SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - HoM Lesson 1

Lissy Longbottom · 01-18-2021, 11:47 PM

SPOILER!!: Replies!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

So.....they were right?? Emm spared a quick glance over at Kizzy, relieved to know they weren't looking like the dumbest kids in the room. It was a relief, a small weight off her back.

Oh! That next question!!

Emm's hand shot up immediately. She knew the answer--or had very well convinced herself she did. Either way, Emmerson's hand was waving from side to side eagerly until she was acknowledged.

"Because muggles like destroying things that are different and things they don't understand. Just like with the witch hunts in Salem, Professor. If they knew these people really existed and really were magic then it'd cause a ton of trouble and lots more of us would've died."

It was a lesson her Auntie Jessa often tried to cement in the young girl, only it wasn't necessarily with muggles. It had more to do with...people who just didn't understand and got afraid so they started calling you names and taking your things.

Same principle really.

"Concern for safety is definitely a valid reason and one of the main reasons we have the Statue of Secrecy in place today," Gabi smiled at Emmerson's answer - while she was probably hamming it up a bit to keep the Alliance happy, she still made an excellent point.

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Originally Posted by astrocat

Oh no. Ash could talk again. "There are lots of stories about people getting struck by lightning after doing something bad. Maybe they hurt a wizard, and maybe the wizard decided to killing curse them and everyone just thought it was lightning. And then they would have covered it up so that wizards wouldn't get hurt. Makes sense, really." SEE how GOOD she was at BEING COMPLIANT? Maybe they wouldn't kill the healer if she went on like this.

Gabi paused and wrinkled her eyebrows in thought. "Interesting idea, Miss Fox. If that was the case, then it is very convenient that the Greek god Zeus' weapon of choice was the thunderbolt." Was it true? Probably not, but she could tell Ashley was trying SO HARD to be good, so she'd give her that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

Oh. Aboli straightened a bit as she and Bernie had apparently predicted the lesson material. She felt smug, but no one would know looking at her face. She was just proud of herself was all. Why? She knew she was an intelligent young woman...but even so. It was nice to feel validated sometimes.

The younger Gryffindor's answer made her raise her eyebrows, but she couldn't lash out today. Too much at stake. "To piggy back off of Emmerson's answer," Aboli said gently, "I think witches and wizards liked living in peace rather than turmoil. They knew if they were truthful, they'd have a lot more problems to deal with." Kind of neutral answer there. "Considering the way they treated "prophets" at the time...sometimes trying to utilize the so-call magical abilities and then KILLING prophets who couldn't live up to the muggle demand....yeah. They could be dead cruel to those they perceived as having magical powers."

"Good point, Miss Song. Even muggle free thinkers like Socrates were treated differently and eventually hunted for their ideas, and all he was doing was asking questions," Gabi pointed out with a nod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Yeah yeah, Bernie was right. Look at that, the dumb Gryffindor Mudblood could read and remember things too. She refrained from rolling her eyes only because the hooded figures were still here. Had any of the professors thanked the hoodies yet for taking care of the classroom management for them? Hah.

She still wasn't buying the whole 'wizards made myths to protect themselves from Muggles' thing, ala Emmerson and Ashley's and even Aboli's answers. Back in the days of Ancient Greece, magic was hardly hidden. Even the Muggles knew about all the monsters that would attack their society, and the Statute of Secrecy (according to Nem) hadn't been enacted until the 1600s or whatever... so.... if anything, wizards probably had to work hard like ALL THE TIME in public to save the more mortal Muggles from their magical creatures. If they even felt like doing such a thing back then.

"I think the myths and stories have more to do with literary tradition than Muggle-Magic interaction," she answered flatly, hand raised once again. "Ancient Greeks valued storytelling, dialogue, and conversation, and were initially mistrustful of the written word." She paused, trying to recall the name of the book where she'd read this. It definitely had something to do with... with Socrates, was it? Wasn't he said to be super ugly as well? Maybe he was a wizard who made up stories then to make himself feel better.

But she couldn't digress TOO much into her usual creative answers with the hooded crowd watching.

"Didn't the Greeks do a lot of public speaking, too? So I bet the myths and stories were just... exaggerated versions of the truth, at first, to make themselves LOOK good. I can picture some of these guys in togas and olive wreaths trying to top the story of the guy who spoke before them...." Like the Olympics of storytelling, right? If they were going to have such a competition today, Bernie was feeling confident she could win. Well, if the hoodie snitches woud leave, THEN she could win.

