3. Attis, Adonis, and the Pig
4. Osiris, the Pig and the Bull
5
5. Virbius and the Horse
Chapter 50. Eating the God
1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits
2. Eating the God among the Aztecs
3. Many Manii at Aricia
Chapter 51. Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet
Chapter 52. 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
Chapter 53. The Propitiation of Wild Animals By Hunters
Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament
1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament
2. Processions with Sacred Animals
Chapter 55. The Transference of Evil
1. The Transference to Inanimate Objects
2. The Transference to Animals
3. The Transference to Men
4. The Transference of Evil in Europe
Chapter 56. The Public Expulsion of Evils
1. The Omnipresence of Demons
2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils
3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils
Chapter 57. Public Scapegoats
1. The Expulsion of Embodied Evils
2. The Occasional Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle
3. The Periodic Expulsion of Evils in a Material Vehicle
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4. On Scapegoats in General
Chapter 58. Human Scapegoats in Classical Antiquity
1. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Rome
2. The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece
3. The Roman Saturnalia
Chapter 59. Killing the God in Mexico
Chapter 60. 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
Chapter 61. The Myth of Balder
Chapter 62. The FireFestivals of Europe
1. The Firefestivals in general
2. The Lenten Fires
3. The Easter Fires
4. The Beltane Fires
5. The Midsummer Fires
6. The Hallowe'en Fires
7. The Midwinter Fires
8. The Needfire
Chapter 63. The Interpretation of the FireFestivals
1. On the Firefestivals in general
2. The Solar Theory of the Firefestivals
3. The Purificatory Theory of the Firefestivals
Chapter 64. The Burning of Human Beings in the Fires
1. The Burning of Effigies in the Fires
2. The Burning of Men and Animals in the Fires
Chapter 65. Balder and the Mistletoe
7
Chapter 66. The External Soul in Folk-Tales
Chapter 67. 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
Chapter 68. The Golden Bough Chapter 69. Farewell to Nemi 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 and 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 as 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 il-
lustrations 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 been considerably augmented in the interval. A striking instance of 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, cohabited with his widows at his temple-tomb, and after reigning for a week was stran-
gled.[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