he death of the sacrificial animal comes to be
regarded as the death of a god; the form of social organization in
certain ancient communities is similar to that with which totemism is
usually found associated.

+516+. Not all of these points are found in any one case, but their
occurrence over so wide an area, it is argued, is most naturally
explicable by the assumption of an original totemism of which these are
the survivals. It is suggested also that they may be an inheritance from
savage predecessors of the civilized peoples.

+517+. It will be sufficient to mention a few examples of the beliefs
and usages that appear to point to an original totemism.[864] Names of
clans and tribes derived from animals or plants are not uncommon: Hebrew
Ra[h)]el (Rachel, ewe), perhaps Kaleb (dog) and Yael (Jael, mountain
goat);[865] Greek Kunnadai (dog), and perhaps Myrmidon (ant); Roman
Porcius (hog), Fabius (bean); Irish Coneely (seal); Teutonic clan-names
like Wolfing and the like. Belief in a general kinship of men and
animals existed among Semites, Greeks, and Romans. On the other hand,
belief in the descent of a clan from an animal rarely appears: it is
apparently not found in the Semitic area; the Ophiogeneis of Parium (in
Asia Minor) are said to have regarded themselves as akin to snakes and
to have traced their genos (family or clan) to a hero who was at first a
snake;[866] the Myrmidons, according to one tradition, were transformed
ants, and some of the Irish Coneely clan are said to have been changed
into seals. Transformations of men into animals are common in Greek
mythology. Taboos of certain foods were observed abundantly in the
ancient world: by Egyptians,[867] Hebrews,[868] Greeks,[869] and
Romans,[870] and by Celts.[871] Among the various omen-giving animals
some may have been totems. Solemn annual sacrifices, followed by
mourning for the victims, were performed in Egypt,[872] and the slaying
of the sacrificial animal was treated as murder in various Greek
cities.[873] Living animals were worshiped in Egypt, and everywhere in
antiquity gods assumed animal forms, and certain animals were sacred to
certain gods. Worshipers clothed themselves in the skins of sacrificed
animals in Egypt, Cyprus, and Rome.[874] Tribal marks and ensigns were
sometimes derived from figures of animals.[875] Finally, there are
traces, in the early history of the ancient civilized peoples, of the
form of social organization with which savage