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", seeAll the world's a stage. For the one-man show, seeThe Ages of Man (play).
BothHesiod andOvid 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 thehuman condition over time is indicated symbolically with metals of successively decreasing value (but increasing hardness).
Lucas Cranach the Elder,The Silver AgeJohn Simon,The Brazen AgeVirgil Solis,The Iron Age
TheGreek poetHesiod (between 750 and 650 BC) outlined his Five Ages in his poemWorks and Days (lines 109–201). His list is:
Golden Age – TheGolden Age is the age that falls within the rule ofCronus.[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 – TheSilver Age and every age that follows fall within the rule ofCronus's successor 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 theCopper Age orBrazen Age. Men of the Bronze Age were hardened and tough, and the deed ofAres (war) and violence were their passion.[1]: 140–155 Zeus created these humans out of theash tree.[1]: 140–155 Their armor was forged ofbronze, 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 ofHades".[1]: 140–155
Heroic Age – TheHeroic 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 anddemigods of this Age who fought atThebes in the times ofCadmus andOedipus, and during theTrojan 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
TheRoman poetOvid (1st century BC – 1st century AD) tells a similar myth of Four Ages in Book 1.89–150 of theMetamorphoses. His account is similar to Hesiod's, with the exception that he omits the Heroic Age.
Ovid emphasizes that innocence and justice defined theGolden Age.[2]: 89–124 Men did not suffer.[2]: 89–124 He adds that in this age, men did not yet know the art ofnavigation and therefore did not explore the larger world.[2]: 89–124 Further, no man had knowledge ofagriculture, but collected food that fell from the trees.[2]: 89–124
In theSilver Age, afterSaturn was driven intoTartarus,Jupiter introduced the seasons, and men consequently learn the art of agriculture and inhabited houses.[2]: 125–156
In theBronze Age or theAge of Brass, Ovid writes, men were prone to warfare, but not impiety.[2]: 125–156
Finally, in theIron 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]: 125–156 In this periodAstraea, 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]
Plato inCratylus recounts the golden race of men who came first. In the dialog,Socrates clarifies toHermogenes that Hesiod did not mean men literally made of gold, but good and noble.[4]: 397e–398a Socrates describes these men as spirits ordaemons 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 toBibliotheca, attributed toApollodorus (circa 2nd century BCE), the Bronze Age came to an end with theflood ofDeucalion.[5] In constrast, inEligies (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 ofSaint 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 bySaint Jerome in the fourth century AD.[7]
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