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| THE
AGES OF MAN |
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THE AGES
OF MAN | |
| Yet
another Near Eastern myth borrowed by the Greeks, the Ages
of Man has become widespread in Western tradition. The tradition holds
that man originally lived a paradaisical life. In successive ages, his condition
deteriorated steadily. The oldest Near Eastern tradition, the Sumerian, speaks
of two ages. It is this tradition that shaped the Judeo-Christian tradition of
Eden. The Near Eastern tradition that was borrowed by the Greeks knows four ages,
Hesiod
has five, and the Irish has seven. A Scandinavian tradition counts four ages,
but the reference is in a disputed passage that may not reflect any traditional
belief. |
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HESIOD'S
FIVE AGES | |
| According
to Hesiod, the gods and man (woman had not yet been created) originally lived
together in a place called Mekone during the blissful Golden Age. With the passing
of the age came a slightly less happy time, the Silver Age, followed by the Age
of Heroes, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age -- the current age for Hesiod's audience.
The Age of Heroes is a fifth age that apparently was added to the Near Eastern
tradition in order to accomodate Greek heroic legendry. |
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LINEARITY
AND CIRCULARITY | |
| Mythologist
Mircea Eliade has offered insight into the functionality
of this myth. The myth addresses the seeming paradox between the linearity of
human existence and the circularity of the natural world. This Ages of Man myth,
like the Kingship
in Heaven theme, imposes cyclicality on human existence by having a series
of "ages." Since there is an increasing deterioration, there is still
an element of linearity, but the inevitable deterioration of human existence,
argues Eliade, is partially offset by the repetition of mythic narrative and ritual
act. That is, the very telling of a mythic event from an earlier, "better"
time revinvigorates the present. |
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