Assyria and Wizardly Geography

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 99139

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Liz Muir" <rowen_lm at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> ... 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)
> 
> ... it struck me that the plant was from Assyria.  ... I 
> (...tried...) 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. .... 
> 
> Some possibilities present themselves:
> a) Algie possesses a time turner or other means of time travel.  
> ...edited...
>
> b) Assyria was used just to refer to that region, which is in modern 
> day Iraq.  ...edited...
> 
> c) JKR is geographically challenged and just pulled Assyria out of a 
> hat of place names she could use. ...edited...
> 
> 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.  ...  Have I missed 
> an obvious explanation for the presence of Assyria?  ...edited...
> 
> Replies are very much appreciated as is further development of this 
> pre-theory.
> 
> Rowen,


bboy_mn:

You know, I always thought it would be cool to go to Czechoslovakia. I
hear the make really great beer there. There is just one problem; it
doesn't exist, at least not any more. Despite the fact that I would
have to go to the Czech Republic, if I told someone I was traveling to
Prague, I would probably still say I was going to Czechoslovakia
becuase that's how it's been designated on maps for my whole life.

How about Siam? People still go to Siam. The people who live there
still hold on to their culture. I'm sure that some old people still
refer to it as Siam. But the people who live there decide to change
their name to 'land that is alway free' or as we know it-Thailand.

Up until 1871, there was a country in Northern (what we call) Germany
called Prussia (Blend of Russia, Poland, and Germany). They had a
unigue language and culture. The local dialet in that area is still so
strong that many mainstream Germans can't understand them. I'm sure
people who are descended from Prussians still maintain some hold to
their historical geographical culture. Despite the fact the it doesn't
exist in the Geo-Political sense, it still exist in the
Geo-Sociological sense.

Take the Gypsies of Romania; unless I'm mistaken, their country
vanished when politicians redrew the country boundaries in that
region. The Gypsies were left with out a country, yet they still found
themselves tied to a unique identity and to the land where they lived. 

My point is that Assyria may not exist from a Geo-political
perspective, but the land and the people are still there, and they
still feel their ties to their cultural history. In that same sense,
while today we have people who are Persians, we no longer have a Persia. 

So, my vote is for (b.), this is a reference to a cultural region of
the middle east, not to a geo-political region.

I also give some weight to option (d), I don't think wizards and
witches recognise the same geo-political boundaries as muggles do.
Recently, we were talking about Quidditch teams, and came to the
general conclusion that the wizard world doesn't recognise Republic of
Ireland and Northern Ireland; it's all Ireland to them. The Republic
vs Northern was founded in religious and political strife that the
wizard world wasn't part of.

For what it's worth...

bboy_mn