MYTH-401 Lessons

The door opens to the classroom with a flourish, banging outward onto the stone walls at the stroke of the hour. As the students pile in for their first class, they notice the extensive ornamentation displayed on the walls. While no one would call the hallways in Hogwarts bare per se, this classroom puts any sense of decoration to shame. Hundreds of paintings, busts, sculptures, and tapestries from across the globe and the centuries adorn the walls and flat surfaces of the room in a layered fashion, giving the impression that they’ve been added to with each successive professor over nearly a thousand years.

Enchanted candles hover lazily in the space of the gabled ceiling, high above the desks, hardly casting any light during the daytime, but occasionally causing a drip of wax to fall onto unsuspecting students below. The students, a majority of Fourth Years, take their seats quickly, the savvier ones avoiding wax puddles and quickly getting their books out, as if the professor is breathing down their necks. An even voice rings out over the rustling of papers and the squeaking of chair legs as class begins. 

Quite the interesting collection of students we have here. Welcome, I suppose, to your first year of Mythology. I imagine most of you are here because you are planning on pursuing a career in magianthropology, magiarchaeology, curse-breaking, or similar. Some of you may also be considering becoming an auror, or perhaps I am merely your favorite professor. If none of these things ring a bell, I highly recommend you vacate the classroom at once so we can continue on with our discussions unimpeded. We have the entire world to cover, and only four years to do so. 

We won’t immediately begin our globe-trotting, though, rest assured. We will start, simply, with my expectations of my students, and something to prepare your expectations for this class for the rest of the year, as well as beyond. Before the lesson closes, we should have some time to begin touching on ancient Egypt, though this is a topic we will continue exploring for quite a few lessons. Anyone with any knowledge of this civilization will know it is quite expansive.

What Is Mythology?
Simply put, “mythology” is a collection of stories (called myths) grouped together by similar religions, areas of the world, or time periods. But what makes a myth different from your exaggerated claim that you dueled a Death Eater last summer? What are the prerequisites? In our case, a myth is a story, typically a very early or ancient one, that tells of the historical (or pseudo-historical happenings) of a group of people or a particular place. It is separate from history in that it cannot be confirmed and, indeed, is usually full of impossibilities or has been partially disproven. However, they are still looked to as references, as they provide insight into that period of time, the people who told the story, and the beliefs they held. 

The intent of this course is to teach you about the mythology of major ancient civilizations across the globe for the purpose of learning about them, their values, inventions, and their magical practices, just to name a few. We will discuss different continents and specific cultures from each region, gods and goddesses, famous myths and legends, as well as mythical (or perhaps confirmed) creatures from each region. Much like Ancient Studies, each year of the class will focus on a specific region of the world, starting with ancient Africa and the Middle East.

As you can see, the next few years will be demanding, but rewarding as we go on a whirlwind tour of the globe.

One thing to note about this class: the line between magic and illusion, of history and tall tales, and of reality and fantasy will be blurred. It is difficult to parse fact from fiction, but that does not mean it is not possible or necessary. I will show you inexact accounts and myths (that may even contradict facts you know about magic) to hopefully coach you into being able to discern the difference, or at least start to. Another thing to note is that this class will also focus on Muggle perspectives as well, particularly because it is often unclear who perpetuated a certain myth or story, and what their understanding of magic was. Finally, references to fields of magic, spells, potions, creatures, and so on, even if they are explicitly made, will usually be at least 1,000 years old, if not more. A lot can change in that time, so keep in mind that some magical practices or spells will have evolved since then, not to mention potential magical creatures. 

Where To Look For Help
There are no prerequisites for this class, and you can even take this course as a First Year, if so inclined. However, I strongly recommend that you have taken all previous years of History of Magic and enroll in Ancient Studies as well. The content discussed in those classes will be greatly beneficial to your understanding of the civilizations we will discuss, and we do not have the time to repeat everything that was covered in the first three years of History of Magic, nor to repeat all the information in Ancient Studies. Other classes that will benefit you while you are studying Mythology include Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Charms to some extent.

Of course, should you find yourself well and truly stuck, you are free to call upon my team of PAs, who are listed to the right of every assignment. While they do not exist to give you the answers, and any attempts to solicit this information will be met with an explanation of where you can find the answer in the lesson information, they are most valuable in clearing up confusing assignments, questions, or answer options, as well as topics from the lesson that might be unclear. I can also be contacted for these reasons, should the need arise.

Assignments and Grading
The grading rules and rubrics for Mythology are fairly average. These will be a mix of essays, quizzes, and creative assignments throughout this year and the rest. Some will be required, others will be optional, but keep in mind that because this is a Fourth Year course, and an elective to boot, you will encounter your fair share of required essays, unlike First Year courses who do their best to limit such assignments. 

