HOM-301 Lessons

Welcome all, to week two of your Third Year of History of Magic. It is time to move onto today’s topic in European history, namely ancient Europe. In today’s lesson, we will quickly recap all the applicable information about Europe we have covered so far, as well as focusing on Greek influences on magic and history.

Year One Roundup

In your First Year, we discussed the Bell-Beaker culture, the European civilization that was formed during the Stone age and ended around 1800 BCE that was the first culture to be completely magical. While few records of them remain, what magiacheaological evidence we can find indicates that magic was a part of every day of their lives, and was present in their homes, their farming tools, and their methods of construction. Another important phenomenon in this time period and geographical location was the idea of written symbols starting to form comprehensible texts. 

Next, we move ahead in time. While the Bell-Beaker culture was quite impressive for its time, luckily wizarding society as a whole advanced in the period between 1900 BCE and 1789 CE. During this span, magic evolved exponentially. In Week Seven of First Year, we learned that Stonehenge had some importance in that development, and that the Celtic civilization played a large role. Additionally, Roman and Greek civilization was a major catalyst for Muggle distrust of magic and its users, while attempting to abolish the use of magic overall from 54 CE onwards.

Over time, stories and tales were invented to keep Muggles complacent and unsuspecting of magic. However, some religions counteracted this, and defined magic as inhumane or dangerous. This, combined with the growing popularity of the witch hunts, led to the International Statute of Secrecy. Upon its formation, the entirety of magical society became a secret to Muggle civilization.

Magic Use in the Gaul or Celtic Civilizations

But enough of the past, let’s move onto… erm, new information about the past and the first of our new topics for today: the Celts. The challenge with studying the Celts and Gauls lies with the differences in our location in both time and space. Presently, hardly any Celtic tribes are still viable and the only remainders of these cultures can be found in the darker green areas (Ireland, the lower western part of Great Britain and the western tip of France). However, in its heyday the Celtic empire covered a major part of Europe from around 800 BCE until the Roman conquest (by Muggle Roman leader Julius Caesar around 50 BCE), diminishing, but not eradicating, these tribes.

Whereas the Greek culture accepted a strictly rational approach to magic, the Celts originally used a more natural magic in their culture. The use of magic in this time period and location can therefore be described as being influenced by a cultural shift from one lifestyle to another - the original Celtic Hallstatt culture (shown in yellow) and the later Graeco-Celtic, Pre-Roman La Tène culture (shown in light green). Despite these changes, though, the basic use of magic stayed the same until the Roman period. We’ll be taking a look at the details of each of these two cultures next, starting chronologically.

Hallstatt Culture

Around 850 BCE, surrounding the lake of Hallstatt in Austria, the Celtic culture was a predominantly naturalistic one, focusing on elemental power and divinity. The people at that time believed that many spirits and divine beings inhabited the world around them, all with special magical powers. Sacred rituals and offerings were often executed to please these deities. 

Magic use during this period was similarly natural, with proof of this found in the discovery of drawings of environmental events, spells to alter nature and weather, and remains of potions and natural medicines that have been uncovered. Frequently, magiarchaeologists and their Muggle counterparts alike speak of the origin of druidism in this culture and suggest that druids were wise magical practitioners performing various, nature-based rituals. It is described in texts, (though, sadly, only by outsiders, as Roman rule eradicated much of the druids’ own records) that magic was even more centralised and accepted in this culture than it was in ancient Greece. Additionally, female education was quite prevalent during this period, due to the Celts’ opinions on the natural female affinity with the environment. The men were not considered non-magical, though! The Celts simply believed that men had a more non-natural, technical power. They further believed that men were in possession of destructive prowess and were useful for finding food and goods, like salt or iron, a much-used metal. It was later, towards 486 BCE when these opinions changed.

La Tène Culture (and the Magi-Graeco Influence Shift) 

The aforementioned Hallstatt culture spread through Europe and reached the far wests of contemporary France. Their naturalistic view of society was spread and the conceptual practice of magic in women was embraced. Slowly over the years, the Celtic population started to diffuse and migrate from the Celtic homeland -- around the Hallstatt Lake -- westward. At this point, the Celts (who later were named Gauls by the Romans) divided themselves into several tribes. Then these tribes moved towards the Atlantic Ocean and populated nearly the entirety of contemporary France.

