Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore
§ 1. Preference for a Violent Death. § 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails. § 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term. § 4. Octennial Tenure of the Kingship. § 5. Funeral Games. § 6. The Slaughter of the Dragon. § 7. Triennial Tenure of the Kingship. § 8. Annual Tenur...
(M160) It remains to ask what light the custom of killing the divine king or priest sheds upon the special subject of our enquiry. In the first part of this work we saw reason t...
5. CHAPTER II. THE KILLING OF THE DIVINE KING.(M4) If the high gods, who dwell remote from the fret and fever of this earthly life, are yet believed to die at last, it is not to be expected that a god who lodges in a frail...
9. CHAPTER VI. SACRIFICE OF THE KING’S SON.(M127) A point to notice about the temporary kings described in the foregoing chapter is that in two places (Cambodia and Jambi) they come of a stock which is believed to be aki...
6. CHAPTER III. THE SLAYING OF THE KING IN LEGEND.(M93) If a custom of putting kings to death at the end of a set term has prevailed in many lands, it is natural enough that reminiscences of it should survive in tradition long...
7. CHAPTER IV. THE SUPPLY OF KINGS.(M105) Tales of the foregoing sort might be dismissed as fictions designed to amuse a leisure hour, were it not for their remarkable agreement with beliefs and customs which, as...
8. CHAPTER V. TEMPORARY KINGS.(M118) In some places the modified form of the old custom of regicide which appears to have prevailed at Babylon(406) has been further softened down. The king still abdicates an...
10. CHAPTER VII. SUCCESSION TO THE SOUL.(M154) To the view that in early times, and among barbarous races, kings have frequently been put to death at the end of a short reign, it may be objected that such a custom wou...
4. CHAPTER I. THE MORTALITY OF THE GODS.(M1) At an early stage of his intellectual development man deems himself naturally immortal, and imagines that were it not for the baleful arts of sorcerers, who cut the vital t...
3. Chapter VIII. The Killing Of The Tree-Spirit.§ 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers. § 2. Mock Human Sacrifices. § 3. Burying the Carnival. § 4. Carrying out Death. § 5. Sawing the Old Woman. § 6. Bringing in Summer. § 7. Battle of...
2. Chapter II. The Killing Of The Divine King.§ 1. Preference for a Violent Death. § 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails. § 3. Kings killed at the End of a Fixed Term. § 4. Octennial Tenure of the Kingship. § 5. Funer...
1. Part III