For any essay, the prompt -- or instructions -- as well as the rubric on which you will be graded will be clearly posted. If you have a question on the essay (or on any assignment’s instructions), please ask before you submit the assignment. If there is an image missing, which makes it impossible to do your assignment, but you still submit the assignment incomplete, your grade will not be adjusted to compensate. Instead, please contact myself or my PAs so we can amend the issues and after, with all the correct information, you can proceed to succeed on the assignment. 

Now, before we move on from assignments, there are a few categories and definitions to deal with.

Appeals: These occur when you believe an assignment has been graded incorrectly or unfairly. As a reminder, remember that all assignments are anonymous unless you include your name, house, or other descriptive features, and are in a pool or “queue” of numerous other nameless assignments. If you feel an assignment has been graded wrongly, please include the following in an owl to either myself or my Head Student:

Name of the Assignment
A direct quote of the question, preferably copied and pasted from your gradebook
A direct quote of your answer, preferably copied and pasted from your gradebook
The Grade ID of the assignment (in purple in your gradebook)
Any necessary context and explanation of the situation and why you feel you were marked wrong incorrectly.

Also, it behooves you to note that, as with other courses, an appeal may result in a higher, equivalent, or lower grade, and the decision made by myself on any appeal will be final. What I mean by this is that, on occasion, my PAs are more lenient graders than I.  If you bring an assignment to my attention that includes answers that I feel shouldn’t receive full points, I will potentially amend your grade, and not in the preferred way. 

Respectful requests and curiosities are of course welcome, as accidents do happen. And I feel it important to note that any point deduction will not be out of spite. However, do keep in mind that I do not simply adjust grades because you read a question wrong, or were confused about lesson content but neglected to ask a PA to clear up your uncertainty before you completed the assignment. 

Plagiarism: By this point in your studies at Hogwarts, I  should hope you have realized that plagiarism of any sort will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to: 

• • Copying someone else’s essay
  • Copying and pasting information from any lesson here on HiH
    • Unless information is brief and cited
  • Copying and pasting information from anywhere else on the internet
    • Unless information is brief and cited
  • Paraphrasing information from elsewhere on the internet, when you are supposed to be providing your own original opinion 

Any plagiarism, even in quizzes, will receive an automatic 1%. This means you will likely not be able to complete the course, depending on the rest of your grades. Do take heed, as no amount of pleading will allow you to retake the assignment. Not reading this part of the lesson does not excuse you. If you are genuinely unclear on if an action counts as plagiarism, I recommend asking a professor or PA.

Extra Credit (EC): On the other end of the spectrum we have extra credit, often abbreviated. Extra credit is not necessarily even possible to achieve on every assignment, and there are rarely specific instructions on how to earn it. However, if a PA is particularly impressed by the creativity, elegance, research, or dedication demonstrated by your work, they will forward the assignment to me to be considered for additional points. 

These extra credit points do not affect your grade, but do earn your house a few extra house points, and give you the satisfaction of knowing that your work is exemplary. If you’re raring to get out and earn some extra points, keep an eye out for specific instructions in prompts that outline some ways to get extra credit. They’re not common, but they do appear. 

Also, please do not confuse “extra credit on assignments” with “extra credit assignments.” The latter is work, typically essays, that you can do, but is not required to mark the course as complete. Again, these assignments do not factor into your grade, but will earn your house additional house points. 

Non-Native English Speakers and Students with a Learning Disability: Any students facing challenges such as these should put NES or LD, respectively, at the beginning of all of your essays so that they can be graded fairly, with exceptions made for spelling and grammar. 

The Basic Grading Rubric
This rubric will be used to mark all of the essays submitted for this class, unless otherwise noted in the assignment prompt. The specifics, particular of the content, will change from essay to essay, but will be noted unless impossible.

70% - Content
15% - Word Requirement 
(This portion outlines the minimum word count, or how short the essay can be, and in some cases the maximum word count, or how long the essay can be)
10% - Spelling and Grammar
 5% - Identifying Marks 
(This portion protects your anonymity. Do NOT include your name, house, or other identifying features on any assignment)

Textbooks and Resources
There are no textbooks or other extra reading material that are required to complete any of the mandatory assignments. However, particularly in later years, some extra credit assignments may require supplementary research to encourage you to branch out.

However, if you find a topic particularly interesting, I recommend checking the bottom of each lesson, as I will provide a list of some sources you can explore on your own. Some of these only require access to the internet, while others will require finding the correct book. Remember, these are merely for your enrichment, and are in no way required. 