So anyway, best to just finish off this answer and then go back to being quiet and pretending not to exist. "I think it has more to do with the culture of the society than anything...." she mumbled, lowering her hand.

Gabi grinned at Bernie's well thought out answer and nodded. "Very good point, Miss Grantham. Stories and epic odysseys were passed along via word of mouth for most of history, and over many many centuries. It is not at all unlikely that the stories started out closer to the truth, and then took on a life of their own," she explained. "Not unlike the muggle game of 'telephone' where the message gets changed over time, simply because it's hard to remember the details as it goes on from person to person!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiallNIP

Quinn knew that his world was changing, but having an entirely new view on the past wasn't something that he was expected, though he guessed it came with the territory. Having Greek myth be more fact than fiction than he'd realized was messing with his head a little because he grew up really loving the stories, but he ultimately knew they were fictional. Or, at least, he thought he knew.

He wasn't entirely sure how to answer the first question—why would the Greeks keep magic a secret?—but he definitely knew something for the second question; he grew up on the stories, after all. "I guess one story that was probably true to the source material would be the story of Arachne..? Arachne boasted about her weaving prowess, saying she would rival the skills of the goddess Athena—though, I guess she would be less goddess and more witch—so Athena challenged her to a weaving competition. When Arachne won, Athena turned her into a spider out of spite. That seems pretty plausible when you factor magic into the equation."

Gabi nodded. "That is a good point. When it comes to the gods, it's hard to determine exactly whether or not their acts were myths or not, since the same character spans so many stories and generations," she pointed out. He was on the right track, though!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

The Hood’s voice was one the Snakette was determined to ignore. Why was it that Ashley always seemed to be the one who was likely to get into some dangerous form of trouble? Possibly it was because she talked too much. This was why Claudine would as usual keep to herself and focus on the lesson. Whereas she’d been unsure of her answer because of the timeframe, the fact that Reccard appreciated the mention of the spell was a relief.

But Ancient Greece it was.

The fifth year strongly agreed with Emmerson and Aboli’s responses. However, she had another idea of her own, mostly based on her own personal experiences. Up went a hand. “Possibly they just liked being alone. Like introverts.” Like herself. “I’d like to think that there are some legends that stayed very close to the origins.’’ Legends, after all, had to have a starting point.

"Very true - sometimes we just want privacy, and if you just seemed like an everyday citizen, it would make sense that you'd come up with myths to protect your identity and community," she said with a smile at the Slytherin's answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson

She had stayed silent because someone mentioned ancient Greeks, which honestly her mom told her that as a kid anyways. Rolling her eyes she because she would have mentioned the Romans because they were equally as mysterious about their roman gods and stories of sirens and such. Although she firmly believed Pompeii was magical and not an actual volcano erupting.

Oh now was fun, "Myths are more terrifying. It's like the legend of people. When it's real and honest its less scary, by being a myth no one knew if "zeus" would actually strike a muggle dead." See what she did there hooded figures? She did use air quotes around Zeus because OBVIOUSLY the gods were witches and wizards among the people. Maybe this class wouldn't be such a buzzkill after all.

"Good answer, yes, I am sure there were many ancient Greeks that liked the idea of the myths making them seem more powerful than they actually were," Gabi replied. That answer shocked her a bit, coming from Charlie but...then again, these hooded figures were making people say WEIRD things to save face. Sigh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"The Greeks are like... notorious for setting up gods and demigods and then knocking them down again, right? Like they're all fighting and fussing and arguing and cursing each other. I imagine some of those demigods were actually magical kind, but if you show some magic and get compared to the gods, you either have to rule or be worshipped and get caught in this perpetual wheel of fighting." Phoebe personally was over drama at the moment and wasn't going out of her way to seek it. The Greek witches and wizards were probably the same way.

"So you just choose to appear like your neighbors to avoid having to constantly be producing gold from your fingers or food for your hungry or banish another ship full of angry warriors from your shore." Honestly sounded so exhausting.

"That was certainly a common theme in the myths," Gabi replied with a small chuckle. They were ALWAYS trying to one up each other, those gods. Demigods were another very complicated aspect of mythology that had it's own mess of problems - best to just keep your head down so people didn't think you were involved in it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2111jen

Austin thought about this question for a while.
He raised his hand.
"Maybe it wasn't stories but facts?" He offered. "Facts in the form of stories?"

