Linked to the OccultKingship of America.

Sir James Frazer’s work The Golden Bough constitutes the starting point of all subsequent discussions on divine kingship. Frazer did not explain the sacredness of kings by necessarily considering them as gods, but rather held that it implied the following:

• A sacred king was seen as the center of the universe.
• He was seen as responsible for the fertility and prosperity of the land and its people.
• He was guarded by taboos
• When he fell ill, showed signs of physical weakness or when he became old he was ritually killed

Frazer understood ritual regicide as a custom that resolved the conflict created by the dual both divine and human nature of kings. Ritual regicide after a certain period of rule or when weakness or old age set in, or voluntary suicide, resolved the contradiction between the king's symbolic role as a perfect representative of prosperity and health and his failing human corporal self.

Links

• http://inside.bard.edu/religion/facultyproj/temple/sacrifice/signif.htm

---

CategoryThing

---

Page Revisions - WikiHelp - SearchWiki - RecentChanges - Login
Page last modified on October 25, 2004, at 11:09 PM