The Golden Bough is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The book documents and details the similarities among magical and religious beliefs around the globe. Frazer attempted to define the shared elements of religious belief and scientific thought, discussing fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat, and many other symbols and practices whose influences had extended into 20th-century...
A certain sacred tree was forbidden to the touch, save only for runaway slaves: if the slave could break off a branch — The Golden Bough — he could challenge the tree's attendant priest to mortal combat. If victorious, the slave would replace the priest as King of the Woods — until his lethal defeat by another bearer of The Golden Bough. Sir James George Frazer, an expert in myth and religion, was so intrigued by this tale from classical mythology that he spent...
Sir James George Frazer developed an affinity for classic literature at a young age, which developed into a very real talent through his schooling at Glasgow University and then Trinity College at Cambridge, where he remained as a Classics Fellow for all but one year of his life. After the success of his first novel, “Totemism”, in 1887, Frazer set out to create what was to become his defining work, “The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion”. Originally a two-volume edition, the work...
Sir James George Frazer developed an affinity for classic literature at a young age, which developed into a very real talent through his schooling at Glasgow University and then Trinity College at Cambridge, where he remained as a Classics Fellow for all but one year of his life. After the success of his first novel, «Totemism», in 1887, Frazer set out to create what was to become his defining work, «The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion». Originally a two-volume edition, the work...
