Themes of Golden Ages in Greek Myth and Judeo-Christianity

In a time before this, there was complete perfection in the world. Man, animal, and land were in perfect harmony, a golden age of flawlessness. The idea of a golden age, where humanity is viewed as having generated from an earlier perfection is a common theme throughout a variety of cultures. In Greek mythology, such a time is told to us through Hesiod’s descriptions of Cronos’s Golden Age, a specific time and place of complete perfection in the world. In Jewish and Christian thought, a similar time and place of perfection is described through Moses in the Bible; it was called the Garden of Eden.

In Greek myth, there were several different ages of man during the rulings of Cronos, son of Uranaus and Zeus, son of Cronos. According to Hesiod’s description, the first age, under the rule of Cronos, is thought to be the golden age of man.

The golden age is believed to be the age of perfection. Man was thought to have lived like gods without sorrow or toil. According to Hesiod, man never aged, they actually got younger the longer they lived. Although the people of this time did die, it was never painful or sad; it is described as if they were overcome with sleep.

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