Golden age (metaphor)

A golden age is a period considered the peak in the history of a country or people, a time period when the greatest achievements were made. The term originated from early Greek and Roman poets, who used it to refer to a time when mankind lived in a better time and was pure (see Golden Age).

The metaphor of a Golden Age is often invoked for high points of lost knowledge in the mythical past of mankind, also in the context of lost continents such as Lemuria or Mu (also known as Kumari Kandam).

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod introduced the term in his Works and Days, when referring to the period when the "Golden Race" of man lived. This was part of fivefold division of Ages of Man, starting with the Golden age, then the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of Heroes (including the Trojan War), and finally, the current Iron Age.[1] The concept was further refined by Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, into the four "metal ages" (golden, silver, bronze, and iron).[2]

The Golden age in Classic literature

The Golden Age by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530
The Golden Age by Joachim Wtewael, 1605

The Golden age as described by Hesiod was an age where all humans were created directly by the Olympian gods. They lived long lives in peace and harmony, and were oblivious of death. The "Golden race" were however mortals, but would die peacefully and in their sleep unmarked by sickness and age.[1] Ovid emphasizes the justice and peace that defined the Golden Age. He described it as a time before man learned the art of navigation, and as a pre-agricultural society.[3] The idea of a Golden age lingered in literature and historical understanding throughout the Greek and Roman periods.[4] It was partly replaced by the Christian Six Ages of the World based on the biblical chronology in the early Middle Ages.[5]

Evolution from period to metaphor

The term "Golden age" has always had a metaphoric element. A few centuries after Hesiod, Plato pointed out that the "Golden race" were not made from gold as such, but that the term should be understood metaphorically.[6] The classical idea of the "metal ages" as actual historical periods held sway throughout the Greek and Roman periods.[4] While supplemented by St. Augustine's "Six Ages of the World", the classical ideas were never entirely eradicated, and it resurfaced to form the basis of division of time in early archaeology.[5]

At the birth of modern archaeology in the 18th century, the "Golden age" was associated with a pre-agricultural society. However, already in the 16th century, the term "Golden age" was replaced by "Stone Age" in the three-age system.[7][8] Still, Rousseau used the term for a loosely defined historical period characterized by the "State of nature" as late as the late 18th century.[9] While the concept of an Iron and Bronze Age are still used by historians and archaeologists, the "Golden age" of Hesiod was a purely mythical period, and has come to signify any period in history where the state of affairs for a specific phenomenon appear to have been on their height, better than in the periods proceeding it and following the "Golden Age". It is sometimes still employed for the hunter-gatherer tribal societies of the Mesolithic, but only as a metaphor.[10]

Golden Age in society timeline

A society's Golden Age marks that period in its history having a heightened output of art, science, literature, and philosophy.

Acropolis, rebuilt by Pericles during the Athenian Golden Age
The Macedonian era is often cited as the Golden Age of Byzantium

Culture and technology

A golden age is often ascribed to the years immediately following some technological innovation. During this time writers and artists ply their skills in this new medium. Therefore, there are Golden Ages of both radio and television. During such a nascent phase the technology allows new ideas to be expressed, as new art-forms flower quickly into new areas:

At least one technology had its "Golden Age" in its latter years:

A cultural "golden age" can feature in the construction of a national myth.[36]

Genres

Technology and creativity spawn new genres or new surges in the production of literature and the arts. The onset (or dominance or heyday) of a new genre/movement, in popular parlance, becomes its "Golden Age". For example:

Science

Senior citizen

Companies will use "Golden Age" as a marketing euphemism to replace "senior citizen":

