The first age of mankind was a golden age, when people directly communicated with the gods and ate with them at the same table, and mortal women gave birth to children from the gods. There was no need to work: people ate milk and honey, which at that time were in abundance throughout the earth. They didn't know sadness. Some argue that the golden age ended when people became too impudent with the gods, arrogant and arrogant. Some of the mortals allegedly even demanded equal wisdom and strength with the gods.
Then came the Silver Age, when people had to learn how to cultivate the soil in order to get their own food. They began to eat bread. However, despite the fact that people then lived up to a hundred years, they were too effeminate and completely dependent on their mothers. They constantly complained about everything and quarreled among themselves. In the end, the great god Zeus got tired of looking at them, and he destroyed them.
The first Bronze Age followed. The first people of this kind fell from the ash trees like seeds. People ate at that time bread and meat, and they were much more useful than people silver age. But they were too belligerent and in the end they all killed each other.
The Second Bronze Age was the era of glorious heroes. These people were born of gods and mortal women. Hercules and the heroes of the Trojan War lived in this century. People fought valiantly, lived a virtuous and honest life, and after death they ended up on the blessed Champs Elysees.
Our time is the Iron Age. It is easy to see that with each new age, the value of the metal corresponding to it decreases. The same thing happens with the character of mankind: in the Iron Age it is much worse than in all previous eras. People no longer communicate with the gods; nay, they have lost their piety altogether. Who can reproach the gods for indifference to man? The people of the Iron Age are cunning, arrogant, lustful and cruel. The only reason why the gods have not yet destroyed humanity is that there are still a few righteous people left.
Cit. Quoted from: J.F. Beerlines. Parallel mythology
The immortal gods living on the bright Olympus created the first human race happy; it was a golden age. God Kron ruled then in the sky. Like blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing neither care, nor labor, nor sorrow ...
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Prometheus is the son of the titan Iapetus, cousin of Zeus. The mother of Prometheus is the oceanid Clymene (according to other options: the goddess of justice Themis or the oceanid Asiya). The brothers of the titan - Menetius (thrown into tartar by Zeus after the titanomachy), Atlas (supports the vault of heaven as punishment), Epimetheus (Pandora's husband) ...
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Sisyphus, the son of Eol, the god of all winds, was the founder of the city of Corinth, which in ancient times called Aether. No one in all of Greece could equal Sisyphus in cunning, cunning and resourcefulness of mind ...
Sisyphus had a son, the hero Glaucus, who ruled in Corinth after his father's death. Glaucus also had a son, Bellerophon, one of the great heroes of Greece. Beautiful as a god was Bellerophon and courage equal to the immortal gods...
In Lydia, near Mount Sipylus, there was a rich city, called by the name of Mount Sipylus. In this city, the favorite of the gods, the son of Zeus Tantalus, ruled. All in abundance rewarded him by the gods ...
After the death of Tantalus, his son Pelops, so miraculously saved by the gods, began to rule in the city of Sipile. He ruled for a short time in his native Sipil. The king of Troy Il went to war against Pelops...
The king of the rich Phoenician city of Sidon, Agenor, had three sons and a daughter, beautiful as an immortal goddess. The name of this young beauty was Europe. I once had a dream of Agenor's daughter.
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Cephalus was the son of the god Hermes and the daughter of Kekrop, Hersa. Far throughout Greece, Cephalus was famous for its wondrous beauty, and he was also famous as a tireless hunter. Early, before sunrise, he left his palace and his young wife Procris and went hunting in the mountains of Hymet. Once the pink-fingered goddess of the dawn Eos saw the beautiful Cephalus...
