History of Magic 3 - Years 1, 2 & 3

[dinn]

CIRCE

[/u] [/b] /Kirkê[/size]->^ancient _sorceress Island of AEaEA = peninsula of CAPE CiRCaeuM GREEK

• transFIGURER
  
• POTIONs
  
• ENCHantMEnts
  

harrassed the muggle Odysseus
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Elliot Doggerel paced grandly before the underclassmen, but his voice moved more quickly as he dictated to the students. If they knew what was good for them, they'd be taking copius notes. Verbatim. Behind him, the blackboard writhed with a mish-mash of some breif notes about Circe, a Greek sorceress.

"The Olympian Pantheon," he told them, "was made up of powerful witches and wizards who's infamy was basis for the eternal canon of Greek and Roman mythos. Many of them, such as Zeus, were accomplished animagi and still more of them delighted in their power over muggles.

"It should be distinguished that the witches and wizards of the Pantheon themselves were not worshipped - it was their iconography and oversized legends that developed over time."

"From your text, who was the father of Circe?"

---

This class will proceed as if everyone one has arrived already to save time. If you wish to write yourself as late, by all means, do so.

[amanda]

Michea began scanning her text quickly, trying to find the information she'd read in preparation for the class. She'd been surprised by the idea that the Greek Gods, whose mythology she'd enjoyed reading about as a child, were actually real witches and wizards. When she thought about it though, it made sense. Non-magical people would probably see magic as something godly even now and with a few thousand years for a legend to grow….

She found the information she needed and began skimming it quickly, shifting the information provided about the three heavily disputed versions of Circe's parentage. Two of them claimed Helius and the third Aeetes. Michea raised her hand to catch the Professor's attention and answered, "Either Helius, who came to be known as the Sun God or Aeetes, the king of Colchis." She glanced down at the three family trees on the page and added, "If you follow the version that says it's Aeetes, then Helius is her grandfather."

[abigailbennett]

The Huffle's right hand flew from left to right across the parchment as she copied down Doggerel's lecture notes and other various information from the book onto the paper. Dunking her quill into a small black bottle of ink every once in a while, Abby barely lifted her head save to look at the scribbled words on the blackboard. Every once in a while she would blow her bangs away from eyes and shake her hand to keep it from cramping up.

Circe- she jotted down. Greek sorceress; one of Odysseus' obstacles on his way home to Ithaca... Her quill stopped for a second as Abby lifted her eyes to the speaking Slytherin. She placed the blackened tip to the parchment once more, prepared to either write Helios, Aeetes, both, or neither. Wow, did history involve a lot of information.

[samh]

From your text, who was the father of Circe?

Samuel after he heard the question read through the text. He was searching, and searching and searching. He was still searching while Michea answered. He still wanted to make a better answer, and a-ha he found it.

"Circe's father was Helios, the pre-Olympic titan of the Sun, and her mother was Perse, an Oceanid and she happended to be the sister of Aeetes, the king of Colchis and of Pasiphae and Aga. She transformed her enemies, or who offended her into animals through the use of magical potions. Thats why she was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs," he said. His hoped his got this right. He knew about Circe and Helios alittle bit.

[dinn]

Elliot knit his brows roughly with his fingertips, closing his eyes tightly as if against a bright glare. "As a personal favor," he said in a gravelly pleading voice, "would it be possible not to vomit passages from the book straight back at me? I've read it, you've read it," he wagged his hand in the air, "I'm really not interested in hearing it again. Anyone can read and memorize. It may as well be the menu at the Hog's Head. From now on show me that you can learn. Please."

His lament didn't require a response, just that a change in behavior take place.

"That said," he looked up, his eyes their usual bloodshot as if he'd not slept in ages, "We're going to go with Helios on this one, although some scholars maintain that Circe was nobility of Colchis, dauther of Aeetes. Aeetes has been confirmed as being muggle, though, and witches in Circe's position of the day would have sought out a mentor - and that would be a man called Helios Panoptes. But I don't want to hear anything about 'pre-Olympian titans' or deities' - that's muggle mythology. They were witches and wizards, famed sorcerors. Let's stick to that, eh?"

[tiger188]

Carter stopped writing briefly as the professor had his little rant, and then continued to move his hand quickly across the parchment as he continued to talk about history again, but again stopped when the professor spoke of pre-Olympian titans and deities. Didn't I read this before? He thought he had, and he probably did. Or at least he probably read something like it.

He reached up and started smoothing down his unruly hair, and then cracked his knuckes bracing himself to write more.

[monkeybones]

Niyah failed to write down everything the professor said, and she wasn't really copying much of anything from the book either. Instead she was doodling on the side of her parchment, and only snapped back to attention when Professor Doggerel freaked out. That's what it seemed like to her. She hadn't seen her sister freak out before, over clothes, over boys, and she would classify this as a small. When he went back to giving infomation she wrote it down and tried to pay attention to what was being said.