"Very good," Gabi smiled at the Slytherin. "Mythology, while usually thought to be all stories from the muggle perspective, actually have some truth to them. Of course the muggles would never understand that," she added quickly. She was getting good at this whole "muggles are dumb" thing - which was sad and making her feel some kind of way, but she couldn't linger on that thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Hold onto that thought?

Dahlia nodded her head at the Professors reply. Had she gotten the question right? Was she partly correct? She wasn't entirely sure but the response she had gotten had to mean something.

Dahlia raised her hand. "Maybe they felt that too much truth would have been a problem for them. Witches and Wizards may have wanted to live their own lives without worry. They could either help others or not, it was their choice. They probably didn't want all the attention or constantly be sought out to fix issues that didn't concern themselves." Did that make any sense at all? In her head it had but as she had begun to speak it sounded less and less like what she had originally intended to say.

Sometimes keeping quiet was the best way to do things.

"Taking on responsibility for the community would definitely be a burden that maybe they didn't want. Good answer!" Gabi grinned, as she had not expected anyone to take that approach but was quite pleased that Dahlia had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pundantic

Kale was having a t i m e concentrating. These hooded dudes were harshing the vibe and he was stressed out. On top of that, it was super hard to listen to people talk trash about muggles, even if it was for their safety. The fifth year was having a hard time of it, tbh.

When the lesson shifted to the Ancient Greeks and the magical society that was present there, he could still hear the undercurrent of muggle bashing. The blonde frowned.

Besides, Kale didn’t know much about Ancient Greece beyond the fact that Patroclus was Achilles’ boyfriend and NOT his cousin, Brad Pitt. But Kale didn’t know how that was relevant to the lesson, so instead he opted to listen.

Even Gabi knew who Brad Pitt was, but not being SUPER familiar with his entire filmography, she probably would have been confused by his answer, so it was probably best that Kale kept quiet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Cece's head kind of hurt as she tried to keep track of all the answers being given in an effort to offer up something different. Honestly though, all the stuff being said was sort of connected? Pretty much being different called attention to you, and that wasn't always a good thing. It could be dangerous depending on what side you were on and they were living every part of that right now.

Instead of answering, the fifth year made sure to actively take notes and nod her head in agreement with her friends. She was listening, she just didn't feel much like talking at the moment, thanks.

No answer from Cecelia? Interesting. She saw her scribbling away, though, so Gabi knew she was at least listening!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

"I think maybe they did it to create a sense of mystery and power about themselves. I mean--some of those ancient wizards were thought of as gods or demi-gods, or at least powerful priests and priestesses. The mystique of those legends increased their power and influence."

A Slytherin thinking that the wizards wanted to be seen as powerful? Gabi was not at all shocked at this answer and grinned at her. "Good answer, Miss Blackthrone," she replied.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Clearly it had been too much to hope that the lesson was not going in this direction. Greek mythology. Nem and their sister had each been given a name from that whole subject, actually, and Nem clearly didn't hate theirs, as they not only did not change that part but also went by it in day to day life. But Jake had chosen it, had been into that stuff once, so Nem would disregard it as much as possible. At least on the surface.

Whatever. They cast that thought aside and raised a hand. Before speaking, Nem cleared their throat slightly, a sign that this answer was going to be a lot longer than they usually offered. Buckle up. "This goes back to before they were stories, but you could think of it like this: all those deities were real magical people at one time, and all mortals were muggles. Demigods, maybe half-bloods, but that's not important. This idea of gods and goddesses would then have been encouraged at the time, because the muggles would have been less likely to mess with a god than with a wizard, if that's who they thought they were dealing with." There were some cultures and communities currently and throughout history, where magic and those who could perform it were revered, but in the general sense, it was more of a universal thing that people did not like to defy something or someone they believed was omniscient and omnipotent.

"But some did, and that's where Nemesis comes in. You know Nemesis?" Goddess of divine retribution, and revenge. Remorseless, wrathful, et cetera, et cetera. Can't relate. "Nemesis punished hubris, defiance and arrogance before the gods. So, if the gods were actually witches and wizards, that equates to Nemesis keeping the muggles in check, particularly those who tried to hurt or undermine magical society. Once all those original magical 'deities' had died, and magical people were still perpetuating the idea of the gods, they could continue to deal with those muggles in Nemesis' name, and the muggles wouldn't have questioned it. At least, not until they started to evolve away from those beliefs, and instead of real gods, we pushed the idea that they were fake stories instead, stick with the general feeling for self-preservation."

Nem drummed their fingers on their desk and shrugged one shoulder. "Just a theory, of course. I wouldn't know. I wasn't there." Different Nemesis. Sort of.

