batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l1326-l1372
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l1326-l1372
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS;
lines 1326-1372'
start: '1326'
end: '1372'
translation: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Frazer describes the pig in ancient Egypt as both abhorred as unclean and
ritually sacrificed and eaten once a year to the moon and Osiris. He compares
Egyptian beliefs about pig’s milk causing leprosy with several examples of totemic
or divine animals whose consumption is believed to cause disease, madness, or
death.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states that the pig held a dubious position in ancient Egypt,
with uncleanness more prominent at first sight than sanctity.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Greek writers are reported as saying that Egyptians abhorred the pig as foul
and loathsome.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A person who touched a pig was said to enter the river with clothes on to
wash off the taint.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Drinking pig’s milk was believed to cause leprosy.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Swineherds were forbidden to enter temples and were socially endogamous because
others would not marry them or their daughters.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Once a year Egyptians sacrificed pigs to the moon and Osiris and ate pig flesh,
while on other days they would not sacrifice or taste it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Poor people who could not offer a pig baked dough cakes and offered them instead.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The author interprets the annual eating of the pig as sacramental eating of
a sacred animal.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: In Wetar, people are said to believe themselves descended from various animals
and to avoid eating the animal kind from which they descend, with leprosy and
madness expected if they do.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: Omaha people with elk or red maize totems are described as believing that
eating those totems would cause skin ailments or sores.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: Bush negroes of Surinam are described as believing that eating the capiaï
would cause leprosy.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: In Samoa, a man’s god could appear in the shape of an animal species, and
eating that divine animal was believed to let the god enter the eater’s body and
kill him.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:13
text: The passage gives sea-urchin and eel examples in which eating the divine animal
leads to illness, an animal growing in the stomach, or the god’s voice announcing
punishment.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Pig in ancient Egypt
description: An animal described as abhorred as unclean, but also sacrificed and
eaten once annually to the moon and Osiris.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Egyptians
description: People described as avoiding pigs on most days, washing after contact,
excluding swineherds from temples, and annually sacrificing pigs.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Swineherds
description: Native Egyptians who were forbidden to enter temples and married among
themselves due to social exclusion.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Moon and Osiris
description: Recipients of the annual Egyptian pig sacrifice.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Wetar descent animals
description: Wild pigs, serpents, crocodiles, turtles, dogs, and eels named as animal
kinds from which people of Wetar believed themselves descended.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Omaha elk and red maize totems
description: Totems whose consumption is said to be believed to cause boils, white
spots, or sores among relevant Omaha groups.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Capiaï of Surinam
description: An animal like a pig whose consumption is said to be believed to cause
leprosy among Bush negroes of Surinam.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Samoan divine animals
description: Animal forms of a person’s god, including examples of a prickly sea-urchin
and an eel, whose consumption brings divine punishment.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: unclean animal
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage reports abhorrence of the pig and ritual washing after contact.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: sacred sacrificial animal
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The pig is sacrificed and eaten once yearly, which the author explains as
sacramental eating of a sacred animal.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: ritual avoiders and sacrificers
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Egyptians avoid pig contact and consumption generally, but perform annual
pig sacrifice and consumption.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: excluded occupational group
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Swineherds are uniquely barred from temples and restricted in marriage relations.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: divine recipients of sacrifice
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Pigs are sacrificed to the moon and to Osiris.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: totemic or descent-associated food taboo
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The passage presents these as animals or plants not to be eaten by those
associated with them, with disease or madness as consequences.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: role:7
label: divine incarnation that punishes consumption
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Samoan gods are described as appearing in animal shape and avenging consumption
of those animals from within the eater’s body.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: pig
literal_form: Pig or swine
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: pig’s milk
literal_form: Milk of the pig, believed to cause leprosy when drunk
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- milk
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: river washing
literal_form: River water used by a person who touched a pig to wash off taint
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: substitute dough cakes
literal_form: Cakes of dough offered by those too poor to offer a pig
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: serpent among descent animals
literal_form: Serpents listed among Wetar ancestral animal kinds
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: animal inside the body
literal_form: A consumed divine animal growing or acting within the eater’s body
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Egyptian pig avoidance and purification
summary: The pig is described as abhorred; contact with it prompts washing in the
river, and pig’s milk is believed to cause leprosy.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Exclusion of swineherds
summary: Swineherds are excluded from temples and from marriage with others outside
their group.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Annual pig sacrifice to the moon and Osiris
summary: Once a year, Egyptians sacrifice pigs to the moon and Osiris and eat the
flesh; those unable to provide a pig offer dough cakes instead.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Comparative examples of tabooed sacred foods
summary: The passage compares Egyptian pig beliefs with Wetar, Omaha, Surinam, and
Samoan examples in which eating a totemic or divine animal or plant causes disease,
madness, or death.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: sacred animal treated as both taboo and sacrificial food
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The Egyptian pig is generally avoided as unclean, yet is sacrificed and eaten
once annually to the moon and Osiris.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: This is extracted from Frazer’s comparative interpretation, not directly
from an Egyptian primary ritual text.
