Ages of Man is anAncient Greekmyth that divides thehistory of theworld into five eras. In the first eras,humans lived close togods and were happy. In the latest eras, the gods have left the world and humans live in pain and unhappiness. This myth was first written down by Greek poetHesiod, about 2700 years ago.

1. In theGolden Age, humans lived together with gods in peace.Plato said that there were alsodemons in this age, who were good and helped people. All of them were ruled byKronos.
2. In theSilver Age, humans lived for one hundred years aschildren and fought each other when they became adults. They refused toworship Kronos' sonZeus, so he killed them all.
3. In theBronze Age, humans fought each other all the time. They have all been killed in their ownwars.
4. In theHeroic Age,demigods andheroes lived among humans.Perseus,Heracles, andArgonauts lived in this age. It ended after theTrojan War.
5. In theIron Age, gods and other supernatural beings abandoned humans. As a result, humans have forgotten theirvirtues and lived in misery. It was the age when Hesiod himself lived.

Roman poetOvid also wrote about the Ages of Man about two thousand years ago, although he did not mention the Heroic Age.

• Five Suns
• Yuga