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*Lear Galcote* · November 22, 2022 – 4:28 PM

Ancient Studies - Basic Information & Syllabus Outline

"Ah, Ancient Studies... A thoroughly fascinating field, it is. Decipher ancient tomes, revive the traditions of our forefathers or rediscover potent arcane knowledge lost to the sands of time; the possibilities are endless. Only through analysing the lives, methods and magics of the ancients can we truly even come close to understanding our own, and only through mastering the old can we even begin to understand the current and then begin to shape the new. However, the ancient secrets will divulge themselves only to those most studious, most dilligent and most ready to immerse themselves."

...or at least that's how I imagine Lear's intro into the first lesson in Ancient Studies would be like. This is, however, not the place for flowery and melodramatic monologuing. What I'd like to offer you here is a short, rough, and most of all flexible outline regarding what Lear's classes may look like and the subject matter he may choose to impart upon his students.

There is one thing I'd like to stress first, though: please keep in mind this outline is far from definitive, and I am not at all attempting to establish some sort of forum canon regarding it here. I know there may have been other Ancient Studies professors in play in the past, and their players may have interpreted the subject differently. For all I know, I'm the first person to interpret it this way. This is simply an outline of how I see the subject, and what you can expect in said subject from this specific professor, both so that I have someplace to centralise my ideas regarding it and so that you have an idea of what may be in stock for your character in terms of class threads, possible interests or subsequent character development.

Requirements, Syllabus & Grading

As Ancient Studies is an elective subject, it is open only to students third year and up.

As is usual in all subjects at Hogwarts, there is a distinction in Ancient Studies between the O.W.L. level (up to fifth year) and N.E.W.T. level (sixth and seventh year) classes. To be able to partake in N.E.W.T.-level Ancient Studies, each student needs a minimum grade of "E" on their Ancient Studies O.W.L. exam, which they took/will take at the end of their fifth year, or explicit permission by Lear, although it is reasonable to assume students given this type of permission would have achieved high grades in other, adjacent subjects in their O.W.L.s, such as History of Magic or Ancient Runes. This type of permission would definitely be the exception, and only available to a very limited number of students - the "regular," most common way of accessing the N.E.W.T. level course is to do well in the O.W.L. level.

As usually, concerning class and homework assignment threads, O.W.L.-level threads are intended for all third, fourth and fifth-year students, and N.E.W.T.-level threads are intended for all sixth and seventh-year students.

Syllabus (rough outline, always subject to change and suggestions):
O.W.L. level (the basics):

ancient tools for performing magic: magic circles, staves, grimoires, incantation bowls, sigils, talismans, magical symbols...
sources of magical knowledge: specific scrolls, tablets, papyri etc. (e.g. Merseburg Charms, Smaragdine Tablet, Greek Magical Papyri, Lesser Key of Solomon, Black Pullet Grimoire...)
places of magical significance (e.g. Delphi, Stonehenge, the Black Forest and Harz Mountains, etc.)
important ancient magicians (e.g. Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Abe no Seimei, John Dee and Edward Kelly, etc.)
various magical systems/disciplines (e.g. Enochian magic, Renaissance magic, Hermeticism, Theurgy, Kabbalah, etc.)

N.E.W.T. level (in-depth):

specific tribes' and peoples' understanding and usage of magic (e.g. Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Sumerian, Greco-Roman, etc.)
modern/influential (for the 1890s) developments in magic (animal magnetism/mesmerism, theosophy, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Rosicurianism, etc.)
excursions to museums, magical sites etc.

This subject is intended to be a mostly theoretical subject - to quote a well-known Potions professor, "There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class!" Your character would likely have to do a significant amount of reading and research to be able to do well in this class, in part because many of the proposed topics are very theory-heavy and in part because Lear simply doesn't trust a bunch of adolescents to know their way around ancient magic.

Keep in mind I am not, nor do I claim to be an expert in any of these topics. It's just something I have a personal interest in, so I thought "Why not make use of it in-character if I have the chance?" Certain aspects may also be adapted to fit the Harry Potter universe (i.e. in class, these theories and disciplines, while they definitely do exist in real life, will not be considered simply philosophical or esoteric, but actually magical and real).

Regarding grading:
As any other subject, this subject will include homework assignments and exams. After you've completed a homework/exam post/thread, you're very welcome to PM me with a suggestion regarding the grade your character should receive in your opinion. I will then respond with whether or not I agree with your suggestion, and in case I don't, with a reason as to why and which grade I'd suggest instead. This decision will be based on your character's overall performance in class (so not just how they may or may not have performed on an exam/homework assignment, but also in past class threads/assignments/exams). Please keep in mind not everyone can get an "O" on everything, and a character doing badly on an assignment or exam is sometimes more fun and much more realistic than them being great at everything.

This is, of course, completely optional - you're still entirely able to choose the grades for your characters as you see fit and I won't chase you down and have a temper tantrum over your character's profile saying they got an "O" when I think they should've done worse, and even if you do decide to ask for my suggestion for a grade, you are under no obligation whatsoever to stick with it. I also don't expect you to go on research rabbit holes for assignments or exams just for your character to get a good grade - a simple description of whether they did good or bad is enough (but you're, of course, more than welcome to research the questions and actually write out your character's complete answer if that's what you want to do, and I'll be happy to read your character's thoughts and interpretations). This is just something I'm offering on the side, to make the whole class experience a little bit more immersive if that's what you're after.

You are, of course, under no obligation whatsoever to actively partake in class/homework/exam threads.

Examples of possible exam/homework tasks:

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Closing Thoughts

As said, this is by no means a definitive, exhaustive example of what Ancient Studies as a subject may entail and I am more than open to suggestions by anyone. This is simply intended to be somewhat of a primer, so that you can get an idea of how your character may be doing in the subject, whether they like it or not (perhaps they chose it only because they had to choose something or only realised it wasn't what they expected after they had already chosen it?) or to help you decide which elective subjects to put your character(s) in.

Either way, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this, should you have any!

The following 3 users Like Lear Galcote's post:
Greta Gillenwater, Millie Potts, Silas Colton

Greta Gillenwater · December 4, 2022 – 12:59 AM

I love this, mostly because I'm always nervous about accidentally putting words into the mouth of other characters or gauging actual education level.

The following 1 user Likes Greta Gillenwater's post:
Millie Potts

Thanks go to the marvelous MJ for her sensational set.

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