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The Golden Bough, Vol. 02 of 12

Note 551 — Chapter XIII · THE KINGS OF ROME AND ALBA

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The first, I believe, to point out a parallelism in detail between Rome and Aricia was Mr. A. B. Cook (Classical Review, xvii. (1902) pp. 376 sqq.); but from the similarity he inferred the humanity of the Arician priests rather than the divinity of the Roman kings. A fuller consideration of all the evidence has since led him, rightly as I conceive, to reverse the inference. See his articles “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” The Classical Review, xviii. (1904) pp. 360-375; “The European Sky-God,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 260-332. In the first and second editions of this work I had suggested that the regifugium at Rome may have been a relic of a rule of succession to the throne like that which obtained at Nemi. The following discussion of the religious position of the old Latin kings owes much to Mr. Cook’s sagacity and learning, of which he freely imparted to me.

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