 8 6. Hunters and Fishers tabooed h XXL The Meaning of Taboo Tabooed Things § L § 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 \\ PAGE 152 159 l 6 I l 68 168 175 178 178 l 80 I 89 194 194 198 199 200 200 202 202 205 207 210 2 12 2 l 6 ll 223 223 224 226 22 7 230 231 233 233 237 238 23 S xxii. 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 244 244 249 .V' N>7 260 / CONTENTS CHAP. XXIII. Our Debt to the Savage xxiv. The Killing of the Divine King § i. The Mortality of the Gods § 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails § 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term '/ xxv, v/xxvi; I XXXVII. */xxviii. Temporary Kings Sacrifice of the King’s Son . Succession to the Soul The Killing of the Tree-spirit 8 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. § 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 The Myth of Adonis . Adonis in Syria Adonis in Cyprus The Ritual of Adonis The Gardens of Adonis The Myth and Ritual of Attis Attis as a God of Vegetation Human Representatives of Attis Oriental Religions in the West The Myth of Osiris . The Ritual of Osiris § 1. The Popular Rites XL. II XLL § 2. The Official Rites 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 Isis ! xi PAGE 262 264^ 264 265 274 283 289 293 296 296 301 3°7 3ii 3 16 317 318 319 32 V 324 327 329 33SU 34i 347 352 353 356 362 368 368' 373 \ 377 377 380 381 381 382 XII CONTENTS CHAP. xlii. Osiris and the Sun xliii. Dionysus xliv. Demeter and Persephone NL 3 T T he Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Northern Europe ... xlvi. T he Corn-mother in many Lands § I. 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 XLVII. 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 XLViii. The Corn-spirit as an Animal § 1 . §2. § 3- § 4- § 5- § 6 . § 7- § 8 . § 9- § 10 . Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit The Corn-spirit as a Wolf or a Dog . The Corn-spirit as a Cock . The Corn-spirit as a Hare . The Corn-spirit as a Cat The Corn-spirit as a Goat The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare . The Corn-spirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow) On the Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit PAGE 384 385 393 j 399 N , 412 412 413 419 420 424 425 43i 447 447 448 450 452 453 454 457 459 460 462 xlix. 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 l. Eating the God § 1. The Sacrament of First-fruits § 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs § 3. Many Manii at Aricia 464 464 469 471 472 476 479 479 4-88 491 4 4 ( li. Homoeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet CHAP. LII. LIII. LIV. k/lv. / LVI. ' LVII, LVIII. LIX. LX. LX I. LXII. CONTENTS 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 The Propitiation of Wild Animals by Hunters Types of Animal Sacrament § 1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament § 2. Processions with Sacred Animals The Transference of Evil § 1. The Transference to Inanimate Objects § 2. The Transference to Animals § 3. The T ransference to Men § 4 - The Transference of Evil in Europe The Public Expulsion of Evils §1. The Omnipresence of Demons § 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils § 3 - The Periodic Expulsion of Evils PUB I TC s GAPE G O ATS ■ ■ • • • § 1. The Expulsion of Embodied Evils § 2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicl § 3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle § 4. On Scapegoats in General Human Sca pegoats in Classical Antiquity § 1. The Huma n Scapegoat in Ancient R ome. ~~ T 2 * H*heTTurnan Scapegoat in Ancient Greece § 3. The Roman Saturnalia Killing the God in Mexico 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 The Myth of Balder The Fire-festivals of Europe § 1. The Fire-festivals in general The Lenten Fires The Easter Fires The Beltane Fires § I. The § 2. The § 3 . The § 4 - The § 5 - The § 6. The § 7 - The § 8. The Xlll PAGE 499 499 500 501 502 505 518 532 532 535 ; 538 538 540 542 543 546 546 547 55i 562 562 563 566 574 577 577 578 583 587 592 592 595 595 603 607 609 609 609 614 617 622 632 636 638 xiv ’ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE lxiii. The Interpretation of the Fire-festivals . .641 § 1. On the Fire-festivals in general . . .641 § 2. The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals . . 643 § 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals . .647 lxiv. The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires . .650 § 1. The Burning of Effigies in the Fires . . . 650 § 2. The Burning of Men and Animals in the Fires . 652 lxv. Balder and the Mistletoe lxvi. The External Soul in Folk-tales lxvii. 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 lxvhl The Golden Bough lxix. Farewell to Nemi Index 658 667 679 679 681 683 691 701 7 11 715 The Golden Bough ..... Frontispiece V. THE GOLDEN BOUGH MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO I* % CHAPTER I THE KING OF THE WOOD § i. Diana and Virbius .—-Who does not know Turner’s picture of the Golden Bough ? The scene, suffused with the golden glow of imagina¬ tion in which the divine mind of Turner steeped and transfigured even the fairest natural landscape, is a dream-like vision of the little wood¬ land lake of Nemi—“ Diana’s Mirror,” as it was called by the ancients. No one who has seen that calm water, lapped in a green hollow of the Alban hills, can ever forget it. The two characteristic Italian villages which slumber on its banks, and the equally Italian palace whose terraced gardens descend steeply to the lake, hardly break the stillness and even the solitariness of the scene. Dian herself might still linger by this lonely shore, still haunt these woodlands wild. In antiquity this sylvan landscape was the scene of a strange and recurring tragedy. On the northern shore of the lake, right under the precipitous cliffs on which the modern village of Nemi is perched, stood the sacred grove and sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, or Diana of the Wood. The lake and the grove were sometimes known as the lake and grove of Aricia. But the town of Aricia (the modern La Riccia) was situated about three miles off, at the foot of the Alban Mount, and separated by a steep descent from the lake, which lies in a small crater-like hollow on the mountain side. 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. A candidate for the priesthood- could only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, he retained office till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier. The post which he heJd >y this precarious Anure carried with it the title of , but surely no crowned head ever lay uneasier, or was visited by more evil dreams, than his. For year in year out, in summed and winter, in fair weather and in foul, he had to keep his lonel/ j ^atch, and whenever he snatched a troubled slumber it was at f he tai fl of his life. The least relaxation of his vigilance, the smallest perpetuent of his strength of limb or skill of fence, put him in jeopardy ; in Lati\irs might seal his death-warrant. To gentle and pious pilgrims festivabhrine the sight of him might well seem to darken the fair land- were n