"A very thought out theory, though," Gabi nodded in approval at Nem's answer. "I especially like how you equated the demi-gods to possibly being another reference to half-bloods. Certainly Nemesis could have very well been a ploy to keep muggles at bay, or at least show that they were more powerful and, by extension, more important," she said in response. Since Nem was clearly named after the Nemesis from Greek mythology - a connection Gabi definitely hadn't made until just now - it would make sense that they had thought about this a LOT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Judging by the first question alone, Heath had no idea where the lesson was going from here. It was only when Professor Recard mentioned Greek mythology that things clicked in his brain. So the Greek myths had some element of truth to them? That was interesting! As he considered the next question, his thoughts turned to his favorite myth, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Was any part of that real? He tried to imagine how it could be. What if the two main characters were magical? What if Eurydice became a ghost and Orpheus’s journey into the Underworld was meant to represent a figurative journey into the spirit world through the use of magic? What if Orpheus was trying to find a magical way to bring his love back from the dead and resorted to the Dark Arts to do it? What if the god of the underworld was actually a dark wizard?

He shook his head. That sounded crazy! Probably too crazy to voice out loud, so instead he focused on the other part of the question. This part was one he didn’t have to think too hard about. If the ancient Greek wizards were anything like himself, he knew exactly why they hid themselves. It was the same reason he hid his true self from all but a select few people. His hand went up, and he said, “I think creating myths was a survival mechanism for them. People fear what they don’t understand; it’s human nature. They knew that muggles would never understand them, so rather than subject themselves to violence and ridicule, they chose to hide their true selves behind the characters in myths.”

"The idea that these stories were used as protection or to give wizards their privacy seems to be a popular one," Gabi smiled in response to Heath's answer.

"Excellent answers, all of you!" Gabi said with a grin, even momentarily forgetting that the hooded figures still stood around her, still as statues as they watched the class. So far, so good - no one else had a tongue glued to the roof of their mouth, so she took that to mean things were going well.

"The correct answer is a bit complicated, of course. As Bernie said, some stories change over time simply because spoken word was how many of these stories were passed on. Over time, details got changed, since people added their own flare or simply remembered it differently than the person who told it to them," she explained. "However, there is a bit of truth in the idea that they changed details to protect themselves. It is much easier to go on, living a normal life amongst...ignorant...muggles, blaming their magic on the gods, than it is to admit you're different than others," she added.

Yes, even in ancient times, people wanted to fit in!

"Now, let's look at some myths and try to figure out the TRUTH, shall we?" she asked the class with a grin before turning around a pointing to the first picture she had on the chalkboard. "As you can see, we have a picture of a cyclops here. However, cyclops is not a type of creature - in fact, as some of you may know from your chocolate frogs, Cyclops was the name of a specific giant, who happened to have one eye," she told them all, pausing to allow them time to scribble down some notes on the subject.

"Over time, the story changed, and cyclops became a new type of magical creature in Greek mythology," she explained. "The Loch Ness monster is featured because, while it isn't Greek, we all know the monster to actually be a Kelpie and yet another example of hiding the true magical nature of something. And the Beauxbaton horses are real winged horses - which are displayed prominently in Greek literature," she explained.

"For this part of the lesson, you may work together or with a partner to determine WHAT these mythical creatures or figures actually were," she explained, waving her wand so that the pictures disappeared and were replaced with a small list of mythological characters:

Quote:

-Circe
-Cerberus
-Proteus
-Medusa

"If you are not familiar with the stories of these characters, you may consult the chapter on Greek Mythology in your textbooks - keep in mind that the stories featured in your books are the muggle myths, and the actual historical references are in another textbook entirely, so you'll have to figure it out using your critical thinking skills," she assured them all with a smirk.

"I'll give you all...ten minutes to start, perhaps longer if you're struggling," she told them all before clapping to signal that the activity had started.

OOC: EEEP I am excited for this part of the lesson! Your task at hand is simple - like Gabi said, determine what these Greek mythological characters/creatures ACTUALLY were. A bit of Googling and you should all be able to find the HP explanation for this list!

You'll have at LEAST 36 hours to complete the mini activity before we move on, possibly longer! Catch up from question two IS allowed if you want to still join the discussion!