Things changed around 650 BCE a more class differentiated culture emerged from the Hallstatt one, influenced by the Hallstatt Celts’ knowledge of nature and the environment and use of valuable metals such as gold. This new La Tène culture combined the core concepts of nature and the soul with the practical, technical use of spells and combining them in transfigurations and enchantments. The Hallstatt followers, consumed with the more natural and utilitarian use of magic, pushed these new La Tène followers further to the south, to the Iberian Peninsula and north, overseas, to the British Isles. 

At roughly the same time (600 BCE), Greek colonial forces slowly traveled upwards along the west side of modern-day Italy where they founded the village of Massilia on the Eastern side of the Celtic lands. Soon, Greek rationalists migrated to this town from Greece in order to find their true enlightenment, study new incarnations and magical practices, and catalogue new magical herbs and woods.

From that point on, the naturalistic view of magic that had been the focus in the Hallstatt culture clashed with the more rational thought of the fixed magical theories of Greek culture. This further enforced the differentiation of the two Celtic cultures, the Hallstatt and La Tene. It was in 486 BCE that the Greek magical community forcibly rejected the Hallstatt ideals, starting in Massilia with brute force, murdering several hundreds of Hallstatt Celtic druids and wizards. This event was later named the Magi-Graeco Influence Shift by the Greek wizard historian Paleophilos around the second century BCE.

Triangulating Greek Magic

Let it not be said, though, that the Greeks contributed nothing to magical history other than having a hand in destroying Hallstatt culture. There were many inventions, spells, and magical skills first discovered there, though in this section we will only focus on one: Apparition. Yes, I’m sure many of you in wizarding families are familiar with the concept of popping in and out of existence, disappearing from one place only to reappear in another nearly instantaneously. But this was not always something witches and wizards could do; it had to be attempted for the first time, tested, and discovered. 

In countless ancient Greek sources, magic was depicted as a situational enhancer -- something used by witches and wizards in order to benefit from a particular situation. Religion in ancient Greece, however, focused more on the collective well-being of its practitioners. This should not be a surprise, as we know that religion and magic are two separate things. For those who take Ancient Studies, this has been explained in the class’ very first lesson! 

Of course, in ancient Greek society, religion and magic were not necessarily seen as two opposing sides of a coin. The Greeks’ magical practices had a tendency to be subtle and focused on prophecies (which were explained away by religion) and small changes in personal behavior, like discreet transfigurations or temporary love spells, precisely-timed incantations and disguised potions. 

This, together with the collective religious feelings of the time, allowed for more open mingling between Muggles and magical folk, which in turn created a more rational, technical view of the world. This worldview prompted both Muggles and wizards to strive to discover more about the world around them with logical reasoning. While Muggles gained more knowledge about their environment by looking at the stars and creating mathematical theories, wizards became more acquainted with astronomy, herbology, divination, environmental magic, magic regarding travel, and arithmancy. The development of the latter two were greatly helped along by a wizard who we know by the name of Pythagoras, or, Pythias the Rational.

Pythagorus

Pythias’ origins are in Samos, a small island in the Aegean sea where he was born in roughly 570 BCE. During his life, he traveled the ancient world and learned from several cultures and countries, including arithmancy from the Phoenicians, astronomy from the Babylonians, heka and herbology from the Egyptians, and the art of divination and ethics from the famous oracles in Delphi. However, strangely, there is little to no evidence of him actually physically moving to those places. That is why contemporary magiarchaeologists and other experts have devised a theory about his travels, one that can be substantiated by tales of Pythias himself, as well as the Greek writer (and, surprisingly, Muggle) Aristotle.

In his recently (1976) discovered work Peri ton Pythagoreion (About Pythagoras), Aristotle described the kinds of magical powers Pythias possessed, including talking to animals (predominantly snakes), predicting several events before they happened, and being seen in multiple cities around the same time. However, what makes researching these claims difficult is the lack of primary sources on Pythias. He held many lectures to share his knowledge orally, but never wrote down a single word. Luckily though, his students, often in his name, wrote down several of his lectures with permission. In those notes he was described as a “fleeting man, appearing and disappearing into thin air” and “when one needs him, he is never around, but when he comes, he comes with loud explosions.”

For a wizard, that sounds quite similar to Apparition, the noble art of quick - though very uncomfortable - travel. Italian and Greek magiarchaeologists have theorised he was one of the first wizards to master the ability, though are still discussing the possible origins of his skill. It is unknown whether it was a derivative of Egyptian magical practices, learned from somewhere in ancient Sumeria, or an autodidactic accomplishment. I suggest reading up on the several books about magical transportation -- or paying close attention to Apparition’s eventual coverage in your Seventh Year -- to further investigate this topic. I also suggest that if you are interested in Greek magical theories, you enroll in Ancient Studies if you haven’t done so already. For now, though, onwards!