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Grozen Borey, god of the indomitable, stormy north wind. He frantically rushes over the lands and seas, causing with his flight all-destroying storms. Once Boreas, flying over Attica, saw the daughter of Erechtheus Orithyia and fell in love with her. Boreas begged Orithyia to become his wife and allow him to take her with him to his kingdom in the far north. Orithia disagreed...
the greatest artist, the sculptor and architect of Athens was Daedalus, a descendant of Erechtheus. It was said about him that he carved such marvelous statues from snow-white marble that they seemed alive; the statues of Daedalus seemed to be watching and moving. Many tools were invented by Daedalus for his work; he invented the ax and the drill. The fame of Daedalus went far...
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The beautiful Nereid Galatea loved the son of Simefida, the young Akid, and Akid loved the Nereid. Not one Akid was captivated by Galatea. The huge Cyclops Polyphemus once saw the beautiful Galatea, when she floated out of the waves of the azure sea, shining with her beauty, and he flared with passionate love for her ...
The wife of the king of Sparta Tyndareus was the beautiful Leda, the daughter of the king of Aetolia, Thestia. Throughout Greece, Leda was famous for its wondrous beauty. She became the wife of Zeus Leda, and she had two children from him: a beautiful, like a goddess, daughter Helena and a son, the great hero Polydeuces. From Tyndareus, Leda also had two children: daughter Clytemnestra and son Castor ...
The sons of the great hero Pelops were Atreus and Thyestes. Pelops was once cursed by the charioteer of King Oenomaus Myrtilus, who was treacherously killed by Pelops, and doomed the whole family of Pelops with his curse to great atrocities and death. The curse of Myrtilus also weighed on Atreus and Fiesta. They have committed a number of evil deeds...
Esak was the son of the king of Troy, Priam, the brother of the great hero Hector. He was born on the slopes of wooded Ida, by the beautiful nymph Alexiroya, the daughter of the river god Granik. Growing up in the mountains, Esac did not like the city and avoided living in the luxurious palace of his father Priam. He loved the solitude of mountains and shady forests, he loved the expanse of fields...
This amazing story happened to the Phrygian king Midas. Midas was very rich. Wonderful gardens surrounded his magnificent palace, and thousands of the most beautiful roses grew in the gardens - white, red, pink, purple. Once upon a time, Midas was very fond of his gardens and even grew roses in them himself. This was his favorite pastime. But people change over the years - King Midas has also changed ...
Pyramus, the most beautiful of the youths, and Thisbe, the most beautiful of the maidens of the eastern countries, lived in the Babylonian city of Semiramis, in two neighboring houses. From early youth they knew and loved each other, and their love grew from year to year. They already wanted to marry, but their fathers forbade them - they could not, however, forbid them to love each other ...
In one deep valley of Lycia there is a light-water lake. In the middle of the lake there is an island, and on the island there is an altar, all covered with ashes of the victims burned on it and overgrown with reeds. The altar is dedicated not to the naiads of the waters of the lake and not to the nymphs of neighboring fields, but to Latone. The goddess, favorite of Zeus, has just given birth to her twins, Apollo and Artemis...
Once the father of the gods Zeus and his son Hermes arrived at this place. Both of them took on a human form - in the intention to experience the hospitality of the inhabitants. They went around a thousand houses, knocking on doors and asking for shelter, but everywhere they were rejected. In one house, the doors were not closed in front of the aliens ...