01-18-2021, 11:47 PM	#66 (permalink)
Lissy Longbottom Giant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Ferrix: GMT-6 Posts: 56,911 Hogwarts RPG Name: Moritz Schultz (#0f667e) Ravenclaw Seventh Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nancy Schultz (#ac6f77) Hufflepuff Fourth Year x11 x1	curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - chicken emoji - probably @ Disney - I speak dog SPOILER!!: Replies! Quote: Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo So.....they were right?? Emm spared a quick glance over at Kizzy, relieved to know they weren't looking like the dumbest kids in the room. It was a relief, a small weight off her back. Oh! That next question!! Emm's hand shot up immediately. She knew the answer--or had very well convinced herself she did. Either way, Emmerson's hand was waving from side to side eagerly until she was acknowledged. "Because muggles like destroying things that are different and things they don't understand. Just like with the witch hunts in Salem, Professor. If they knew these people really existed and really were magic then it'd cause a ton of trouble and lots more of us would've died." It was a lesson her Auntie Jessa often tried to cement in the young girl, only it wasn't necessarily with muggles. It had more to do with...people who just didn't understand and got afraid so they started calling you names and taking your things. Same principle really. "Concern for safety is definitely a valid reason and one of the main reasons we have the Statue of Secrecy in place today," Gabi smiled at Emmerson's answer - while she was probably hamming it up a bit to keep the Alliance happy, she still made an excellent point. Quote: Originally Posted by astrocat Oh no. Ash could talk again. "There are lots of stories about people getting struck by lightning after doing something bad. Maybe they hurt a wizard, and maybe the wizard decided to killing curse them and everyone just thought it was lightning. And then they would have covered it up so that wizards wouldn't get hurt. Makes sense, really." SEE how GOOD she was at BEING COMPLIANT? Maybe they wouldn't kill the healer if she went on like this. Gabi paused and wrinkled her eyebrows in thought. "Interesting idea, Miss Fox. If that was the case, then it is very convenient that the Greek god Zeus' weapon of choice was the thunderbolt." Was it true? Probably not, but she could tell Ashley was trying SO HARD to be good, so she'd give her that one. Quote: Originally Posted by kayquilz Oh. Aboli straightened a bit as she and Bernie had apparently predicted the lesson material. She felt smug, but no one would know looking at her face. She was just proud of herself was all. Why? She knew she was an intelligent young woman...but even so. It was nice to feel validated sometimes. The younger Gryffindor's answer made her raise her eyebrows, but she couldn't lash out today. Too much at stake. "To piggy back off of Emmerson's answer," Aboli said gently, "I think witches and wizards liked living in peace rather than turmoil. They knew if they were truthful, they'd have a lot more problems to deal with." Kind of neutral answer there. "Considering the way they treated "prophets" at the time...sometimes trying to utilize the so-call magical abilities and then KILLING prophets who couldn't live up to the muggle demand....yeah. They could be dead cruel to those they perceived as having magical powers." "Good point, Miss Song. Even muggle free thinkers like Socrates were treated differently and eventually hunted for their ideas, and all he was doing was asking questions," Gabi pointed out with a nod. Quote: Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl Yeah yeah, Bernie was right. Look at that, the dumb Gryffindor Mudblood could read and remember things too. She refrained from rolling her eyes only because the hooded figures were still here. Had any of the professors thanked the hoodies yet for taking care of the classroom management for them? Hah. She still wasn't buying the whole 'wizards made myths to protect themselves from Muggles' thing, ala Emmerson and Ashley's and even Aboli's answers. Back in the days of Ancient Greece, magic was hardly hidden. Even the Muggles knew about all the monsters that would attack their society, and the Statute of Secrecy (according to Nem) hadn't been enacted until the 1600s or whatever... so.... if anything, wizards probably had to work hard like ALL THE TIME in public to save the more mortal Muggles from their magical creatures. If they even felt like doing such a thing back then. "I think the myths and stories have more to do with literary tradition than Muggle-Magic interaction," she answered flatly, hand raised once again. "Ancient Greeks valued storytelling, dialogue, and conversation, and were initially mistrustful of the written word." She paused, trying to recall the name of the book where she'd read this. It definitely had something to do with... with Socrates, was it? Wasn't he said to be super ugly as well? Maybe he was a wizard who made up stories then to make himself feel better. But she couldn't digress TOO much into her usual creative answers with the hooded crowd watching. "Didn't the Greeks do a lot of public speaking, too? So I bet the myths and stories were just... exaggerated versions of the truth, at first, to make themselves LOOK good. I can picture some of these guys in togas and olive wreaths trying to top the story of the guy who spoke before them...." Like the Olympics of storytelling, right? If they were going to have such a competition today, Bernie was feeling confident she could win. Well, if the hoodie snitches woud leave, THEN she could win. So anyway, best to just finish