batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l4874-l4924
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l4874-l4924
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 4874-4924'
start: '4874'
end: '4924'
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: "“Out with hunger, and in with wealth and health.”"
summary: 'Frazer surveys Greek scapegoat rites: a Chaeronean household and civic
expulsion of hunger; plague scapegoats at Marseilles; Athenian sacrifices of outcasts
during calamities and at the Thargelia; Leucadian annual hurling of a criminal
into the sea with mitigations; and Asiatic Greek rites in which a deformed person
receives food, is beaten, burned, and has his ashes cast into the sea.'
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: At Chaeronea a slave was beaten with rods of agnus castus and expelled with
a spoken formula expelling hunger and inviting wealth and health.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Chaeronean ceremony was performed by the chief magistrate at the Town
Hall and by each householder at home.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: At Marseilles, during plague, a poorer man offered himself as scapegoat, was
maintained for a year at public expense, dressed in sacred garments, decked with
holy branches, led through the city, and expelled.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: In the Marseilles rite prayers were uttered that all the evils of the people
might fall on the scapegoat's head.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Athenians maintained degraded and useless persons at public expense and sacrificed
two as scapegoats when plague, drought, famine, or another calamity befell the
city.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: In the Athenian rite one victim was sacrificed for men and another for women,
with black figs worn by the former and white figs by the latter; sometimes the
victim for women was a woman.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: Athenian victims were led around the city and apparently stoned to death outside
the city; Frazer also reports an annual Thargelia version in May.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The Leucadians annually hurled a criminal from the Lover’s Leap into the sea
as a scapegoat, while attaching live birds and feathers to lighten the fall and
using boats to catch and convey him beyond the boundary.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: Among the Greeks of Asia Minor, when a city suffered plague, famine, or another
public calamity, an ugly or deformed person was chosen to take on the city's evils.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: In the Asia Minor rite the chosen person ate dried figs, a barley loaf, and
cheese, was beaten seven times on the genital organs with squills and branches,
burned on a pyre, and had his ashes cast into the sea.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: Frazer states that a similar custom appears to have been annually celebrated
by Asiatic Greeks at the harvest festival of the Thargelia.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Chaeronean slave
description: A slave beaten with rods and turned out of doors in the expulsion of
hunger ceremony.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Chief magistrate and householders of Chaeronea
description: Ritual performers at the Town Hall and in private homes.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Poorer man at Marseilles
description: A man of the poorer classes who offered himself as a scapegoat during
plague.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Athenian outcast victims
description: Degraded and useless persons maintained at public expense and sacrificed
as scapegoats.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Leucadian criminal
description: A criminal annually hurled from a white bluff into the sea as a scapegoat.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Asia Minor deformed scapegoat
description: An ugly or deformed person chosen to take on the evils afflicting a
city.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Greek civic communities
description: Cities or communities whose hunger, plague, drought, famine, or other
evils are ritually addressed through scapegoat practices.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: scapegoat victim or expellee
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
basis: Each figure is beaten, expelled, hurled, killed, or otherwise made to bear
or remove communal evils.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: ritual performer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The chief magistrate and householders perform the Chaeronean ceremony.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: afflicted community
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The rites are performed in response to hunger, plague, drought, famine, or
public calamity affecting a city or people.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: rods and branches used in beating
literal_form: rods of agnus castus; squills; branches of wild fig and other wild
trees
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- id: sym:2
label: sacred garments and holy branches
literal_form: sacred garments and holy branches placed on the Marseilles scapegoat
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: black and white figs
literal_form: a string of black figs and a string of white figs worn by Athenian
victims
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: sea boundary
literal_form: sea into which the Leucadian scapegoat is hurled and into which the
Asia Minor scapegoat's ashes are cast
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: birds and feathers
literal_form: live birds and feathers fastened to the Leucadian scapegoat to lighten
his fall
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: pyre
literal_form: a pyre constructed of forest-tree wood on which the Asia Minor scapegoat
is burned
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: ritual food
literal_form: dried figs, a barley loaf, and cheese placed in the Asia Minor scapegoat's
hand and eaten by him
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Chaeronean expulsion of hunger
summary: A slave is beaten with rods and expelled from a civic or domestic space
while a formula sends hunger out and calls wealth and health in.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Marseilles plague scapegoat
summary: During plague a poor volunteer is maintained for a year, ritually adorned,
led through the city while prayers transfer evils to him, and then expelled.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Athenian scapegoat sacrifices
summary: Athens maintains outcasts and sacrifices two as scapegoats for men and
women during calamities; Frazer also describes an annual Thargelia version involving
stoning outside the city.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Leucadian scapegoat hurled into the sea
summary: A criminal is annually thrown from the Lover’s Leap into the sea as a scapegoat,
with birds, feathers, and boats mitigating the fall and removing him beyond the
boundary.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Asia Minor scapegoat burned and ashes cast into sea
summary: In times of public calamity an ugly or deformed person receives and eats
food, is beaten seven times with plants, burned on a pyre, and has his ashes thrown
into the sea; Frazer links a similar annual form to the Thargelia harvest festival.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: human scapegoat bearing communal evils
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Multiple rites designate a person to carry or receive hunger, plague, famine,
drought, or other public evils, followed by expulsion, killing, or removal.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy has no explicit scapegoat family; sacrifice applies
especially to the lethal examples.
