History of Modern Magic timeline.

The Westcar Papyrus is a paper of a series of magic tricks that ancient egyptians saw the magician "Dedi" perform. Dedi is not known to be a real magician and is said to have been made up by the Egyptians. This was the first version of modern magic known to have existed and was found in a tomb almost 200 years ago. The papyrus is said to be over 5000 years old.

The cups and balls trick was also seen in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. This image shows the Ancient Romans performing this trick. It is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch in 1502 named "The Conjurer." In different civilizations, different items were used in the trick. Some would use pebbles and rocks or use boxes instead of cups.

One branch of magic that became super popular to perform were danger acts. Harry Houdini rose to fame because of these tricks. He put his life on the line to wow the audience. One of his tricks is called the Straight Jacket Escape where he is in a jacket and tied in rope then suspended in the air upside down. From there, he performs his trick by magically wrestling out of the jacket with ease.