off this answer and then go back to being quiet and pretending not to exist. "I think it has more to do with the culture of the society than anything...." she mumbled, lowering her hand. Gabi grinned at Bernie's well thought out answer and nodded. "Very good point, Miss Grantham. Stories and epic odysseys were passed along via word of mouth for most of history, and over many many centuries. It is not at all unlikely that the stories started out closer to the truth, and then took on a life of their own," she explained. "Not unlike the muggle game of 'telephone' where the message gets changed over time, simply because it's hard to remember the details as it goes on from person to person!" Quote: Originally Posted by NiallNIP Quinn knew that his world was changing, but having an entirely new view on the past wasn't something that he was expected, though he guessed it came with the territory. Having Greek myth be more fact than fiction than he'd realized was messing with his head a little because he grew up really loving the stories, but he ultimately knew they were fictional. Or, at least, he thought he knew. He wasn't entirely sure how to answer the first question—why would the Greeks keep magic a secret?—but he definitely knew something for the second question; he grew up on the stories, after all. "I guess one story that was probably true to the source material would be the story of Arachne..? Arachne boasted about her weaving prowess, saying she would rival the skills of the goddess Athena—though, I guess she would be less goddess and more witch—so Athena challenged her to a weaving competition. When Arachne won, Athena turned her into a spider out of spite. That seems pretty plausible when you factor magic into the equation." Gabi nodded. "That is a good point. When it comes to the gods, it's hard to determine exactly whether or not their acts were myths or not, since the same character spans so many stories and generations," she pointed out. He was on the right track, though! Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 The Hood’s voice was one the Snakette was determined to ignore. Why was it that Ashley always seemed to be the one who was likely to get into some dangerous form of trouble? Possibly it was because she talked too much. This was why Claudine would as usual keep to herself and focus on the lesson. Whereas she’d been unsure of her answer because of the timeframe, the fact that Reccard appreciated the mention of the spell was a relief. But Ancient Greece it was. The fifth year strongly agreed with Emmerson and Aboli’s responses. However, she had another idea of her own, mostly based on her own personal experiences. Up went a hand. “Possibly they just liked being alone. Like introverts.” Like herself. “I’d like to think that there are some legends that stayed very close to the origins.’’ Legends, after all, had to have a starting point. "Very true - sometimes we just want privacy, and if you just seemed like an everyday citizen, it would make sense that you'd come up with myths to protect your identity and community," she said with a smile at the Slytherin's answer. Quote: Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson She had stayed silent because someone mentioned ancient Greeks, which honestly her mom told her that as a kid anyways. Rolling her eyes she because she would have mentioned the Romans because they were equally as mysterious about their roman gods and stories of sirens and such. Although she firmly believed Pompeii was magical and not an actual volcano erupting. Oh now was fun, "Myths are more terrifying. It's like the legend of people. When it's real and honest its less scary, by being a myth no one knew if "zeus" would actually strike a muggle dead." See what she did there hooded figures? She did use air quotes around Zeus because OBVIOUSLY the gods were witches and wizards among the people. Maybe this class wouldn't be such a buzzkill after all. "Good answer, yes, I am sure there were many ancient Greeks that liked the idea of the myths making them seem more powerful than they actually were," Gabi replied. That answer shocked her a bit, coming from Charlie but...then again, these hooded figures were making people say WEIRD things to save face. Sigh. Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin "The Greeks are like... notorious for setting up gods and demigods and then knocking them down again, right? Like they're all fighting and fussing and arguing and cursing each other. I imagine some of those demigods were actually magical kind, but if you show some magic and get compared to the gods, you either have to rule or be worshipped and get caught in this perpetual wheel of fighting." Phoebe personally was over drama at the moment and wasn't going out of her way to seek it. The Greek witches and wizards were probably the same way. "So you just choose to appear like your neighbors to avoid having to constantly be producing gold from your fingers or food for your hungry or banish another ship full of angry warriors from your shore." Honestly sounded so exhausting. "That was certainly a common theme in the myths," Gabi replied with a small chuckle. They were ALWAYS trying to one up each other, those gods. Demigods were another very complicated aspect of mythology that had it's own mess of problems - best to just keep your head down so people didn't think you were involved in it! Quote: Originally Posted by 2111jen Austin thought about this question for a while. He raised his hand. "Maybe it wasn't stories but facts?" He offered. "Facts in the form of stories?" "Very good," Gabi smiled at the Slytherin. "Mythology, while usually thought to be all stories from the muggle