Ancient Rome and Muggle-Magical Vengeance

Like any great civilization, though, Greece too was also overtaken (many times, in fact) and eventually blended culturally with Rome. This combination is so distinctive that there is a civilization and culture known as “Greco-Roman.” During the Roman and Greek periods, wizards in these cultures could easily hide, though there wasn’t much need. For a large period of time in Greco-Roman history, magic was accepted as a part of daily life. In fact, it was so well-accepted that Muggles often pretended they had magic (or were simply unaware they were not truly magical) which led to a large subculture of charlatans peddling their magically deficient wares and services. Another reason witches and wizards didn’t need to hide in ancient Greece was that magical incidents were often attributed to the gods and their abilities. 

Mercury/Mercurius (or his Greek equivalent, Hermes) was a god to whom curse tablets were often written due to his protection of traders, messengers, thieves, and beggars. Pluto (or Hades) was another common choice due to his connection with the dead and the underworld, a point which will make more sense in a moment.

Curse Tablets in Roman Life

Curse tablets, consisting of lead or papyrus, were written back-to-front and in a cursive font to amplify their power. One would write a curse tablet to a deity for a variety of reasons: one of which was to reclaim stolen belongings and to express their wishes for either the goods to be returned or to cause bad things to happen to the thief. After writing, they would then fold the thin piece of lead or papyrus five or six times and throw the tablet in a pond or a well, or nail it to a wall. 

Of course, as these curse tablets were written by Muggles and were part of a ritual, and therefore non-magical, there was nothing inherently curse-related about the tablets themselves. There were, however, wizards in that time that found joy and fulfillment in granting these curses. A classic example of a tablet which has been intercepted by wizards is the curse tablet of Gaius Antonius (or Antonius the Avaricious). The tablet, as seen earlier, was discovered in 1956 by the magiarchaeological team from the Iberian Ministry of Magic at a site in Velia, a city on the west coast of Italy. 

The tablet, dated to be from around 180 BCE, told the story of Gaius Antonius, a Roman farmer and greedy entrepreneur. Gaius lived close to the city in a small house with acres of farmland with his wife and three daughters. One day, when Gaius returned from the forum (a kind of marketplace), he was shocked to discover that four of his cows and two of the wheels to his wagon were missing. Gaius asked around and nobody knew what happened, so he wrote a curse tablet to Mercury, humbly asking him to fix the problem. His wife disagreed with him writing to a god as she felt it was not his place to ask the gods to intervene, but he did so anyway:

Of course, Mercury never saw the curse tablet, but two local wizards did. Additional sources tell us that Gaius’ tablet was found in a shallow well, folded several times over. The wizards, upon reading, decided that they wanted to grant Gaius’ wish and shortly after transfigured four cows back on the piece of land. And, yes. By saying transfigured I am implying that they transformed something, rather than simply giving him cows. Your guess?

If you thought about the wife and the three daughters, you were right. While Gaius was out, the four women prepared to leave Gaius and his homestead, because they felt he was too greedy a man and they did not want the gods’ wrath upon them. Unfortunately, in the process of leaving, the mother and her daughters crossed the aforementioned wizards’ path. When Gaius returned, he was so delighted to see the four cows he barely noticed the scribbled note from his wife that she left with his daughters. The following day, he slaughtered all four cows and only after the slaughter and sitting down to think about the coincidence, did it dawn upon him that he had just killed his family.

Obviously, the Muggles at that time described the transfiguration as the wrath of Mercury on the wife and the children for leaving her husband and father, but the magical community knew differently. In secret, the two wizards were apprehended and tried for their actions.

And with that story, I close this rather long lecture about ancient European history of magic. As I said before, many important magical events happened in ancient history and I strongly suggest you follow Professor Morgan’s Ancient Studies class to learn more about this very fascinating period, as we are typically concerned more with history that occurred after the turn of the century and 1 CE.

As homework, I leave you with two essays and a quiz. One essay is required and one is for extra credit. Next week, we will move onward in time to around the tenth century CE and elaborate further on European magical education and entertainment. For now, as is usual for this course, I leave you with access to my enormous stash of chocolate frogs - both milk chocolate and white. We will see each other again in Lesson Three!

Original lesson written by Professor Julius Dowler
Image credits here, here, here, and here,