Sport

See also

Notes

Sources

  1. Bartlett, R.C. (2006). "An Introduction to Hesiod's Works and Days". The Review of Politics. 68 (2): 177–205. doi:10.1017/S003467050600009X. S2CID 170625967.
  2. Ovid, Metamorphoses. Trans. A.D. Melville. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. pp. ix–xi
  3. McDermott, E. (2011). "'The Metal Face of the Age': Hesiod, Vergil, and the Iron Age on Cold Mountain". International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 17 (2): 244–256. doi:10.1007/s12138-010-0186-3. S2CID 162405756. Archived from the original on 2011-02-25.
  4. St. Jerome. "St. Jerome, Chronicle (2004-5). Preface of Jerome; Preface of Eusebius". Tertullian.org. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  5. Graeme Dunphy (2010). "Six Ages of the World". In Dunphy, Graeme (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1367–1370. ISBN 90-04-18464-3.
  6. Boys-Stones, edited by G.R.; Haubold, J.H. (2010). Plato and Hesiod ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199236343. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  7. Goodrum, Matthew R. (2008). "Questioning Thunderstones and Arrowheads: The Problem of Recognizing and Interpreting Stone Artifacts in the Seventeenth Century". Early Science and Medicine. 13 (5): 482–508. doi:10.1163/157338208X345759.
  8. Gräslund, Bo (1987). The Birth of Prehistoric Chronology. Dating methods and dating systems in nineteenth-century Scandinavian archeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  9. Hartzog, P.B. "Rousseau and Marx on Equality: Paradise Lost, Paradise Restored" (PDF). The University of Utah. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  10. David Maybury-Lewis (1992). Millennium : tribal wisdom and the modern world. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-82935-8.
  11. Hassan, Ahmad Y. 1996. "Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century." Pp. 351–99 in Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, edited by S. S. Al-Attas. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  12. "Contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific enterprise" (PDF).
  13. "The greatest scientific advances from the Muslim world". TheGuardian.com. February 2010.
  14. Browning, Robert (1992). The Byzantine Empire. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8132-0754-4.
  15. "The culture of Malta throughout the millennia". malta.com. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  16. Dominguez Ortiz, Antonio (1971). The Golden Age of Spain, 1516–1659. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0297004059.
  17. "A Golden Age: Chocolate in New York, 1850-1900". The Chocolate Life. 2021-07-04. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  18. Ellwood-Hughes, Pip (19 June 2020). "The most influential TV game shows of all-time". Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  19. "Muscle Cars: The Stars from the Golden Age of Hot Rods". WheelScene. 2016-02-09. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  20. "Muscle Car History: Understand How They Came to Be". CarsDirect. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  21. "How Muscle Cars Work". HowStuffWorks. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  22. Benz, Robert. "Muscle Cars Explained: History, Evolution & Buyer's Guide". Gentleman's Gazette. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  23. Paasonen, Susanna; Saarenmaa, Laura (July 19, 2007). The Golden Age of Porn: Nostalgia and History in Cinema (PDF). Retrieved April 30, 2017. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  24. DeLamater, John; Plante, Rebecca F., eds. (June 19, 2015). Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities. Springer. p. 416. ISBN 9783319173412. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  25. Corliss, Richard (March 29, 2005). "That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic". Time. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  26. Ebert, Roger (June 13, 1973). "The Devil In Miss Jones – Film Review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  27. Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1976). "Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  28. Canby, Vincent (July 22, 1969). "Movie Review – Blue Movie (1968) Screen: Andy Warhol's 'Blue Movie'". New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  29. Canby, Vincent (August 10, 1969). "Warhol's Red Hot and 'Blue' Movie". New York Times. p. D1. Retrieved December 29, 2015.(subscription required)
  30. Comenas, Gary (2005). "Blue Movie (1968)". WarholStars.org. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  31. "Pornography". Pornography Girl. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2013. The first explicitly pornographic film with a plot that received a general theatrical release in the U.S. is generally considered to be Mona (Mona the Virgin Nymph)...
  32. "Welcome to the New Golden Age of Music Videos". 4 September 2014.
  33. Colyard, K. W. (2021-12-15). "The Best Story Arcs from Manga's Golden Age". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  34. 高橋史門 (2019-02-23). "2日間のギャラは50万円!? 80年代後半から始まった"レースクイーン・バブル"は、こんなにスゴかった! | 特集". よみタイ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  35. 高橋史門 (2019-03-24). "バブル崩壊、どこ吹く風。吉岡美穂など伝説のカリスマ・クイーンたちが明かす、2000年代"第二次黄金期"とは!? | 特集". よみタイ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  36. For example: McCarthy, Conal (2007). Exhibiting Māori: a history of colonial cultures of display. Berg. p. 62. ISBN 9781845204747. Retrieved 6 October 2019. Maori intellectuals [collaborated] in the staging of a Maori golden age [...].
  37. Carrigan, M. M. (2020-09-29). "Fast-Food Buffets Are a Thing of the Past. Some Doubt They Ever Even Existed". Eater. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  38. "Generations Of Horror: The Golden Age 1999-2005 - Rely on Horror". www.relyonhorror.com. August 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  39. The American Soccer League: The Golden Years of American Soccer 1921-1931.
  40. Remembering the Stars of the NFL Glory Years: An Inside Look at the Golden Age of Football.
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