History

History is a class where you learn about… well, the history of Cllenbur’s Academy, Magic, and the story of Witches and Humans, hosted by our dear Spiridoula Vassilou

## **First Lesson**

04/09/2021 (real time), or August 15, 1980 (Cllenbur's Academy time) marks the first History Class. Spiridoula talks about where magic originated.

Ancient Greek Gods were the first valid documentations of where magic originated, however, no one can say for sure where magic came from or its beginning. No one knows if Zeus was actually one of the first people to use magic or if it was all made up, but the Ancient Greeks still wrote it down, writing about people who could use magic. This discovery isn’t all that positive. The first time the actual word ‘magic’ was used was in late sixth-century BCE.
> *“The simple word magic comes from the Latin word Magus, which means simply to ‘be able to’ or in other translations, ‘reconstructions’. But the word was used in everyday talk as something bad. Uncontrollable, unfortunate, bad luck, and most importantly, they saw it as dangerous.”*
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## **Second Lesson**

04/18/2021 (real time), or August 18, 1980 (Cllenbur's Academy time) marks the second day of history, explaining the meaning of Hubris.

Although ‘hubris’ means excessive pride and self confidence in modern times, in Ancient Greece, hubris was when humans thought themselves to be equal, or even more powerful than gods. The ancient Greeks were terrified of hubris as they didn’t want to anger the gods. The word grew importance, and suddenly, you could be accused of hubris for the smallest things. Using magic was looked at as something challenging the gods, explaining why people know so little of the first magic users, as they were afraid to use or document it.

Students are asked to pick an ancient Greek God to do a presentation on next class.

## **Third Lesson**

05/08/2021 (real time), or August 25 (Cllenbur's Academy time) marks the third day of history. The students present information on the Greek gods.

**Olivia picked Athena.**

“Athena’s name is closely linked with the name of the city of Athens. The Ancient Greeks debated whether she got her name after the city or the other way around. Modern scholars usually agree that the former was the case.”
“Athena is usually depicted as a majestic lady, with a beautiful, but stern face, unsmiling full lips, grey eyes and a graceful build, emanating power and authority. She is always regally clad in either a chiton or a full armor. In the former case, she is sometimes represented with a spindle. In the latter case, she wears an elaborately crested Corinthian helmet and holds a long spear in one hand and an aegis in the other.”

“At the center of her aegis there’s oftentimes an image of a Gorgon’s head (Gorgoneion), symbolizing the gift she got from Perseus: the head of Medusa. Just like Medusa’s eyes, Athena’s shield can also turn her enemies to stone. As a symbol of her wisdom, there’s sometimes an owl flying in Athena’s vicinity or sitting on her shoulder; from time to time there may also be a snake or an olive branch.”

Olivia wrote all the information down, but memorized most of it.

**Connor picked Hades.**

"Well, he is known as the god of well- dying. He lives in the underground, which I find weird since rather is the subway but its cool either way! and writes up things so people can go there when they pass away. Or maybe they're zombies. His brothers are known to be really bad people, and he's in alot of the stories- like the one where he married his brother's daughter and they lived happily ever after!-"
Connor researched with other people wrote and his information down on a napkin. It reads: *kills people, lives in the underworld-ground, was the nicest out of his brothers and married to the big pomegranate lady :)))))*

After presenting, Chevron notices the information is wrong but shrugs it off, while Spiridoula is very evidently disgusted. Devora on the other hand thought it was an amazing presentation and clapped.

Devora: “Awesome presentation.” 👏

Chevron: (Thinking:) *He’s a little confused but it’s okay.* (Out loud:) “Great job Connor!”

Spiridoula: 😀 “...Sit down, please.” *She makes an awkward smile.* “Alright uhm- I think that’s enough public presentations for today.” *She makes a disgusted face.* “So... Next field of this course will be the Middle Ages... Yes.”

**Chevron picked Dionysus.**

 Chevron: “Excuse me Madam-“ *He bowed, and dramatically handed her his essay on the God Of Wine, which had information ranging on his favorite color to his dreams and goals for humanity*
Spiridoula:  “Oh dear! This looks quite well written. Yes yes! A+++ to you!!” *She says without even having read it.*

Chevron did not talk about him, however, he wrote it all down on paper and gave it to Spiridoula. Unfortunately, the paper was left unread.
After presentations, the lesson moves onto the Middle Ages.

The mighty societies of Ancient Greece and Rome fell. Although some traces of Ancient Greece remained, most of it was forgotten during the Middle Ages. People wanted to move on and new religions were made. No one knows for sure if gods really existed or if they were just made up. Nevertheless, they made a huge impact on mankind. Even though they had fallen, the idea of unprecedented gods still plagued the world. As a result, the fear of hubris remained.

The Ancient gods were now replaced with Muhammed, Jesus, Buddha and so on. If they existed for real was questionable, but they were influential. The humans praised the gods daily and were ready to slaughter everyone who dared compete with them.

Arxel asks if humans were so eager to worship gods due to fear, or if there was something else

As a response, Spiridoula answers;
> *“I believe it’s more about the fear of unimportance or social insecurity. Without a god to look after you, to love you unconditionally and to keep the world safe, what makes you any different from any other human? What is your purpose after being created if there is no entity to assure you your creation meant anything at all?”* She goes off monologuing. *“Humans are incredibly scared of becoming irrelevant or worthless. That’s why they want to create their own worth, create their own relevancy. And most importantly, making sure there will always be people who aren’t as worthy or relevant as you.”* *-Spiridoula*
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