Assyria and Wizardly Geography

[Liz Muir]

No: HPFGUIDX 99124

Hello everyone.  Long time lurker delurk-ing for a moment.

<<Insert generalized apology if bringing up previously discussed 
topics et al>>

Alright, in recently rereading OotP and again pondering the 
significance of Mimbulus mimbletonia, I came across this quote by 
Neville: " ... My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria." (OotP, 
US Hardback, Ch. 10, pg. 186)

As far as I can tell, most people discussing this quote have focused 
on the fact that the plant is from Neville's Uncle Algie.  However, 
this time it struck me that the plant was from Assyria.  Being a 
person severely lacking in what I assumed was Middle East geography, 
I pulled out several atlases (atli?) to look the country up.

To my astonishment, I discovered the country doesn't exist anymore, 
but is a country from Biblical times controlled by Babylonia.  (I 
found the most definitive and unbiased information at <a 
href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria>Wikipedia</a>.)  To me, the 
current non-existance of Assyria poses a large problem with many 
implications, including but not limited to "How did Uncle Algie 
manage to bring a plant back from a country that doesn't exist?" 
<<Again, insert general apology if I am stating the obvious.>>

Some possibilities present themselves:
a) Algie possesses a time turner or other means of time travel.  
Therefore, he traveled either backwards to ancient Assyria or forward 
to the future Assyria, which according to the Bible (or particular 
interpretations) will be established prior to the Second Coming.

However, Neville's matter-of-fact way of talking about his uncle's 
trip makes this rather hard to believe.  IIRC, time travel is very 
limited in the WW.  In order to take such a large trip, Algie would 
need to either have a very important mission (probably for the 
Department of Mysteries or other MoM business) or be doing it 
illegally.  In either case, he is not likely to mention it to 
Neville, or if he did, Neville would not be dropping information 
about it so easily.

b) Assyria was used just to refer to that region, which is in modern 
day Iraq.  This seems unlikely since using archaic names to refer to 
a region would certainly cause a lot of confusion.  In addition, 
besides a possible mention in History of Magic class, I have little 
reason to believe Neville would really know about Assyria and use it 
in that context . . . .

c) JKR is geographically challenged and just pulled Assyria out of a 
hat of place names she could use.  Certainly possible, given I'm 
pretty sure she doesn't check her geographical facts to well (eg. 
mixing up King's Cross station with another station while writing).  
But I am hoping this isn't true, so moving on to what I consider the 
most mind-boggling, but likely, possibility . . . .

d) Wizardly geography and geopolitical boundaries are completely 
separate from muggle boundaries.

This last option leads to many problems in the series and a lot to 
work out with regards to the wizarding world.  I'll need to look at 
all instances of geography in the books.  However, before I delve 
into developing this theory, I'd like some feedback:  Have I missed 
an obvious explanation for the presence of Assyria?  Is there already 
a theory dealing with this, or one which is related to it?  Any 
potential supportive information I may have missed?

Replies are very much appreciated as is further development of this 
pre-theory.

Rowen,
who considered titling this post "What is the Capital of Assyria: A 
Foray into Wizardly Geography" in tribute to Monty Python, but 
decided that was much too long and assuming, much like this signature