Five Centuries Nikolai Kun Based on Hesiod's poem "Works and Days" The poet Hesiod tells how the Greeks of his day looked at the origin of man and at the change of centuries. In ancient times, everything was better, but life on earth was constantly deteriorating, and life was worst in the time of Hesiod. This is understandable for Hesiod, a representative of the peasantry, small landowners. In the time of Hesiod, the stratification into classes deepened more and more and the exploitation of the poor by the rich intensified, so the poor peasantry really lived poorly under the yoke of the rich large landowners. Of course, even after Hesiod, the life of the poor in Greece did not get any better, they were still exploited by the rich. Zeus and Hera. Relief from the sanctuary of Hera on about. Samos. Tree. End of 7th c. BC e. Zeus and Hera. Relief from the sanctuary of Hera on about. Samos. Tree. End of 7th c. BC e. The immortal gods living on the bright Olympus created the first human race happy; it was a golden age. God Kron ruled then in the sky. Like blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing neither care, nor labor, nor sorrow. Nor did they know feeble old age; their legs and arms were always strong and strong. Painless me happy life they were eternal feast . Death, which came after their long life, was like a calm, quiet sleep. They had everything in abundance during their lifetime. The land itself gave them rich fruits, and they did not have to spend labor on cultivating fields and gardens. Their flocks were numerous, and they grazed quietly on rich pastures. The people of the golden age lived serenely. The gods themselves came to consult them. But the golden age on earth ended, and none of the people of this generation remained. After death, people of the golden age became spirits, patrons of people of new generations. Shrouded in mist, they rush all over the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil. So Zeus rewarded them after their death. The second human race and the second age were no longer as happy as the first. It was the silver age. The people of the Silver Age were not equal either in strength or intellect to the people of the Golden Age. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers, only when they grew up did they leave them. Their life was short in adulthood, and since they were unreasonable, they saw many misfortunes and grief in life. The people of the Silver Age were rebellious. They did not obey the immortal gods and did not want to burn their sacrifices on the altars, the Great son of Cronos Zeus destroyed their family on earth. He was angry with them because they did not obey the gods living on the bright Olympus. Zeus settled them in the underground gloomy kingdom. There they live, knowing neither joy nor sorrow; they, too, are honored by the people. Father Zeus created the third generation and the third century - the age of copper. It doesn't look like silver. From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. The people of the copper age loved pride and war, plentiful with groans. They did not know agriculture and did not eat the fruits of the earth, which give gardens and arable land. Zeus gave them enormous growth and indestructible strength. Indomitable, courageous was their heart and irresistible their hands. Their weapons were forged from copper, their houses were made of copper, they worked with copper tools. They did not know even in those days of dark iron. With their own hands, people of the copper age destroyed each other. They quickly descended into the gloomy realm of the terrible Hades. No matter how strong they were, yet the black death stole them, and they left the clear light of the sun. As soon as this race descended into the kingdom of shadows, immediately the great Zeus created the fourth century on the earth that feeds everyone and a new race of people, a nobler, more just, equal to the gods race of demigods-heroes. And they all died in evil wars and terrible bloody battles. Some died at the seven gates of Thebes, in the country of Cadmus, fighting for the legacy of Oedipus. Others fell near Troy, where they came for the beautifully curly Helen, sailed across the wide sea on ships. When all of them were kidnapped by death, Zeus the Thunderer settled them on the edge of the earth, away from living people. The demigod-heroes live a happy, carefree life on the islands of the blessed by the stormy waters of the Ocean. There, the fertile land gives them fruits as sweet as honey three times a year. The last, fifth century and the human race is iron. It continues to this day on earth. Night and day, without ceasing, sadness and exhausting work destroy people. The gods send people heavy worries. True, the gods and good are mixed with evil, but still there is more evil, it reigns everywhere. Children do not honor their parents; a friend is not faithful to a friend; the guest does not find hospitality; there is no love between brothers. People do not keep this oath, they do not appreciate the truth and kindness. Each other's cities are being destroyed. Violence reigns everywhere. Only pride and strength are valued. Goddesses Conscience and Justice left people. In their white clothes, they flew up to the high Olympus to the immortal gods, and only serious troubles remained for people, and they have no protection from evil.
The immortal gods living on the bright Olympus created the first human race happy; it was a golden age. God Kron ruled then in the sky. Like blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing neither care, nor labor, nor sorrow. Nor did they know feeble old age; their legs and arms were always strong and strong. Their painless happy life was an eternal feast. Death, which came after their long life, was like a calm, quiet dream. They had everything in abundance during their lifetime. The land itself gave them rich fruits, and they did not have to spend labor on cultivating fields and gardens. Their flocks were numerous, and they grazed quietly on rich pastures. The people of the golden age lived serenely. The gods themselves came to consult them. But the golden age on earth ended, and none of the people of this generation remained. After death, people of the golden age became spirits, patrons of people of new generations. Shrouded in mist, they rush all over the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil. So Zeus rewarded them after their death.
