Greek and roman mythologies, talk about the existence of successive eras, or races, which describe the successive ages of humanity. As for these mythologies, humanity progressed 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 overwhelmed by pain and evils. Even though the description and the stages of the human transformation might be slightly different, the two mythologies agree that humans degrade from a God-like form to a mortal form.
Hesiod and Ovid could be considered the main narrators of these stages, in Greek mythology-and roman mythology respectively. Interestingly these stages are named after metals. According to Hesiod, the great Greek poet, the history of humanity falls into five successive eras or races. They are the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of Heroes, and the Iron Age.
Ovid, the famous roman poet as well tells a similar tale, but he omits the Heroic Age in his stages. So as for Ovid, there are only 4 stages, which are Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. It’s interesting to see how the poets have compared the degradation of humanity to metals. They have used metals to indicate the decreasing value symbolically but in increasing hardness at the same time.
The poems written by Hesiod are considered of significant importance in Greek mythology. This is because Hesiod is believed to be blessed by the Nine Muses who are the daughters of the supreme god Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne.
The nine muses were powerful nymphs who carried memories of all generations. Hence Hesiod’s poems are believed to be inspired by true occurrences. Ovid’s poetry on the stages and the classification came after Hesiod’s. so many are inclined to believe that Ovid referenced the earlier work done by Hesiod.
As for Hesiod, the first age of man was the golden age. This is considered the best period of human existence and falls under the rule of Cronus. Titans created the humans and were given a very long life span. Some even claim humans in this era to be immortal. They lived together with gods. It was a time of peace and prosperity for humans, who never knew any evil. They never had to work to feed themselves, because the earth itself provided them with food in abundance. Humans in the golden age lived a very long life. After they reached maturity, they stopped aging, and so died with a youthful appearance.
Their deaths were peaceful, since even at death, they did not experience pain. After their deaths they became guardians, so even after death, they lived eternally as spirits. Hesiod describes these men as “dae-muns” which has the meaning “godlike”. The golden age ended when Zeus overthrew Cronus.
Ovid also gives out a similar description of the golden age. He emphasizes that justice and peace defined the Golden Age. During this period, humans didn’t have the knowledge to navigate. So they lived with their creators by doing primitive agriculture that made them their food. After the end of the golden age began the silver age. The lifespan of humans reduces to 100 years.
Most importantly, humans began to spend a very short period of their life span as youths. They soon began to realize that they are inferior to gods. Even so, many humans refuse to worship the Olympian gods, so Zeus punished them by death.
Humans slowly began to embrace evil and soon they started rebelling against the gods and destroying each other. After their death, they became "blessed spirits" of the underworld. Ovid explains that during this age, Jupiter, the supreme god of the roman god pantheon, created the four seasons and taught humans advanced agricultural methods.
As the silver age ends, began the bronze age. During this period humans were more interested in warfare. They were stronger and tougher than the humans in both the golden and silver ages and so fought to win the other through strength. Hesiod claims that Zeus created these passionate humans out of ash tree, which was primarily used in making spears. Their life spans decreased further than in the silver ages humans. Until the silver age, humans consumed a vegetarian diet and in the bronze age, they started to eat meat. Most of their possessions were made of bronze, for example, people of this era had houses made of bronze. Their tools and armors were also made of bronze.
the age was mainly overwhelmed with bloodshed, so after death, their souls were reborn in the dark house of Hades. This Age came to an end with the flood of Deucalion. Ovid also describes this era as a period inclined to warfare. Then came the heroic age, the age which Ovid does not include in the stages he describes. After the flood of Deucalion, the titan goddess Themis and Pyrrha repopulated the world.
Unlike the barbarians in the bronze age, people in the heroic age fought with respect and honor. So they were considered heroes. Many of the heroes in this era were regarded as demigods. Heracles, Perseus and Orion are a few of these demigods. The famous Trojan war is also believed to occur during this period. After their death, people of this age would be rebirthed in the paradise of heroes which is known as Elysium. The final age of man is the Iron Age, at least the age Hesiod was in. in this age as well, evil continued to spread.
So they started to experience sorrow, death, and misery more deeply than any other age. Seeing the evilness of humans, gods left the human realm completely.
It is prophesized that human wickedness would reach its peak in this age. Once it does, Zeus himself would interfere and eradicate all humans like he did before and would purify earth once again. Ovid also views the iron age in a similar manner to Hesiod. As for both these poets, humanity continues to decline until it goes to extinction. Once a glorious race, who roamed the heavens together with gods have now become a race, that is mostly bound to hell. It is interesting how the poets have compared these stages to metals, and how each of these metals perfectly describe the aspects of each of these stages.
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