Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
extend their rule but the tradition of sacrificing the old king ran very deep and was
often represented symbolically in the customs, traditions, and ritual pageants of the
mound-building cultures. T h e literal sacrifice of the king and his replacement with a
successor was replaced by a mythological death and rebirth, like that of Osiris. T h e
king was identified with the god who had died and come back to life again, and acted
out his death, dismemberment, and rebirth in dramatic rituals rather than by actually
dying.
T h e scholar Theodore Gaster described four types of ritual in the ancient
world o f the N e a r East that followed one another in a seasonal sequence o f
M o r t i f i c a t i o n , Purgation, Invigoration, a n d J u b i l a t i o n , all related to the death
and rebirth o f the g o d or king. S o m e t i m e s all four elements c o u l d be c o m b i n e d
annaabi.ee 