The second human race and the second age were no longer as happy as the first. It was the silver age. Were not equal
Neither by force nor by reason are the people of the silver age to the people of the golden age. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers, only when they grew up did they leave them. Their life was short in adulthood, and since they were unreasonable, they saw many misfortunes and grief in life. The people of the Silver Age were rebellious. They did not obey the immortal gods and did not want to burn their sacrifices on the altars, the Great son of Cronos Zeus destroyed their family on earth. He was angry with them because they did not obey the gods living on the bright Olympus. Zeus settled them in the underground gloomy kingdom. There they live, knowing neither joy nor sorrow; they, too, are honored by the people.
Father Zeus created the third generation and the third age - the age of copper. It doesn't look like silver. From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. The people of the copper age loved pride and war, plentiful with groans. They did not know agriculture and did not eat the fruits of the earth, which give gardens and arable land. Zeus gave them enormous growth and indestructible strength. Indomitable, courageous was their heart and irresistible their hands. Their weapons were forged from copper, their houses were made of copper, they worked with copper tools. They did not know even in those days of dark iron. With their own hands, people of the copper age destroyed each other. They quickly descended into the gloomy realm of the terrible Hades. No matter how strong they were, yet the black death stole them, and they left the clear light of the sun.
As soon as this race descended into the kingdom of shadows, immediately the great Zeus created the fourth century on the earth that feeds everyone and a new race of people, a nobler, more just, equal to the gods race of demigods-heroes. And they all died in evil wars and terrible bloody battles. Some died at the seven gates of Thebes, in the country of Cadmus, fighting for the legacy of Oedipus. Others fell near Troy, where they came for the beautifully curly Helen, sailed across the wide sea on ships. When all of them were kidnapped by death, Zeus the Thunderer settled them on the edge of the earth, away from living people. The demigod-heroes live a happy, carefree life on the islands of the blessed by the stormy waters of the Ocean. There, the fertile land gives them fruits as sweet as honey three times a year.
The last, fifth century and the human race is iron. It continues to this day on earth. Night and day, without ceasing, sadness and exhausting work destroy people. The gods send people heavy worries. True, the gods and good are mixed with evil, but still there is more evil, it reigns everywhere. Children do not honor their parents; a friend is not faithful to a friend; the guest does not find hospitality; there is no love between brothers. People do not keep this oath, they do not appreciate the truth and kindness. Each other's cities are being destroyed. Violence reigns everywhere. Only pride and strength are valued. Goddesses Conscience and Justice left people. In their white clothes, they flew up to the high Olympus to the immortal gods, and only serious troubles remained for people, and they have no protection from evil.
five centuries
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State Polar Academy
Department of Russian Language and Literature
Hesiod's myth of the five ages. Origins and Parallels in Other Mythologies.
Completed by: Dmitry Remizov
Group: 211-A
Saint Petersburg 2002
The lifetime of Hesiod lends itself only to an approximate definition: the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 7th century. BC. He is thus a junior contemporary of the Homeric epic. But while the question of the individual "creator" of the Iliad or the Odyssey is a complex and unresolved problem, Hesiod is the first explicit figure in Greek literature. He himself calls his name or provides some biographical information about himself. Because of severe need, Hesiod's father left Asia Minor and settled in Boeotia, near the "Mountain of Muses" Helikon
Near Helikon he settled in the sad village of Askra,
"Works and Days"
Boeotia belonged to the relatively backward agricultural regions of Greece with a large number of small peasant farms, with a weak development of handicrafts and urban life. Monetary relations were already penetrating this backward region, undermining the closed subsistence economy and traditional life, but the Boeotian peasantry for a long time defended its economic independence. Hesiod himself was a small landowner and at the same time a rhapsodist (wandering singer). As a rhapsodist, he probably also sang heroic songs, but his own work belongs to the area of didactic (instructive) epic. In the era of breaking old social relations, Hesiod acts as a poet of peasant labor, a teacher of life, a moralist and a systematizer of mythological traditions.
