| Witches and Wizards Through the Ages |
| -J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter books are filled with magical creatures, mysterious spells and powerful wizards-subjects that have fascinated humans since the beginning of time. Stories of witches and wizards can be found in folk and fairy tales, legends and myths. Originally, they were passed through story telling and later written down. |
| Magic And The Rise of Science |
| Wizards have been around since the beginning of time and were important figures in the ancient world. They played many roles such as priests, astrologists, court magicians and diviners and indeed, Harry Potter would be proud to take his place among them. One such famous wizard was Merlin, a Welsh magician who played an important part in the birth of King Arthur(of round table fame). Merlin eventually became Arthur's friend, confidante and magician and had gone down in history as one of the greatest wizards of all time. In the Middle Ages, a new art came to Europe from Arabia known as Alchemy. Alchemy is commonly known as the practice of turning metal into gold, but this goal is only part of a larger search. The transformation of metal into gold was thought to make the alchemist's spirit completely pure. As a result, and alchemist who learned to turn metal into gold would have the power to live forever. In order to achieve his goals, an alchemist needed the Philosopher's Stone (or the Sorceror's Stone as it's titled in the U.S.A). This mystical substance would lead to immortality as it would stop the aging process and cure all disease. No wonder Lord Voldemort wanted it so badly!! |