[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: JKR's site

[Shaun Hately]

On 19 May 2004 at 2:23, mstattersall wrote:

> Here's a theory--maybe it's the date THIS year when the official 
> announcement of publication will occur. I base this guess on the fact 
> that OotP was released on 21 June last year, which was a Saturday, 
> and 19 June is also a Saturday. The significance of 2563 escapes, 
> though--is the WW calendar zero-dated differently from the muggle 
> one, like the Chinese and Jewish calendars are from the Western one? 
> If someone could work out when is the WW equivalent of BC/AD, we 
> could be onto something.

Well, the problem is I think we know the Wizarding World uses BC 
and AD - AD is used for Nearly Headless Nick's death date IIRC, and 
I think BC is on Ollivander's sign (this second bit could be movie 
contamination I suppose).

If this is 2563 in the Wizarding Calendar, year 1 in the Wizarding 
calendar would be 558BC. Searching for that date, I find it is the 
start of the Persian empire (some sources say 559BC).

It's also a possible date for the birth of Zarathustra/Zoroaster 
(630BC seems to be the normal date, but one source I saw says it 
could have been as late as 558BC - other say the date could be 
anywhere in a 1000 year period). I suppose that might be a date 
with some relevance to the Wizarding world - Zoroaster is often 
called the Magus, and he was the founder of the Magi - probably 
best known in the west in their incarnation as the 'Three Wise Men' 
in the story of Christ's Nativity.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
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