Two poems survived from Hesiod: "Theogony" (The Origin of the Gods) and "Works and Days" ("Works and Days").
The reason for writing the poem "Works and Days" was the trial of Hesiod with his brother Persian because of the division of the land after the death of his father. The poet considered himself offended by judges from the tribal nobility; at the beginning of the poem, he complains about the venality of these "kings", "gift eaters"
... you glorify the kings-givers,
Our dispute with you is completely, as you wished, those who judged.
In the main part, Hesiod describes the work of the farmer during the year; he calls the ruined brother Persian to honest work, which alone can give wealth. The poem ends with a list of "happy and unlucky days". Hesiod is very observant; he introduces living descriptions of nature, genre paintings, knows how to capture the reader's attention with vivid images.
Particular attention in the poem should be paid to the myth of the five centuries. According to Hesiod, the whole world history is divided into five periods: golden age, silver, copper, heroic and iron.
The immortal gods living on the bright Olympus created the first human race happy; This was golden age. God Kron ruled then in the sky. Like blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing neither care, nor labor, nor sorrow. Nor did they know feeble old age; their legs and arms were always strong and strong. Their painless happy life was an eternal feast. Death, which came after their long life, was like a calm, quiet sleep. They had everything in abundance during their lifetime. The land itself gave them rich fruits, and they did not have to spend labor on cultivating fields and gardens. Their flocks were numerous, and they grazed quietly on rich pastures. The people of the golden age lived serenely. The gods themselves came to consult them. But the golden age on earth ended, and none of the people of this generation remained. After death, people of the golden age became spirits, patrons of people of new generations. Shrouded in mist, they rush all over the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil. So Zeus rewarded them after their death.
The second human race and the second age were no longer as happy as the first. It was silver Age. The people of the Silver Age were not equal either in strength or intellect to the people of the Golden Age. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers, only when they grew up did they leave them. Their life was short in adulthood, and since they were unreasonable, they saw many misfortunes and grief in life. The people of the Silver Age were rebellious. They did not obey the immortal gods and did not want to burn their sacrifices on the altars, the Great son of Cronos Zeus destroyed their family on earth. He was angry with them because they did not obey the gods living on the bright Olympus. Zeus settled them in the underground gloomy kingdom. There they live, knowing neither joy nor sorrow; they, too, are honored by the people.
Father Zeus created the third race and the third age - copper age. It doesn't look like silver. From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. The people of the copper age loved pride and war, plentiful with groans. They did not know agriculture and did not eat the fruits of the earth, which give gardens and arable land. Zeus gave them enormous growth and indestructible strength. Indomitable, courageous was their heart and irresistible their hands. Their weapons were forged from copper, their houses were made of copper, they worked with copper tools. They did not know even in those days of dark iron. With their own hands, people of the copper age destroyed each other. They quickly descended into the gloomy realm of the terrible Hades. No matter how strong they were, yet the black death stole them, and they left the clear light of the sun.
As soon as this race descended into the kingdom of shadows, immediately the great Zeus created the fourth century on the earth that feeds everyone and a new human race, more noble, more just, equal to the gods. demigod heroes. And they all died in evil wars and terrible bloody battles. Some died at the seven gates of Thebes, in the country of Cadmus, fighting for the legacy of Oedipus. Others fell near Troy, where they came for the beautifully curly Helen, sailed across the wide sea on ships. When all of them were kidnapped by death, Zeus the Thunderer settled them on the edge of the earth, away from living people. The demigod-heroes live a happy, carefree life on the islands of the blessed by the stormy waters of the Ocean. There, the fertile land gives them fruits as sweet as honey three times a year.
