Ages of Man
conceptHesiod's five successive races of humanity — Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes, and Iron — each worse than the last, establishing the myth of civilisational decline.
The Myth
In Works and Days, Hesiod described five ages of humanity created by the gods. The Golden Race lived under Cronus in a paradise without toil, growing old gently and becoming benevolent spirits after death. The Silver Race, created by the Olympians, was childish and violent, refusing to honour the gods; Zeus destroyed them. The Bronze Race was warlike, clad in bronze armour, and destroyed themselves. The Race of Heroes (a break in the decline) fought at Thebes and Troy — Heracles, Achilles, Odysseus — and some went to the Isles of the Blessed after death. The current Iron Race endures constant suffering, labour, and moral decay; Zeus will eventually destroy them too when babies are born with grey hair. Hesiod placed himself in the Iron Age, lamenting that he lived in the worst of times — a sentiment every subsequent generation has echoed.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Hesiod's metallic ages gave archaeology its entire periodisation system: the Bronze Age and Iron Age are named directly after his mythological framework. When 19th-century archaeologists needed labels for prehistoric periods, they borrowed from a 2,700-year-old poem about civilisational decline. Comic books also adopted the system — the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age of comics follow Hesiod's schema exactly, complete with the assumption that each era is worse than the last.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
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Achilles
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Cronus
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Hera
godQueen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage. Known for her jealous rages against Zeus's...
Hera Teleia
godAn epithet of Hera as goddess of marriage and its fulfilment, worshipped as the divine model of the...
Heracles
heroThe greatest hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Famous for his...
Heracles (Labours)
heroHeracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a...
Odysseus
heroThe cleverest of the Greek heroes, whose ten-year journey home from Troy is one of the greatest...
Odysseus (Trickster)
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Olympia
placeOlympia was the sanctuary in the Peloponnese where the ancient Olympic Games were held every four...
Troy
placeThe legendary city in Asia Minor besieged by the Greeks for ten years in the Trojan War. Troy's...