The Golden Bough

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion was originally (1900) a 13-volume work on the roots of European mythology and religion by British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer[?] (1854-1941). He abridged the work into one 870-page volume, also titled The Golden Bough, in 1922. Later scholars in several fields have built upon the foundation he laid, especially those in comparative religion.

The salient point of this seminal book (see The White Goddess) is that "primitive" religions from around the world share a great deal in common with each other and "modern" religions such as Christianity.

The title was taken from the painting The Golden Bough by the British artist Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) that showed Aeneas and the Sybil presenting the golden bough to the gatekeeper of Hades to gain admission.

External links to text of the 1922 edition

• HTML version of The Golden Bough (http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/)
• ASCII plain text of The Golden Bough (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=3623) (from Project Gutenberg)