- id: motif:2
label: expulsion beyond civic boundary
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several scapegoats are turned out, cast out, killed outside the city, conveyed
beyond the boundary, or have ashes cast into the sea.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-derived pattern rather than a supplied taxonomy category.
- id: motif:3
label: annual festival scapegoat
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
- sacrifice
basis: The passage reports annual scapegoat practices at the Leucadian rite, the
Athenian Thargelia in May, and the Asiatic Greek harvest festival of the Thargelia.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: Seasonal-cycle classification is based on annual timing and harvest-festival
context; the passage does not elaborate a full seasonal myth.
- id: motif:4
label: ritual transfer of evil to a marginal body
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Scapegoats are described as a slave, poor man, degraded outcasts, criminal,
or ugly/deformed person selected to bear or remove communal evils.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The social marginality pattern is explicit in the descriptions, but broader
interpretation should be reviewed.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: Frazer states that the Chaeronean expulsion of hunger closely resembles Japanese,
Hindoo, and Highland customs described earlier in his work.
claim_level: same_function
target: Japanese, Hindoo, and Highland customs previously described by Frazer
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The present passage gives only Frazer's comparison and does not reproduce
the earlier customs, so the specific basis of resemblance cannot be independently
checked from this excerpt.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 4874-4883
quote_or_summary: At Chaeronea the ceremony called the “expulsion of hunger” involved
a slave beaten with rods of agnus castus and turned out with the words, “Out with
hunger, and in with wealth and health.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 4887-4896
quote_or_summary: At Marseilles during plague, a poor man offered himself as scapegoat,
was fed for a year at public expense, adorned with sacred garments and holy branches,
led through the city while prayers placed the people's evils on him, and cast
out.
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: 4896-4906
quote_or_summary: Athens kept outcasts at public expense and, during calamities
such as plague, drought, or famine, sacrificed two as scapegoats, one for men
and one for women, marked with black and white figs; they were led about the city
and apparently stoned outside it.
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: 4906-4909
quote_or_summary: Frazer reports that every year at the Thargelia in May, two victims,
one for men and one for women, were led out of Athens and stoned to death.
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: 4910-4917
quote_or_summary: The Leucadians annually hurled a criminal from the Lover’s Leap
into the sea as a scapegoat, fastening live birds and feathers to him and stationing
boats to catch him and convey him beyond the boundary.
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: 4917-4923
quote_or_summary: Among Asiatic Greeks in public calamity, an ugly or deformed person
was chosen to take on city evils, given dried figs, barley loaf, and cheese to
eat, beaten seven times on the genitals with squills and wild branches, burned
on a pyre, and his ashes cast into the sea.
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: 4923-4924
quote_or_summary: Frazer says a similar custom appears to have been annually celebrated
by Asiatic Greeks at the harvest festival of the Thargelia.
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: 4883-4885
quote_or_summary: Frazer states that the Chaeronean ceremony closely resembles Japanese,
Hindoo, and Highland customs already described.
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: The passage is explicit about ritual sequences and Frazer's own cross-cultural
comparison. Motif taxonomy mapping is limited because no explicit scapegoat taxonomy
reference is supplied.
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: |-
Extraction uses only the supplied passage and metadata.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l4874-l4924
passage_sha256=ecd6075c34363a89192743604c0605a3bcc558fc20477fce1ec0d8c00f18c5a6