Although now methodologically outdated, The Golden Bough is credited with making decisive the scapegoat’s meaning as the innocent surrogate victim who is blamed and punished for the deeds of others. This victim’s namesake, ...

Many tenets first formulated by Sir James Frazer in his magnum opus The Golden Bough still survive to this day in discussions of ancient Mesopotamian cult, myth, and religion. As a case study for the still pernicious ...

The Frazerian Fertility Cult is the mirror image of a culture that is at the same time sex-obsessed and deeply uncomfortable on the subject. From earliest times in ancient Mesopotamia, overpopulation was a serious concern ...

First Keynote Speaker. The goddess Ištar has multiple gendered agencies in Mesopotamian texts. She features as a lover, mother, daughter, as well as an independent sexual agent who is capable of transgressing gender ...