From mythology five centuries. five centuries

Legends and myths of ancient Greece (ill.) Kun Nikolai Albertovich

FIVE CENTURIES

Based on Hesiod's poem "Works and Days".

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 a lot of misfortune 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 victims on the altars. The great son of Cronus 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 joys nor sorrows; 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, sailing across the wide sea in 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, the human race and the fifth age - 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 destroy the people of the city. 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.

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The poet Hesiod tells how the Greeks of his day looked at the origin of man and 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.

Based on Hesiod's poem "Works and Days".

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 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 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" N.A. Kuhn . By poem Hesiod "Works and Days"

"Around you is the world .."

general - to acquaint students with the ideas of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod about the logic of the development of human society; discuss the problem reflected in the myth: "Which way humanity is moving: along the path of respect for generally accepted rules or neglect of them";

private - to introduce a new kind of mythological narrative; continue the formation of skills of lexical work; enrich students' ideas about such artistic means as epithet, allegory, metonymy.

Hesiod (late VIII-VII century BC) - the founder of the didactic epic in ancient Greek literature. Basic information about Hesiod is taken from his poem "Works and Days". Despite the bitterness that permeates the poem, her mood is not hopeless. The poet seeks to find traits of goodness in his age, to point out the source of hope. Above all, he believes in the gods and human labor. In his other poem, Theogony, Hesiod affirms the idea of the power and glory of Zeus, not only the most powerful, but also the wisest ruler of the world. The order of the universe is helped to maintain Zeus by his spouses: the goddess of fertility Demeter and personifying the natural order of things Themis, which, in turn, gives birth to three Or - goddesses of the changing seasons: Eunomia, Dika, Irina (Legality, Justice, Peace), denoting the foundations of ethical social norms. These names are significant: they indicate exactly those phenomena, the observance of which, according to Hesiod, was threatened.

The myth of the five centuries

set out in a poem "Works and Days" the ancient Greek poet and rhapsodist Hesiod, who lived in the VIII-VII centuries BC. e. According to the myth, the existing world order appeared as a result of a successive change of five centuries and, accordingly, five generations of people - gold, silver, copper, heroic and iron.

... Deeds of bygone days,
Traditions of antiquity deep ...
A.S. Pushkin

vocabulary work

Cadmus - the hero of ancient Greek myths, the founder of Thebes. After the abduction of Europa by Zeus, her brothers, including Cadmus, were sent by their father in search of their sister. The Delphic oracle ordered K. to stop looking, follow the cow he meets, and build a city where she stops. Fulfilling this command, K. arrived in Boeotia (along with Attica, the most significant region of ancient Greece), where he founded Cadmea - a citadel around which Thebes later grew - the largest city of Boeotia, at Homer - "seven-gate" Thebes.

vocabulary work

Oedipus is the son of the Theban king Laius. The Delphic oracle predicted that Oedipus would become the murderer of his father and the wife of his mother in the future, so by order of his father, as a child, he was thrown to be eaten by animals. Found by shepherds, Oedipus was handed over to the childless Corinthian king Politus, who raised him as his own son. The grown-up Oedipus met his father Laius at the crossroads and killed him, not knowing that this was his father. Oedipus freed Thebes from the Sphinx, solving its riddle, became king there and, suspecting nothing, married his mother. When he learned the truth, he blinded himself.

vocabulary work

Kronos (Kronos) - one of the oldest pre-Olympic gods, the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), the youngest of the titans, who overthrew and crippled his father. Kronos' mother predicted that, like his father, he would be overthrown by one of his children. Therefore, Kronos swallowed all his newborn children. Only the youngest son of Kronos Zeus escaped this fate, instead of whom a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes was swallowed. Subsequently, Zeus overthrew his father and forced him to vomit all the children he swallowed. Under the leadership of Zeus, the children of Kronos declared war on the titans, which lasted ten years. Together with other defeated titans, Kronos was thrown into Tartarus.

vocabulary work

Ocean. 1. According to Hesiod, the son of Uranus and Gaia, a titan, brother of Kronos, husband of Tethys, who bore him three thousand sons - river deities and three thousand daughters - oceanides. Ocean lives in seclusion in an underwater palace and does not appear at the meeting of the gods. In later myths, it is supplanted by Poseidon. 2. Mythical river surrounding the earth. In the Ocean, according to the ideas of the ancients, all sea currents, rivers and springs originate. From the Ocean, the sun, moon and stars rise and fall into it (except for the constellation Ursa Major).

GOLDEN AGE

The immortal gods living on 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 and happy life was an eternal feast. Death, which came after a 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.

SILVER AGE

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 homes 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 a lot of misfortune and grief in life. The son of Kron, Zeus, destroyed their family on earth. He was angry with the people of the Silver Age because they did not obey the gods living on Olympus. Zeus settled them in the underground gloomy kingdom. There they live, knowing neither joys nor sorrows; they, too, are honored by the people.

COPPER AGE

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 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. The 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.