perspective, actually have some truth to them. Of course the muggles would never understand that," she added quickly. She was getting good at this whole "muggles are dumb" thing - which was sad and making her feel some kind of way, but she couldn't linger on that thought. Quote: Originally Posted by Kolyander Hold onto that thought? Dahlia nodded her head at the Professors reply. Had she gotten the question right? Was she partly correct? She wasn't entirely sure but the response she had gotten had to mean something. Dahlia raised her hand. "Maybe they felt that too much truth would have been a problem for them. Witches and Wizards may have wanted to live their own lives without worry. They could either help others or not, it was their choice. They probably didn't want all the attention or constantly be sought out to fix issues that didn't concern themselves." Did that make any sense at all? In her head it had but as she had begun to speak it sounded less and less like what she had originally intended to say. Sometimes keeping quiet was the best way to do things. "Taking on responsibility for the community would definitely be a burden that maybe they didn't want. Good answer!" Gabi grinned, as she had not expected anyone to take that approach but was quite pleased that Dahlia had. Quote: Originally Posted by pundantic Kale was having a t i m e concentrating. These hooded dudes were harshing the vibe and he was stressed out. On top of that, it was super hard to listen to people talk trash about muggles, even if it was for their safety. The fifth year was having a hard time of it, tbh. When the lesson shifted to the Ancient Greeks and the magical society that was present there, he could still hear the undercurrent of muggle bashing. The blonde frowned. Besides, Kale didn’t know much about Ancient Greece beyond the fact that Patroclus was Achilles’ boyfriend and NOT his cousin, Brad Pitt. But Kale didn’t know how that was relevant to the lesson, so instead he opted to listen. Even Gabi knew who Brad Pitt was, but not being SUPER familiar with his entire filmography, she probably would have been confused by his answer, so it was probably best that Kale kept quiet. Quote: Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow Cece's head kind of hurt as she tried to keep track of all the answers being given in an effort to offer up something different. Honestly though, all the stuff being said was sort of connected? Pretty much being different called attention to you, and that wasn't always a good thing. It could be dangerous depending on what side you were on and they were living every part of that right now. Instead of answering, the fifth year made sure to actively take notes and nod her head in agreement with her friends. She was listening, she just didn't feel much like talking at the moment, thanks. No answer from Cecelia? Interesting. She saw her scribbling away, though, so Gabi knew she was at least listening! Quote: Originally Posted by MadAlice "I think maybe they did it to create a sense of mystery and power about themselves. I mean--some of those ancient wizards were thought of as gods or demi-gods, or at least powerful priests and priestesses. The mystique of those legends increased their power and influence." A Slytherin thinking that the wizards wanted to be seen as powerful? Gabi was not at all shocked at this answer and grinned at her. "Good answer, Miss Blackthrone," she replied. Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir Clearly it had been too much to hope that the lesson was not going in this direction. Greek mythology. Nem and their sister had each been given a name from that whole subject, actually, and Nem clearly didn't hate theirs, as they not only did not change that part but also went by it in day to day life. But Jake had chosen it, had been into that stuff once, so Nem would disregard it as much as possible. At least on the surface. Whatever. They cast that thought aside and raised a hand. Before speaking, Nem cleared their throat slightly, a sign that this answer was going to be a lot longer than they usually offered. Buckle up. "This goes back to before they were stories, but you could think of it like this: all those deities were real magical people at one time, and all mortals were muggles. Demigods, maybe half-bloods, but that's not important. This idea of gods and goddesses would then have been encouraged at the time, because the muggles would have been less likely to mess with a god than with a wizard, if that's who they thought they were dealing with." There were some cultures and communities currently and throughout history, where magic and those who could perform it were revered, but in the general sense, it was more of a universal thing that people did not like to defy something or someone they believed was omniscient and omnipotent. "But some did, and that's where Nemesis comes in. You know Nemesis?" Goddess of divine retribution, and revenge. Remorseless, wrathful, et cetera, et cetera. Can't relate. "Nemesis punished hubris, defiance and arrogance before the gods. So, if the gods were actually witches and wizards, that equates to Nemesis keeping the muggles in check, particularly those who tried to hurt or undermine magical society. Once all those original magical 'deities' had died, and magical people were still perpetuating the idea of the gods, they could continue to deal with those muggles in Nemesis' name, and the muggles wouldn't have questioned it. At least, not until they started to evolve away from those beliefs, and instead of real gods, we pushed the idea that they were fake stories instead, stick with the general feeling for self-preservation." Nem drummed their fingers on their