One of the earliest known civilizations in the world, Mesopotamian civilization consisted of a variety of city-states. Although there is evidence for wizarding presences throughout all of these city-states, the city-states that show the most signs of early complex magic and potion-making are Sumer and Akkad. Archaeologists found an amulet in Sumer that had retained its magic for several millennia and was still so powerful that the archaeologists spent several months in St. Mungo's, recovering from the magic's effects.
Indeed, Muggles in these societies revered their magical neighbours as Healers and Seers. Many of these witches and wizards were so powerful that they earned a permanent place in the civilizations' religions and were thought to be divine beings by their Muggle neighbours. Take, for example, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Legends speak of her as having an all-consuming attractive force, making both animals and people fall madly for her and fall into depression once she leaves them. Magical historians believe that Ishtar brewed a primitive form of Amortentia and fed it to all of the people whom she desired.
Another example of a wizard who became ingrained in Mesopotamian legend is Gilgamesh, the leading figure in one of the earliest known works of literature. In the Sumerian text, Gilgamesh is described as two-thirds god and one-third mortal and goes on an epic journey to find immortality. Archaeologists have found traces of extremely weak immortality potions in Sumer, suggesting that Gilgamesh attempted to extend his life magically. The Epic of Gilgamesh also features Gilgamesh's fight against a fire-breathing beast called 'Humbaba'. Many historians believe this beast to actually have been an early ancestor of the Hungarian Horntail, which would correlate with their discovery of several large fossilized bones in the area.
On the other hand, Mesopotamians also feared the influence of dark magic and occasionally slaughtered groups of wizards. Of course, these wizards are probably not entirely free of blame. A Babylonian Muggle's text speaks of the severe pain that she endured at the hands of a wizard, who eventually managed to gouge out both of her eyes and several of her teeth without touching her face. Many magical historians believe that this incident inspired Hammurabi to create his famous code, featuring the law 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth'.
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A History of Magic (by Bathilda Bagshot)
Historical FictionThis took me a long time to find. This version is a little different than the rest of this same book.
