Description
Book SynopsisThis work by Sir James Frazer (1854â1941) is widely considered to be one of the most important early texts in the fields of psychology and anthropology. At the same time, by applying modern methods of comparative ethnography to the classical world, and revealing the superstition and irrationality beneath the surface of the classical culture which had for so long been a model for Western civilisation, it was extremely controversial. Frazer was greatly influenced by E. B. Tylor's Primitive Culture (also reissued in this series), and by the work of the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith, to whom the first edition is dedicated. The twelve-volume third edition, reissued here, was greatly revised and enlarged, and published between 1911 and 1915; the two-volume first edition (1890) is also available in this series. Volume 4 (1911), 'The Dying God', discusses the tradition by which the priest/king must be killed by his successor.
Table of ContentsPreface; 1. The mortality of the gods; 2. The killing of the divine king; 3. The slaying of the king in legend; 4. The supply of kings; 5. Temporary kings; 6. Sacrifice of the king's son; 7. Succession to the soul; 8. The killing of the tree-spirit; Notes; Addenda; Index.
