Discussion: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Divination

[mark_weasley at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19257

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., dfrankis at d... wrote:
> 
> and wasn't Cassandra someone who was always making dire predictions?
> 
> David

Not really.  Cassandra was a Trojan princess, who was loved by the 
god Apollo and given the power of prophecy by him.  She would not 
return his advances, but he couldn't revoke the gift so he just 
tagged on some fine print to it, that..oh..no one would believe any 
of her prophecies.  (Good example:  She warned the Trojans not to 
take in the wooden horse left by the Greeks, but did they listen?)  A 
sad lot, to know that disaster is coming but be powerless to avert 
it.  (When Troy fell, she was taken captive by Agamemnon the Greek 
commander.  She and Agamemnon were murdered by Agamemnon's unfaithful 
queen when he got home after the 10-year war.  She knew the fate in 
store for her and met it with resignation.)
Anyway, Cassandra's name has come to mean "one that utters unheeded 
prophecies".  

--Mark