WW/Muggle Split (Was: Modern Plumbing)

[M. J. Pascual]

No: HPFGUIDX 58805

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Przemyslaw Plaskowicki" 

> That raise interesting question: how old is WW? I mean, when
exactly 
> Wizards and Muggles created their separate societies? Was it first 
> cities (8000 BC?), ancient Egypt (4000 BC?), ancient Greece (400
BC?), 
> or perhaps Charlemagne (800 AD?). One might wonder if WW suffered
the 
> same setbacks as Muggle societies -- Dark Ages in Medieval Times,
black 
> death and the like...

There's a timeline at the Harry Potter Lexicon (a fine HP site) with
a magical timeline that estimates that the Muggle/WW split developed
over the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.  The link is here:
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/timeline_history_magic.html

The 14th century is an excellent breakpoint, historically. The 
outbreak of the Black Plague could have made wizards and witches 
scapegoats, driving the wizarding world into hiding for good.  The 
advent of the Renaissance keeps them there as science pokes its 
head out and muggles begin relying on empirical methods to explain 
and manipulate the world.

"M.J. Pascual"