desk and shrugged one shoulder. "Just a theory, of course. I wouldn't know. I wasn't there." Different Nemesis. Sort of. "A very thought out theory, though," Gabi nodded in approval at Nem's answer. "I especially like how you equated the demi-gods to possibly being another reference to half-bloods. Certainly Nemesis could have very well been a ploy to keep muggles at bay, or at least show that they were more powerful and, by extension, more important," she said in response. Since Nem was clearly named after the Nemesis from Greek mythology - a connection Gabi definitely hadn't made until just now - it would make sense that they had thought about this a LOT. Quote: Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy Judging by the first question alone, Heath had no idea where the lesson was going from here. It was only when Professor Recard mentioned Greek mythology that things clicked in his brain. So the Greek myths had some element of truth to them? That was interesting! As he considered the next question, his thoughts turned to his favorite myth, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Was any part of that real? He tried to imagine how it could be. What if the two main characters were magical? What if Eurydice became a ghost and Orpheus’s journey into the Underworld was meant to represent a figurative journey into the spirit world through the use of magic? What if Orpheus was trying to find a magical way to bring his love back from the dead and resorted to the Dark Arts to do it? What if the god of the underworld was actually a dark wizard? He shook his head. That sounded crazy! Probably too crazy to voice out loud, so instead he focused on the other part of the question. This part was one he didn’t have to think too hard about. If the ancient Greek wizards were anything like himself, he knew exactly why they hid themselves. It was the same reason he hid his true self from all but a select few people. His hand went up, and he said, “I think creating myths was a survival mechanism for them. People fear what they don’t understand; it’s human nature. They knew that muggles would never understand them, so rather than subject themselves to violence and ridicule, they chose to hide their true selves behind the characters in myths.” "The idea that these stories were used as protection or to give wizards their privacy seems to be a popular one," Gabi smiled in response to Heath's answer. "Excellent answers, all of you!" Gabi said with a grin, even momentarily forgetting that the hooded figures still stood around her, still as statues as they watched the class. So far, so good - no one else had a tongue glued to the roof of their mouth, so she took that to mean things were going well. "The correct answer is a bit complicated, of course. As Bernie said, some stories change over time simply because spoken word was how many of these stories were passed on. Over time, details got changed, since people added their own flare or simply remembered it differently than the person who told it to them," she explained. "However, there is a bit of truth in the idea that they changed details to protect themselves. It is much easier to go on, living a normal life amongst...ignorant...muggles, blaming their magic on the gods, than it is to admit you're different than others," she added. Yes, even in ancient times, people wanted to fit in! "Now, let's look at some myths and try to figure out the TRUTH, shall we?" she asked the class with a grin before turning around a pointing to the first picture she had on the chalkboard. "As you can see, we have a picture of a cyclops here. However, cyclops is not a type of creature - in fact, as some of you may know from your chocolate frogs, Cyclops was the name of a specific giant, who happened to have one eye," she told them all, pausing to allow them time to scribble down some notes on the subject. "Over time, the story changed, and cyclops became a new type of magical creature in Greek mythology," she explained. "The Loch Ness monster is featured because, while it isn't Greek, we all know the monster to actually be a Kelpie and yet another example of hiding the true magical nature of something. And the Beauxbaton horses are real winged horses - which are displayed prominently in Greek literature," she explained. "For this part of the lesson, you may work together or with a partner to determine WHAT these mythical creatures or figures actually were," she explained, waving her wand so that the pictures disappeared and were replaced with a small list of mythological characters: Quote: -Circe -Cerberus -Proteus -Medusa "If you are not familiar with the stories of these characters, you may consult the chapter on Greek Mythology in your textbooks - keep in mind that the stories featured in your books are the muggle myths, and the actual historical references are in another textbook entirely, so you'll have to figure it out using your critical thinking skills," she assured them all with a smirk. "I'll give you all...ten minutes to start, perhaps longer if you're struggling," she told them all before clapping to signal that the activity had started. OOC: EEEP I am excited for this part of the lesson! Your task at hand is simple - like Gabi said, determine what these Greek mythological characters/creatures ACTUALLY were. A bit of Googling and you should all be able to find the HP explanation for this list! You'll have at LEAST 36 hours to complete the mini activity before we move on, possibly longer! Catch up from question two IS allowed if you want to still join the discussion! __________________ I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid Last edited by Lissy Longbottom; 01-20-2021 at 02:52 AM.