Monday, November 19, 2012

The myth of the five Ages

I have mentioned before I am a great fan of Hesiod. The 'Theogony' and 'Works and Days' are absolutely fundamental in my practice and Hellenismos at large. The Myth of the five Ages, as laid out in 'Works and Days', speaks to my imagination. I have spoken about the Ages before, but never in great detail. Today, I will remedy that situation, I'll try to place the Ages in historic context and discuss Hómēros' contradictory viewpoint.

The Ages are part of 'Works and Days' (Erga kai Hēmerai, Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι), a didactic poem written around 700 BC. It is a farmer's almanac and giver of moralizing advice on life. Most famous are the story of Prometheus and Pandôra, and the Myth of Five Ages. Hesiod distinguishes five, separate, Ages where the Gods made a form of mankind; the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age.


The Golden Age was the only Age over which Kronos ruled. It was mankind's greatest Age; an Age in which they had it all. They remained young until the very end. They were never sick. The earth gave them everything they needed. None needed to work. They lived like Gods or kings. When Zeus overtook his father in the Titanomachy, this Age ended, and those who lived in it, died out. They became daímōns, who still watch over mankind. Roman Christian priest, Saint Jerome (c. 347 – 420), contemplated Hesiod's Ages, and decided the Golden Age was from 1710 to 1674 BC.


From this point on--with one exception--mankind's demise lay in its hubris. Those who lived the Silver Age refused to honor the Theoi. They remained childlike for a hundred years, and then lived short lives because they were reckless; they squandered the gifts of the Theoi. Zeus' wrath buried this incarnation in the Earth, but because they were blessed by the Theoi, they were still given an honorary place in the Underworld, at the Isle of the Blessed. Saint Jerome placed the Silver Age from 1674 to 1628 BC.


Yet again, the next Age was less honorable than the one before. The Bronze Age race was cruel and blood thirsty. They murdered each other before they could reach their prime. They valued only murder, and their own possessions. They killed each other until there were none left. Hades claimed their souls, but they left no  legacy, they fulfill no duty upon earth. In their dishonor, their names and deed are forgotten. According to Saint Jerome, the Bronze Age ran from 1628 to 1472 BC.


Hesiod breaks his recounting of the ethics of mankind to insert the fourth Age; the Age of heroes and the main body of Hellenic myth. This is the age of Odysseus and Troy. Because many mythological founders of cities, temples, and other great sites and ideas lived in this Age, it was necessary to break the ethical structure of Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron, to include this Age here--Hesiod lived in the Iron Age, and many who claimed origins in mythological heroes, lived in his Age as well. It was, therefor, prudent to set this Age apart from the others. The race of the Heroic Age was far nobler and far more respectful of the Theoi than the race of the Bronze--sometimes referred to as 'Brazen'--Age. The heroes of the Heroic Age rest easy, too, on the Isle of the Blessed, ruled over by Kronos, and eating the bounty of the Earth (much like those of the Golden Age, in fact. According to Saint Jerome, this Age ran from 1460 to 1103 BC.



I pose a question: are we a part of the Iron Age? There are still many wars, and much strife amongst mortals. Yet, it could also be that Hesiod's fifth Age has come to pass--the Theoi had forsaken mankind for a long time, as mankind turned to other Gods--and we are now--as the worship of the Theoi comes back slowly--in a transitional period towards a new Age, an Age of remembrance of the old Hellenic ways and their Gods. A better Age than the Iron Age... or worse, perhaps, depending on what we do with it.

There is one more thing I must address: daímōns. Hesiod's Ages speak of only one race who became daímōns; those of the Golden Age, yet those of the Silver and Heroic Age also received many honors after their passing, and they were held in high regard. In fact, Hesiod encourages the creation of shrines for the Heroes, so they do not have to wander aimlessly. Hesiod makes clear distinction between the Theoi and daímōns: the Theoi are Gods, daímōns are members of the Gold Age who gained immortality. This differentiation is much less pronounced in the writings of Hómēros, where God and daímōn is used virtually interchangeably.

This difference led to a misinterpretation of the nature of the race of the Silver Age: they became dangerous daímōns in the eyes of later writers (like Plato), and eventually the demons of Christianity. Yet, neither Hómēros or Hesiod ever intended them to be so: all daímōns were pure and Immortal; they acted as a policing force for humanity. Daímōns fulfill an important role in mythology and life: all aspects of life can be overseen by Deathless beings, without taking away from--or needlessly adding to--the portfolio of the Theoi.

This is the myth of the five Ages, as written down by Hesiod. It was interpreted and re-interpreted many times, and we may never truly know what Hesiod intended when he wrote his masterpiece. His work leaves many questions, one posed in this post. What is your take on the Ages? In what Age do we live? And what can we do to break the downward spiral of Hesiod's expectations so we come into a better Age than the Iron Age when it passes? Also, how will we name it?

1 comment:

Maya M said...

I think Hesiod's description of the Ages should be taken with a grain of salt, like his stance on women.
He claims that the Bronze Age men kept fighting until they killed themselves off. One should ask, what happened then to their women and children? We know from other sources what really happened to those people. They did not kill each other to the last one, they were drowned. And Hesiod may claim that they were wicked (babies presumably included), but Athenians apparently were of another opinion. They made annual libations to the flood victims. I doubt they would do it if they found that those victims had just received their due.
Then, the Heroic Age... Hesiod claims that it was the best after the Golden Age. Yet, you have the house of Atreus, you have the Seven and the Epigoni obsessed with destroying Thebes, you have Orestes and Neoptolemus etc. Actually, when the gods seek a virtuous mortal to marry Thetis off to him, they cannot find any better than the kinslayer Peleus.
So I think that our Iron Age is progress after all.