- id: motif:2
label: sacred food taboo whose violation brings disease or death
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage lists multiple cases where consuming an associated sacred animal
or plant is believed to cause leprosy, boils, sores, madness, illness, or death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The motif label generalizes across the author’s comparative examples;
individual cultural contexts are only briefly summarized.
- id: motif:3
label: substitute offering for those unable to provide the sacrificial animal
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
- sacrifice
basis: Those too poor to offer a pig bake and offer dough cakes instead during the
annual rite.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not elaborate on the ritual meaning of the substitute
cakes beyond their use in place of a pig.
- id: motif:4
label: divine incarnation punishing the eater from within the body
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: In the Samoan examples, eating the god’s animal form leads to the god taking
up residence in the eater’s body, generating the animal, and causing death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: This motif is limited to the Samoan examples as presented in the passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares Egyptian belief that pig’s milk causes leprosy
with beliefs in Wetar, Omaha, Surinam, and Samoa that eating a sacred or totemic
being causes disease, madness, or death.
claim_level: same_function
target: Totemic or divine-animal food taboos in Wetar, Omaha, Surinam, and Samoa
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison follows Frazer’s argument and depends on the accuracy
and framing of his cited ethnographic reports.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage uses the cross-cultural pattern of harmful consequences after
consuming sacred animals to support the interpretation that the Egyptian pig was
sacred despite its uncleanness.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Sacred animal taboo with ritual consumption
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
limitations: The Egyptian evidence includes strong signs of impurity and social
exclusion, so the sacred-status interpretation is inferential within the passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1326-1330
quote_or_summary: In ancient Egypt the pig is said to occupy a dubious position;
Greek writers say Egyptians abhorred it as foul and loathsome.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1330-1334
quote_or_summary: A person touching a pig washes in the river with clothes on; drinking
pig’s milk is believed to cause leprosy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1334-1338
quote_or_summary: Swineherds are forbidden to enter temples and marry only among
themselves because others will not intermarry with them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1338-1344
quote_or_summary: Once a year Egyptians sacrifice pigs to the moon and Osiris and
eat their flesh; on other days they do not. Poor people offer dough cakes instead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1344-1349
quote_or_summary: The author says this is best explained by supposing the pig was
a sacred animal eaten sacramentally once a year, and that apparent contrary facts
support this view.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1349-1356
quote_or_summary: In Wetar people are described as descended from animals such as
wild pigs, serpents, crocodiles, turtles, dogs, and eels; eating one’s descent
animal causes leprosy and madness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1356-1362
quote_or_summary: Among Omaha groups, eating the male elk or red maize associated
with one’s totem is believed to cause boils, white spots, or mouth sores.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 1362-1365
quote_or_summary: Bush negroes of Surinam with totemism are said to believe that
eating the capiaï, an animal like a pig, would cause leprosy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 1365-1370
quote_or_summary: In Samoa each man generally has his god in an animal species;
eating that divine animal lets the god enter the eater’s body and generate the
animal until death.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 1370-1372
quote_or_summary: Examples include a sea-urchin growing in the stomach and killing
the eater, or an eel-god speaking from the stomach and saying the man is being
killed because he ate the incarnation.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward, but motif labeling and comparison
claims reflect Frazer’s comparative interpretation and require human review.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
The passage is a comparative scholarly argument rather than a mythic narrative; roles and motifs are therefore framed as passage-level patterns and authorial comparisons.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l1326-l1372
passage_sha256=bff8e265cfb3b455d73130e5c751999d05105d0478a6f73eaca0d2c4da10b862