Divine Origins?
Everyone knows Sibyll Trelawney, our favorite soothsayer and Divination professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What you may not realize, however, is that her name is steeped in meaning drawn from classical mythology.
Professor Trelawney’s first name, Sibyll, is a reference to the fortune-tellers and prophetesses from Greek mythology known as sibyls. The Cumaean Sibyl who guided Aeneas through the Underworld in search of his father Anchises was the most famous of the sibyls. Aeneas hears her dire prediction: “I see wars, horrid wars, the Tiber foaming with much blood.” This prediction does not differ substantially from the prediction of Voldemort’s return with the help of Peter Pettigrew, which Harry Potter hears from Sibyll Trelawney in her sickly-perfumed tower on the day of his final examination. The Cumaean Sibyl directs Aeneas to go into the Underworld, telling him it is easy to go, but difficult to return. She instructs him to cut the Golden Bough as a gift to Proserpina, the goddess of the Underworld. Once Aeneas cuts the bough, he returns to the Sibyl, and they sacrifice two steers and a black lamb. The ground quakes and the earth opens to reveal the entrance to the Underworld. Aeneas sees many frightening images � harpies and gorgons, a giant elm tree whose limbs hold empty dreams. When they reach the River Styx, Charon, the ferryman, initially balks at taking them across, noting that each time he has taken mortals across, trouble followed. Charon agrees to ferry the party when the Sibyl shows him the Golden Bough. Aeneas and the Sibyl encounter Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld (one of Fluffy’s ancestors, no doubt), and the Sibyl tosses him a honeyed wheat cake, which occupies him until they pass. Aeneas sees many of his fallen comrades. Finally, he reaches the Elysian Fields, finds his father, and is sent back.
The origins, if any, of Professor Trelawney’s last name are more difficult to ascertain. Arguably the most famous historical figure to whom it might refer is the poet Edward John Trelawny, a companion of the Romantic poets George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Trelawny saw himself as the keeper of Shelley’s flame, and often invoked this assumed role in order to impress others. Trelawny met the pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais, who painted Trelawny’s portrait as an old sailor in his painting The North-West Passage. (This painting may be seen if you scroll down to the bottom of this paragraph.) Trelawny was so offended by the rendering that he challenged Millais to a duel. Many of the stories in Trelawny’s book Records of Byron, Shelley and The Author (1878), including his friendship with the poet John Keats and acquaintance with the corsair The Ruiter (who did not even exist), were later proven by scholars to be entirely false. While it seems a bit of a stretch to say that Edward John Trelawny was an inspiration for our beloved professor, no one can doubt they share the singular characteristic of eccentricity.
We learned in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Professor Trelawney is the great-great-granddaughter of the gifted seer Cassandra Trelawney. In fact, her relation to the noted prophetess was partly responsible for Professor Trelawney’s appointment to the post of Professor of Divination. Cassandra was the name of a figure in Greek mythology as well. Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam of Troy and his wife Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who believed that Cassandra might become his lover in exchange. When she rejected him, he punished her by ensuring that all who heard her prophecies would believe them to be lies. Among her prophecies were the arrival of the Greeks in the Trojan Horse (which led to the destruction of Troy) and the death of Agamemnon. Following the siege of Troy, she was dragged out of the Temple of Athena, raped by Ajax the Lesser (Ruler of Locris), and taken as prisoner of war by Agamemnon. She became his mistress and gave birth to twin sons. She warned of dire consequences if Agamemnon took the “family” to Mycenae. Of course, he did not believe her. When they arrived, Agamemnon and Cassandra were murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. Her lover Aegisthus killed their twin sons.
Astute readers will also recall that the required text for Divination is Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky. Naturally, the author’s name is also a reference to Cassandra of Greek mythology; however, her last name, Vablatsky, is a reference to a noted “seer” in recent history. Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a leader in the spiritualist movement of the late 1800s. She gained a reputation performing at s�ances. Like Professor Trelawney, she had many devoted followers; however, many also insisted she was a fraud. In 1875, she founded the Theosophist Society, an organization devoted to the study of ancient mysteries, with Colonel Henry S. Olcott. She became especially interested in reincarnation and studies of Atlantis. In 1884, she was discredited by psychic investigator Richard Hodgson, which led to her resignation as head of the Theosophical Society. She died May 8, 1891. To this day, theosophists commemorate the anniversary of her death as “White Lotus Day.”
Links:
Sybill P. Trelawney at the HP Lexicon
Sybill Trelawney Art at Nasubionna.net
Sybill Trelawney Filks
The True Story of Sybill Trelawney (fanfic)
Ask Sybill Trelawney