[Anna Becket]

Anna wrote down everything from the board but wasn't really paying attention. Even though the professor asked them a question she didn't say anything, that is she was about to when the others spoke. The only thing she knew about Circe was that she turned men into animals. Looking back up at the professor, she waited for the lesson to continue.

[labyrinth]

Koren knew only a little on the subject of Circe from what her tutors had taught her. She scribbled down everything on her parchment paper, and looked up the things in her book that she didn't know. She may not have known much about Circe, but she did know a lot about Odysseus. When the professor stopped teaching for a while, she in turn stopped writing.

[amanda]

Michea's eyebrows rose just slightly at the Professor's response to Samuel's addendum to the answer she'd given. At least, she rather hoped that's who he'd been referring to as she hadn't claimed anyone had been a deity - only that Helios had come to be known as such. Shrugging, she jotted down then name the Professor had settled on as Circe's father as well as the information about witches of the period requiring mentors. That was an interesting bit of information, and deciding to risk the Professor's seemingly short temper, Michea raised her hand.

[dinn]

In return for his years of scholarly study and the two hours he spent on this lesson plan, Elliot Doggerel was rewarded with fifteen blank stares. At least their eyes were open. He could completely sympathize with their lack of interest in History - his own during his school days had been the stuff of legends and hours and hours of detention with the ancient Binns. But it had made an impression on him, the eons of dictating notes because the old phantom couldn't hold chalk. Doggerel became a researcher and essayist. Teaching was a day job while he worked to get his most recent foray published.

But the blank stares. How disconcerting they were.

He squinted back at them, hoping they were uncomfortable with the eye contact. "What would you rather be doing?"

[monkeybones]

Without really thinking about what she was saying, let alone thinking about was asked and more importantly who was asking it, Niyah answered his question. "Playing," she said under her breath. It took her a few moments afterwards to think that it may have been a rhetorical question. Her answer may even anger him even further. She hoped that he didn't hear her.

[amanda]

The question threw Michea and she lowered her hand, frowning. That she was actually frowning indicated just how astonished and irritated she was. 'What would you rather be doing' he'd asked. Well, she'd wanted to ask a question. He had to have seen her hand in the air, it had been the only one up, and he'd looked each of them in the eye just before asking that. Including herself.

If she answered that question honestly right now, she'd probably get a detention. Probably lose a lot of points too, though she wasn't as sure about that as this Professor was her Head of House. Remembering that though only annoyed Michea more.

She wondered if perhaps he just wanted people to ask questions when they had them and ignored raised hands on principle. She'd heard of teachers like that, especially from her older cousins talking about their high school classes. This idea settled her irritation, though not completely. You'd think he'd just mention that one should just speak out if that were the case. She decided to ignore the question, and ask her own.

"Excuse me Professor," she raised her hand just a bit as she spoke, years of conditioning to raise her hand in class hard to overcome. "I was just wondering about something you said. About how Circe would have had a mentor. Was it a common thing at the time, or did you have to be a certain rank to need one?"

[dinn]

Only a mumble or two reached Doggerel's ear in response to his sarcastic query, but paydirt was won when Michea Devries insisted on academics. Her peers would not be pleased likely, but he'd be sure to award her some points if she got martyred for the sake of the pursuit of truth.

"Indeed, Devries. Spot on. Like most occupations of the ancient world they were passed on directly from one to another. Magic was no different. All witches and wizards had to go on was their reputations. Good reputations ended up attracting the attention of wealthy families who'd pay them in exchange for tutoring their children. Now, details on Circe's own arrangement were shady, but you can bet she studied under someone in the same league as Helios. From what you know of Helios and Circe and their feilds of magical aptitude, is it likely that Circe studied with Helios?"

He sat back in his deep chair and creaked backwards in it, studying the class. It was a fairly open-ended question. He just hoped that what ever came from their mouths would be closely followed with some back up.

[abigailbennett]

Abigail looked around the classroom at the other students only to see multiple blank stares and a couple of confused expressions. She returned her gaze to the professor, racking her brain for a good answer. Though the first year rarely spoke in class, Hufflepuff desperately needed house points, and Abby resolved herself to gaining some of those points.

"Well, sir, it could be likely that Helios was Circe's mentor, because if Aeetes was her father, than Circe would be pretty rich and in the higher class because Aeetes was a king, and therefore she would most likely have a mentor of some sort. Circe might've learned some of her sorcery from Helios, because he was a wizard." Abby became silent as she moved her focus to the stone floor, hoping she had provided the answer the professor was looking for without making a complete bumbling idiot of herself.