Stages of human existence according to Greco-Roman mythology
This article is about mythological ages. For the "Seven Ages of Man" speech from Shakespeare's "As You Like It", see All the world's a stage. For the one-man show, see The Ages of Man (play).
Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to progress from an original, long-gone age in which humans enjoyed a nearly divine existence to the current age of the writer, in which humans are beset by innumerable pains and evils. In the two accounts that survive from Ancient Greece and Rome, this degradation of the human condition over time is indicated symbolically with metals of successively decreasing value (but increasing hardness).
Hesiod's Five Ages
Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Silver AgeJohn Simon, The Brazen AgeVirgil Solis, The Iron Age
The Greek poet Hesiod (between 750 and 650 BC) outlined his Five Ages in his poem Works and Days (lines 109–201). His list is:
Golden Age – The Golden Age is the age that falls within the rule of Cronus.[1]:109–120 Created by the immortals who live on Olympus.[1]:109–120 Peace and harmony prevailed during this age. Humans did not have to work to feed themselves, for the earth provided food in abundance.[1]:109–120 They lived to very old age but with a youthful appearance and eventually died peacefully.[1]:109–120
Silver Age – The Silver Age and every age that follows fall within the rule of Cronus's succesor and son, Zeus.[1]:121–139 Men in the Silver Age lived for one hundred years under the dominion of their mothers.[1]:121–139 They lived only a short time as grown adults, and spent that time in strife with one another.[1]:121–139 During this Age, men refused to worship the gods and Zeus destroyed them for their impiety.[1]:121–139 After death, humans of this age became "blessed spirits" of the underworld.[1]:140–155
Bronze Age – This age is also sometimes known as the Copper Age or Brazen Age. Men of the Bronze Age were hardened and tough, and the deed of Ares (war) and violence were their passion.[1]:140–155 Zeus created these humans out of the ash tree.[1]:140–155 Their armor was forged of bronze, as were their homes and tools.[1]:140–155 The men of this Age were undone by their own violent ways and left no named spirits; instead, they dwell in the "house of Hades".[1]:140–155
Heroic Age – The Heroic Age is the one age that does not correspond with any metal. It is also the only age that improves upon the age it follows. It was the heroes and demigods of this Age who fought at Thebes in the times of Cadmus and Oedipus, and during the Trojan War.[1]:156–168 They were taken to a land beyond the seas, ruled by Cronos, with sweet fruits flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods.[1]:156–168
Iron Age – During this age, humans live an existence of toil and misery.[1]:170–201 Children dishonor their parents, brother fights with brother, and the social contract between guest and host is forgotten.[1]:170–201 During this age, might makes right, and bad men use lies to be thought good.[1]:170–201 At the height of this age, humans no longer feel shame or indignation at wrongdoing.[1]:170–201 Zeus will end this age when babies will be born with gray hair,[1]:170–201 and the gods will have completely forsaken humanity: "there will be no help against evil."[1]:170–201
The Roman poet Ovid (1st century BC– 1st century AD) tells a similar myth of Four Ages in Book 1.89–150 of the Metamorphoses. His account is similar to Hesiod's, with the exception that he omits the Heroic Age.
Ovid emphasizes that innocence and justice defined the Golden Age.[2]:89–124 Men did not suffer.[2]:89–124 He adds that in this age, men did not yet know the art of navigation and therefore did not explore the larger world.[2]:89–124 Further, no man had knowledge of agriculture, but collected food that fell from the trees.[2]:89–124
In the Silver Age, after Saturn was driven into Tartarus, Jupiter introduced the seasons, and men consequently learn the art of agriculture and inhabited houses.[2]:125–156
In the Bronze Age or the Age of Brass, Ovid writes, men were prone to warfare, but not impiety.[2]:125–156
Finally, in the Iron Age, men demarcate nations with boundaries; they learn the arts of navigation and mining; they are warlike, greedy, and impious. Truth, modesty, and loyalty are nowhere to be found.[2]:125–156In this period Astraea, goddess of justice leaves Earth bathed in slaughter.[2]:125–156
Ovid considers the Iron Age to be in the past, so he does not equate his time with the Iron Age.[3]
Commentary by other authors
Plato in Cratylus recounts the golden race of men who came first. In the dialog, Socrates clarifies to Hermogenes that Hesiod did not mean men literally made of gold, but good and noble.[4]:397e–398a Socrates describes these men as spirits or daemons upon the Earth. Since δαίμονες (daimones) is derived from δαήμονες (daēmones, meaning knowing or wise), they are beneficent, preventing ills, and guardians of mortals.[4]:398b
According to Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus (circa 2nd century BCE), the Bronze Age came to an end with the flood of Deucalion.[5] In constrast, in Eligies (circa 1st century BCE), Propertius equates the same flood with the end of the Golden Age.[6][3]
These mythological ages are sometimes associated with historical timelines. In the chronology of Saint Jerome, the Golden Age lasts c. 1710 to 1674 BC, the Silver Age 1674 to 1628 BC, the Bronze Age 1628 to 1472 BC, the Heroic Age 1460 to 1103 BC, while Hesiod's Iron Age was considered as still ongoing by Saint Jerome in the fourth century AD.[7]
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