The last, fifth century and the human race - iron. It continues to this day on earth. Night and day, without ceasing, sadness and exhausting work destroy people. The gods send people heavy worries. True, the gods and good are mixed with evil, but still there is more evil, it reigns everywhere. Children do not honor their parents; a friend is not faithful to a friend; the guest does not find hospitality; there is no love between brothers. People do not keep this oath, they do not appreciate the truth and kindness. Each other's cities are being destroyed. Violence reigns everywhere. Only pride and strength are valued. Goddesses Conscience and Justice left people. In their white clothes, they flew up to the high Olympus to the immortal gods, and only serious troubles remained for people, and they have no protection from evil.
In socio-historical terms, this passage is extremely important, as it depicts the disintegration family ties and the beginning of a class society where indeed everyone is each other's enemies.
The picture of the change of centuries is of absolutely exceptional importance in world literature. The poet for the first time captured in it the idea of antiquity about continuous regression in the sphere of spiritual and material. It is a development of a more general worldly wisdom in Homer (Od. II, 276):
Rarely are sons like fathers, but for the most part
Parts are worse than their fathers, only a few are better.
The transfer to distant, immemorial antiquity of the state of earthly perfection - the doctrine of the "golden age" - is characteristic of folk ideas and is known among many nations (ethnologist Fritz Gröbner notes it, for example, among the Indians of Central America). It should also include the biblical doctrine of an earthly paradise, based on Babylonian myths. Similar points are found in Indian philosophy. But this general idea is developed by Hesiod into a whole system of the stepped fall of humanity. Later literary formulations of the same idea are found, for example, in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, a Roman poet who lived from 43 BC. to 18 AD
Ovid has four ages: golden, silver, copper and iron. A golden age in which people lived without judges. There were no wars. No one wanted to conquer foreign lands. There was no need to work - the earth brought everything by itself. It was always spring. Rivers of milk and nectar flowed.
Then came the silver age, when Saturn was overthrown and Jupiter took over the world. There were summer, winter and autumn. Houses appeared, people began to work in order to get their livelihood. Then came the copper age
He was a harsher spirit, prone to terrible abuse,
But not criminal yet. The latter is all iron.
Instead of shame, truth and fidelity, deceit and deceit, intrigues, violence and a passion for possession appeared. People began to travel to foreign lands. They began to divide the land, to fight with each other. Everyone began to be afraid of each other: a guest - a host, a husband - a wife, a brother - a brother, a son-in-law - a father-in-law, etc.
However, there are differences between the ideas of Ovid and Hesiod: Ovid has a continuous decline, figuratively expressed in a decrease in the value of the metal that denotes the "age": gold, silver, copper, iron. In Hesiod, the descent is temporarily delayed: the fourth generation is the heroes, the heroes of the Trojan and Theban wars; the lifetime of this generation is not determined by any metal. The scheme itself is certainly older than the time of Hesiod. Heroes are outside of it. This complication is probably a tribute to authority heroic epic, although the opposition of the class to which Hesiod belongs is directed against his ideology. The authority of Homer's heroes forced the author to take them beyond the gloomy picture of the third (“copper”) generation.
Also in ancient literature, we find the legend of the change of centuries, except for Ovid, in Aratus, partly in Egigil, Horace, Juvenal and Babrius.
List of used literature:
1. THEM. Tronsky. History of Ancient Literature. Leningrad 1951
2. N.F. Deratani, N.A. Timofeev. Anthology on Ancient Literature. Volume I. Moscow 1958
3. Losev A.F., Takho-Godi A.A. and others. Antique Literature: A Textbook for High School. Moscow 1997.
4. ON THE. Kuhn. Legends and myths Ancient Greece. Kaliningrad 2000
5. History of Greek Literature, vol.1. Epos, lyrics, drama of the classical period. M.-L., 1947.
6. Hesiod. Works and days. Per V.Veresaeva. 1940