CENTURY OF HEROES

As soon as this race descended into the kingdom of shadows, Zeus immediately created on earth the fourth century and a new human race, a nobler, more just, equal to the gods race of demigods - heroes. And they all died in evil waves 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, sailing across the wide sea in 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 heroes live on the islands of the blessed near the stormy waters of the Ocean, a happy, carefree life. There, the fertile land gives them fruits as sweet as honey three times a year.

IRON AGE

The last, fifth century and the human race is iron. It continues now 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 destroy the people of the city. 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.

1. Name the five centuries in the order in which they are listed in the myth. (Golden, silver, copper, age of heroes, iron.) What is the name of the age we met for the first time (Age of heroes.) Do you know myths that would tell about the life of people and gods in the age of heroes? (Some myths about Achilles, Hercules, Argonauts.) Write down the names of all five centuries. Choose a word for a capacious, generalizing characteristic of each century. (Happy, cruel, heroic, tragic, noble, joyful, heavy, etc.)
2. What do you think, what in the characterization of the centuries draws our attention with the appearance in the logical chain of the name of the age of heroes? Find in the description of each century the words and expressions that characterize the life of the people of each century. Write them out. ( Gold: painless and happy life; people lived peacefully. Silver: "unreasonable" people... Copper: terrible and powerful people; loved the war, plentiful groans; destroyed each other. Age of Heroes: the human race is more noble, more just, however, they also died in wars and bloody battles. Iron: exhausting work, heavy worries; people do not honor each other, the guest does not find hospitality, they do not keep this oath, they do not value truth and kindness; each other's cities are destroyed, violence reigns everywhere; they have no defense against evil...). How, according to Hesiod, did the life of people on Earth change with the change of centuries? Why? What technique helps to draw such a conclusion? How, in your opinion, does the emotional coloring of words that characterize the life of people of different centuries change? (The names of the centuries are given by analogy with metals, the comparative value of which is different: gold is more expensive than silver, silver is more expensive than copper, copper is iron.)

Analytical work on the text:

3. In the life of people in almost every age, which Hesiod spoke about, there were their bright and dark sides: joy and sorrow. Which of the centuries is estimated by Hesiod as the most cloudless, the happiest for the people living in it? Why? Read the description of their lives. Based on this description, what synonyms could you pick for the word "happy"? (Serene, calm, quiet.) Find in the text metonyms, comparisons that help create a feeling of a happy, calm life for people in the golden age. ("Their painless and happy life was an eternal feast"; "death ... calm, quiet sleep"; "The gods themselves came to consult them.") 4. Can the life of subsequent human births be called calm, serene? In what centuries, created, according to the worldview of the ancient Greeks, by the gods of Olympus, did people have the opportunity to choose one or another line of behavior? What choice did they make? What were the consequences of this choice?

Analytical work on the text:

5. How does the story about the life of people of the Iron Age end? Who or what could change their lives? (In the Iron Age, violence reigns on earth, because people themselves do not behave as they should. Conscience and Justice have left the Earth. Therefore, positive changes depend primarily on the people themselves: if they respect the established, generally accepted rules, Conscience and Justice will be able to return.) 7. Imagine that you were asked to characterize the past centuries and the time in which you live now. Come up with, if you like, your own names of centuries and their time limits. Describe the lives of people living in these centuries. Try to describe "your age" (that is, the time in which you live) from a variety of angles, without missing either its bright sides or any problems that concern you.

Lesson Conclusions students themselves, answering the questions of the teacher:
Today the conversation was about organizing people's lives according to the rules.
Can this topic be classified as "eternal" topics? Why?

Homework explanation

Read this myth to your relatives or friends who are older than you. Ask them about the "age," that is, the time they lived in when they were your age. How does it look to them now? And how do they characterize the time in which they live now? Write down the definitions, epithets that they will use to characterize the past and present. Prepare a story about the conversation.

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The deer took cover in the shade from the midday heat and lay down in the bushes. By chance, where the deer lay, Cypress hunted. He did not recognize his favorite deer, as he was covered with foliage, he threw a sharp spear at him and struck him to death. Cypress was horrified when he saw that he had killed his favorite ...

The great singer Orpheus, the son of the river god Eagra and the muse Calliope, lived in distant Thrace. Orpheus' wife was the beautiful nymph Eurydice. The singer Orpheus loved her dearly. But Orpheus did not enjoy a happy life with his wife for long ...

Beautiful, equal to the Olympian gods themselves in their beauty, the young son of the king of Sparta, Hyacinth, was a friend of the god Apollo. Apollo often appeared on the banks of the Eurotas in Sparta to his friend and spent time with him, hunting along the slopes of the mountains in densely overgrown forests or having fun with gymnastics, in which the Spartans were so skillful ...

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 ...

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 vivid 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.

From a socio-historical point of view, this passage is extremely important, as it depicts the disintegration of family ties and the beginning of a class society, where indeed everyone is an enemy to each other.

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 the authority of the heroic epic, although the opposition of the class to which Hesiod belongs is directed against its 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 of 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