thumb|300px|The Golden Age by Pietro da Cortona.
The term
Golden Age comes from
Greek mythology and legend, but can also be found in other ancient cultures (see below). It refers either to the earliest and best age in a sequence of ages, such as the Greek range of Golden,
Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, or to a time in the beginnings of humanity that was conceived as far better than the present. A "Golden Age" is a period of
peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity.
An analogous idea can be found in the religious and philosophical traditions of the Central Asian subcontinent. For example, the
Vedic or ancient
Hindu culture saw history as cyclical composed of
yugas with alternating Dark and Golden Ages. The Kali yuga (Iron Age), Dwapara (Bronze Age), Treta yuga (Silver Age) and Satya yuga (Golden Age) correspond to the four Greek ages. Similar beliefs can be found in the ancient
Middle East and throughout the ancient world.
Some
pastoral works of fiction depict life in an imaginary
Arcadia as being a continuation of life in the Golden Age; the
shepherds of such a land have not allowed themselves to be corrupted into civilization.
Greek and Roman antiquity
A myth of ages can be seen in Europe in the writings of
Hesiod in the late 7th and early 7th century BC.
The
Greek poet Hesiod, around the
8th century BC, in his compilation of the mythological tradition (the poem
Works and Days, ll. 109-126), explained that, prior to
the present era, there were four other progressively more perfect ones, the oldest of which was called the
Golden Age. In this stage:
In this age, Hesiod writes, mankind lived in absolute peace, carefree like the gods because they never aged and death was a falling asleep. The main characteristic of this age according to Hesiod was that the earth produced food in abundance, so that agriculture was rendered superfluous. This characteristic also defines almost all later versions of the myth.
The
Orphic school, a religious movement from
Thrace which spread to Greece in the 5th century BC, held similar beliefs, including the denomination of the ages with metals. Some Orphics identified the Golden Age with the era of the god
Phanes, who was regent over the
Olympus before Cronus. In
classical mythology however, the Golden Age took place during the reign of
Cronus. In the 5th century BC, the philosopher
Empedocles emphasised the idea of original peacefulness, innocence and harmony in all of nature, including human society.
thumbnail|right|The Golden Age by Lucas Cranach the Elder.Several centuries later (
29 BC) the Golden Age was depicted in
Virgil's
The Georgics 1.125-8. Here, the poet looked back again to sing the good old times before
Jupiter, when:
The topic is taken up again by
Ovid's in his
Metamorphoses (AD 7):
Peace and harmony prevailed during this age. Humans did not grow old, but died peacefully. Spring was eternal and people were fed on acorns from a great oak as well as wild fruits and honey that dripped from the trees. The spirits of those men who died were known as
Daimones and were guides for the later
ancient Greeks (who considered themselves to live in the later
Iron Age.)
This race of humans eventually died out after
Prometheus (a Titan) gave them the secret of fire. For this,
Zeus punished humans by allowing
Pandora to open
her box which unleashed all evil in the mortal world.
Within sequences or cycles of eras, the Golden Age stands in sequence with the
Silver age and the
Iron Age, and conditions can improve or decline according to one's conception of
mythic progression.
Plutarch, the Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, also dealt with the blissful and mythic past of the humanity.
Hindu
The Indian teachings differentiate the four world ages (
Yugas) not according to metals, but according to quality depicted as colors, whereby the white color is the purest quality and belongs to the first, ideal age. These colors were originally assigned to the planet Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Mars just like the metals. After the world fall at the end of the fourth, worst age (the Kali yuga) the cycle should be continued, eventually culminating in a new golden age.
The
Krita Yuga also known as the Satya yuga, the First and Perfect Age, as described in the
Mahabharata, a
Hindu epic:
The Hindus make reference to at least two overlapping yuga cycles, driven by celestial motions, that affect conditions on earth. One cycle, the Maha Yuga, is millions of years in length and therefore difficult to relate to human history or events. The shorter yuga cycle lasts 24,000 years, including an ascending age of 12,000 years (one daiva yuga) and a descending age of 12,000 years, for a total equal to one
precession of the equinox. Both cycles are composed of the four eras, and the Satya Yuga is the first and the most significant age in each cycle. This Golden Age era lasts 7200 years (out of the 12,000 years in the ascending period) and another 7200 years (out of 12,000 years in the descending period) in the precessional cycle. Knowledge, meditation, and communion with Spirit hold special importance in this era. The average life expectancy of a human being in Satya Yuga is believed to be about 400 years. During Satya Yuga, most people engage only in good, sublime deeds and mankind lives in harmony with the earth.
Ashrams become devoid of wickedness and deceit.
Natyam (such as
Bharatanatyam), according to
Natya Shastra, did not exist in the Satya Yuga "because it was the time when all people were happy".
Norse
The
Old Norse word
gullaldr (literally "Golden Age") was used in
Völuspá to describe the period after
Ragnarök where the surviving gods and their progeny build the city
Gimlé on the ruins of
Asgard. During that period,
Baldr reigns.
Fantasy
In modern
fantasy worlds whose background and setting sometime draw heavily on real-world myths, similar or compatible concepts of Golden Age exist in the said world's prehistory; when Deities or
Elf-like creatures existed, before the coming of
humans.
For example, a Golden Age exists in
Middle-earth legendarium.
Arda (the period of our world where
The Lord of the Rings is set), was designed to be symmetrical and perfect. After the wars of the Gods, Arda lost its perfect shape (known as
Arda Unmarred) and was called
Arda Marred. Another kind of 'Golden Age' follows later, after the Elves awoke; the
Eldar stay on
Valinor, live with the
Valar and advance in arts and knowledge, until the rebellion and the fall of the Noldor, reminiscent of the Fall of Man. Eventually, after the
end of the world, the
Silmarilli will be recovered and the light of the
Two Trees of Valinor rekindled. Arda will be remade again as
Arda Healed.
In
The Wheel of Time universe, the
Age of Legends is the name given to the previous Age: In this society, channelers were common and
Aes Sedai - trained channelers - were extremely powerful, able to make
angreal, sa'angreal, and ter'angreal, and holding important civic positions. The Age of Legends is seen as a utopian society without war or crime, and devoted to culture and learning. Aes Sedai were frequently devoted to academic endeavours, one of which inadvertently resulted in a hole - 'The Bore' - being drilled in the Dark One's prison. The immediate effects were not realised, but the Dark One gradually asserted power over humanity, swaying many to become his followers. This resulted in the War of Power and eventually the Breaking of the World.
Another example is in the background of the
Lands of Lore classic computer game, the history of the Lands is divided in Ages. One of them is also called
Golden Age, where the Lands were ruled by the 'Ancients', no wars existed yet, until that age was over with the 'War of the Heretics'.
Present-day usage
The term "Golden Age" is at present frequently used in the context of various fields, such as "
Golden age of alpinism", "
Golden Age of American animation", "
Golden Age of Comics", "
Golden Age of Science Fiction", "
Golden Age of Hollywood", "
Golden Age of Hip Hop" and even "
Golden Age of Piracy" or "
Golden Age of Porn". Invariably, the term "Golden Age" is bestowed retroactively, when the period in question has ended and is compared with what followed in the specific field discussed.
See also
