Hogwarts Assignment #12
Horology: Historical Eras
Task #1: Ancient Period - Write an Ancient Civilisation!AU
The tale of Bes and Sekhmet as discovered by William Weasley at the Labrium site in the South West region of Egypt in 2003 stands as one of the most informative finds to date for many reasons. The Lion Scrolls are among the first finds to tell of how magical persons informed Muggle Egyptian mythology as well as how long certain magics have been in use. Within the Lion Scrolls, we have a new look at the origin stories for two of the supposed ancient deities, a look that almost seems stranger than fiction.
These scrolls appear to follow the life of a family of Magicians living around 3000 BCE. Siblings Bes, Sekhmet, and Pakhet each began their training in the transformative arts once they reached the age of 9, a field of magic that seems to have included an early form of Animagus training. Pakhet's writings on the subject are extensive and seem to suggest that most who attempted such spent extensive periods of time in a seemingly half-animal, half-human state. It is now believed by archaeologists that this time spent in a half-and-half state may have informed ancient beliefs in deities whose forms held aspects of both man and beast.
Each of the three siblings eventually came to take on the form of a lion, suggesting that these proto-animagi forms may have run in families. Few scrolls have been uncovered dating between 2990-2980 BCE. Later Lion Scrolls found to the east of Labrium reveal that tragedy struck the family at that time, leading to the death of Pakhet and the three's parents who are never named save for familial titles. Interestingly, two tales are told concerning the cause of the family's misfortune. Per the writings of Sekhmet, locals who lacked magic had become incensed at the family's presence and begun to launch increasingly severe attacks on them for no reason. Their parents and Pakhet (who was the eldest of the three) had perished as a result, and Sekhmet later sought revenge against the nonmagicals.
The writings of Bes tell a slightly different tale. His is a tale filled with guilt as he professes in his writings that his courting of the daughter of a merchant without the father's knowledge was the original cause of all his family's woes. When a pregnancy forced them to admit their interest in each other, the merchant had become unreasonably upset as he'd had plans to marry her off to a rich leader in the community. It was the merchant's anger at their union that had caused the attacks that had eventually taken his elder brother and parents away, and Sekhmet, in her rage against the situation, had taken things out on his beloved, using her part-lioness form to tear the unborn infant from her body. Bes vows to stop his sister's bloodthirsty ways, and nothing else that can be verified as theirs has been found.
Other writings that are contemporaneous with these events begin to speak of a lioness called Sekhmet who sought to destroy humanity, however. Her primary means of doing so seems to be by attacking those who were with child. Many offerings are given to the gods of the time for a lion called Bes who would protect the women. Seeing as these writings span almost a hundred years, archaeologists believe that this feud between siblings did not cease until Sekhmet died of old age. Recently, a female mummy has been uncovered bearing an unusual headpiece (the form of a lioness), but more studies will be needed to confirm whether this is the infamous Sekhmet. The interior is filled with Lapis Lazuli, and a carving on the side of the sarcophagus hopes that the heavy stones will grant her peace in the underworld.
Both Bes and Sekhmet were later deified by the Egyptian priesthood.
Signed,
Dominique Weasley
