This is the 1922 one-volume abridgment of James Frazer's The Golden Bough, the version of Frazer's comparative study of magic, religion and myth most widely read since publication, condensing his full twelve-volume third edition. As the standard abridged edition it is the correct source for Frazer's own comparative argument and the wide range of myth and ritual he drew together to make it. Its limit is that Frazer's method, treating myths from many unrelated cultures as evidence for a single evolutionary sequence from magic through religion to science, is now regarded by anthropologists as outdated and unsupported, so a claim resting on Frazer's specific interpretation of any one tradition needs to be checked against modern scholarship on that tradition rather than taken as established.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
James Frazer's Macmillan edition, the standard widely read abridgment of his comparative study, treated at the top tier as that standard primary text, notwithstanding that his underlying evolutionary method is now regarded by anthropologists as outdated. NotesThe one-volume abridgment of Frazer's full twelve-volume third edition (1906-1915), the version most widely read.
Citation
AuthorJames George Frazer
PublisherMacmillan
Publication Year1922
URLhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3623
Source Typeprimary-text
Claims Backed By This Source (29 claims)
This source backs 29 claims across the atlas. As facts: 23 well-attested, 1 popular myth - corrected. As cited relationships: 3 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Esoteric Texts, 14 claims: 10 well-attested, 1 popular myth - corrected, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Articles, 5 claims: 5 well-attested.
- Bodies of Water, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
Popular myth - corrected
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