The Golden Bough

According to legend, runaway slaves could attain a sort of freedom by breaking off a branch - the Golden Bough - from a sacred tree. If the runaway could kill the tree's attendant priest, he would become King of the Wood until his defeat by a new challenger. This 1890 work by Sir James George Frazer, an expert in myth and religion, was inspired by the legend. An extensive study of the cults, rites, and myths of antiquity, The Golden Bough explores ancient customs and their parallels with early Christianity. Frazer's definitions of such terms as "magic," "religion," and "science" proved highly useful to his successors, and his explications of the legends profoundly influenced generations of prominent psychologists, writers, and poets. This abridgment of his multivolume magnum opus omits footnotes and occasionally condenses text; nevertheless, as the author himself observed, all of the original work's main principles remain intact, along with ample illustrative examples. AUTHOR: Scottish folklorist and anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854–1941) spent three decades assembling The Golden Bough, a pioneering study of ancient cults, rites, and myths. Generations of writers and poets, including Sigmund Freud and T. S. Eliot, were inspired and influenced by his work.

Scottish folklorist and anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854-1941) spent three decades assembling The Golden Bough, a pioneering study of ancient cults, rites, and myths. Generations of writers and poets, including Sigmund Freud and T. S. Eliot, were inspired and influenced by his work.

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 more than a quarter-century investigating its genesis. His 1890 study of the cults, rites, and myths of antiquity, The Golden Bough, offers a monumental exploration of these customs and their parallels with early Christianity. A pioneer of social anthropology, Frazer's definitions of such terms as "magic," "religion," and "science" proved highly useful to his successors in the field, and his explications of the ancient legends profoundly influenced generations of prominent psychologists, writers, and poets. This abridgment of his multivolume magnum opus omits footnotes and occasionally condenses text; nevertheless, as the author himself observed, all of the original work's main principles remain intact, along with ample illustrative examples.

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