Ancient Egyptian Mythology: The Basics
Now that we have our administrative duties done for the day, we’ll be able to talk about some of the mythology of ancient Egypt. This is technically the “Africa” portion of this year’s topic: Africa and the Middle East. While this is not terribly fair to the diverse cultures of the rest of Africa, Egypt’s civilizations were incredibly long-lived, highly magical, and very well-documented, making it a hard topic to compete with, particularly when pressed for time. 

We’ll spend the majority of our time today establishing some basic concepts and ideas in order to be able to develop them more fully in the next lesson. Starting with the most basic concepts, I would imagine most of you are aware that the ancient Egyptians worshipped many different gods and goddesses, making them polytheistic. And, because the term “many” doesn’t really do the concept justice, I’d like to elaborate with a few figures. When looking over the lifespan of ancient Egypt, there were over 1500 gods and goddesses worshiped in total, although there was never a single point in history when all of these gods and goddesses were worshiped at the same time.

However, this is just the surface level of their religious beliefs. Religions in the area over the many years also consisted of totemism and ancestor worship. Totemism is simply the belief that people are descended from animals, plants, and other natural objects. Symbols of these natural ancestors, called totems, which is where the name comes from, are often associated with clans or groups of families with common traced descent. By representing desirable individual qualities (such as the swiftness of a deer) and helping to explain the mythical origin of the clan, totems reinforce clan identity and solidarity. We can see remnants of totemistic beliefs in the many forms of Egyptian gods and goddesses. A god will often have not only a humanoid form, but may be associated with a particular animal, or even have that animal’s head.

Ancestor worship is a bit less difficult to grasp as a concept, as it’s description is right there in the name. However, it is important to note why it was practiced. The veneration of ancestors was practiced in ancient Egypt as spirits were frequently believed to possess the power to influence the affairs of the living.

That’s quite a lot going on for one person to keep track of, so as you can imagine, the ancient Egyptians focused on a daily relationship with a select few gods and goddesses that were most important to their clan, cult (more on that later), or the geographical region where they lived. Some gods and goddesses even went in and out of “style” over the years. 

One thing that always remained the same, however, was the significant amount of attention they have to the importance of the Afterlife. The ancient Egyptians strongly believed that death was not the end and a person would continue to exist in the Afterlife, a topic so important we’ll dedicate a whole lesson to it this year.

Pharaoh and the Cults
Moving on from the pantheon of gods and goddesses, the most important individual in ancient Egyptian religion was actually not a god, though they were considered divine: the pharaoh. The pharaoh was considered to be a son (or daughter) of the gods, and as such they acted as the intermediary, or go-between, for the people and the gods. The people viewed the pharaoh as human, but also as god-like, and it was understood that each and every pharoah was born with profound magical ability because of their relationship with the gods (even the ones that were indeed, no more magical than the average Muggle in Piccadilly Square). But with great power came great responsibility. It was up to the pharaoh to follow stringent rules in the standard practice of a cult in order to keep the universe from ending. Yes, I know, quite the dramatic job description. Let me explain.

The ancient Egyptians believed that certain rituals needed to be followed in order to keep the gods happy and, therefore, to keep the world from ending. Failure to complete these rituals could lead to unmeasurable disaster. It was one of the Pharaoh’s main tasks to ensure that this disaster did not happen.

There were several different periods of ancient Egypt in which these rituals varied, and the specifics were based on the beliefs of different cults. In this case, please discard any mental images of people in all white drinking sugary fruit beverages and being brainwashed. While the more modern concept of a cult is correct too, a cult in these historical terms refers to a particular system of religious worship that relies on specific ceremonies and/or rituals. So a group of strange people drinking ceremonial Cool Aide is just as correct as a group of priests performing magic rituals to appease the gods. One simply seems more mysterious than the other. 

However, the extent of devotion you might expect from someone in a modern-day cult is a good benchmark for how the ancient Egyptians felt. It was so deeply ingrained that people would not question the rituals, even if they did not necessarily ascribe to the beliefs behind them. That is to say, the ritual practice of each cult was significantly more important than the acceptance of the dogma or (an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc.) of said cult.

Closing
We will talk more about some of the different cults in the next lesson, but for now I have a fairly rudimentary quiz for you to reinforce some of the concepts we covered today. Enjoy the light workload while it lasts because, I do warn you that it won’t last long.

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Sources:

www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt

Oakes, Lorna, and Gahlin, Lucia. 2002. Ancient Egypt. Hermes House Anness Publishing Inc. New York, NY.

Grimal, Pierre. Ed. 1965. Larousse World Mythology. Paul Hamlyn, Ltd. London.