An era of cosmic expansion ends with the localized creation of matter and energy.
The Five Ages of Mankind
As described by Hesiod in The Theogony as supplemented by The Library of Apollodorus.
BD denotes years Before the Deluge,
α1-α4 denote years within the first four ages,
BCE and CE used for the current age, the fifth.
Theogony
4000 BD 3001 BD
Before the creation of mortality, the primordials diverged from a single seed of Cosmic Chaos.
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The Big Bang
Gaia Emerges from Chaos
Era beginning/end -
Great Oxidation Event
Gaia Begets Ouranos
Celestial / CosmicOn a rocky planet in a backwater region of the Milky Way galaxy, Gaia brings forth organisms that oxygenate the atmosphere. The newly-formed Ouranos forms a demarcation, a thin layer of gaseous Heaven separating Gaia into two parts: Earth and Everything Else.
The Age of Gold
3000 BD 2001 BD
The First Age of Mankind was a period of justice and peace. Gaia provided year-round fruits without labor or pain. Mortal humans lived side-by-side with a pantheon of immortal daimones consisting of the Titans (Ocean, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus, and Cronus) and Titanides (Tethys, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Dione, and Thia).
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1 α1
Boukatios
Kronos Overthrows Ouranous
RevolutionThe tyranny of Ouranous over the cosmos comes to an end. Kronos assumes the Throne of Heaven. The Titans take positions of power. The passage of time begins to be marked.
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1 α1
Damatrios
The Birth of Love
Life, BirthAphrodite Ourania emerges from the seafoam. The appearance of love in the world makes the first Golden Age humans possible.
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1 α1
Damatrios
Birth of the Furies
Life, BirthFrom the blood of wounded Ouranos spilled upon Gaia spring Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, the three Furies charged with punishing the wicked.
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6 α1
The Marriage of Kronos and Rheia
MarriageAlthough warned by Gaia that one of his children would dethrone him, Kronos is overcome by the influence of Aphrodite, and takes Rheia as his wife.
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601 α1
The Birth of Zeus
Life, BirthZeus is born to Kronos and Rheia. Rheia switches her baby with a stone wrapped in a swaddling cloth. Kronos swallows the stone to eliminate any possible threat to his position. Zeus is secreted away to Krete, to be raised by a foster family: the archaic dancing Korybantes of Crete, the nymphs Adrastia and Ida, and goat-nursemaid Amalthea.
The Age of Silver
2000 BD 1001 BD
The Second Age of Mankind was a period of strife. Persephone's descent into the realm of Haides introduced an annual cycle of seasons, and the land had to be worked to provide food for the population. Childhood lasted for a hundred years, followed by a short period of adulthood marked by rebellion, impiety, and painful death.
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1 α2
Zeus Overthrows Kronos
RevolutionZeus slices open his father, Kronos, to free his elder siblings. In the ensuing war between Olympians and Titans, the Olympians win with the help of the Cyclopes, Hundred-Handers, and turncoat titan Prometheus. Golden Age mortals retreat to Samothraki.
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1 α2
Agrionios
Silver Age Humans
Artistic creationThe Titan Prometheus creates Silver Age mortals to repopulate the land after most Golden Age humans are killed off during the Titanomachy. These simple-minded, childlike humans need a lot of help and protection.
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250 α2
Abduction of Persephone
MarriageThe marriage of Persephone to Haides, arranged by Zeus without the prior knowledge of the bride, is contested by the bride's mother, Demeter. A negotiated settlement creates the cycle of seasons and a taut balance between the forces of life and death.
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970 α2
Prometheus Gives Fire to Mankind
Discovery, ScientificFor his troubles, Prometheus is chained to a rock in Skithia, where an eagle rips out his liver each day and eats it in front of him.
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999 α2
The Deluge of Ogyges
Era beginning/end
The Age of Bronze
1000 BD 0 BD
The Third Age of Mankind was a brutal period of war and violence, as men learned to work bronze, invented weapons of bronze, and were naturally made of bronze. These mortals failed to honor the gods until Zeus, in his displeasure, wiped out the population in a Great Deluge.
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1000 α3
1 Alkumenios
The Deluge of Deukalion
Disaster / DestructionCoincident with the Epic of Gilgamesh and Noah's Ark.
The Age of Marble
1 α4 1171 α4
This Fourth Age of Mankind was setting of most classical myths. The period would be known to Hesiod as the Age of Heroes, but we are calling it the Age of Marble after the bone-white stones cast by Deukelion and Pyrrha to create a new race of mortals after the Great Deluge.
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1 α4
1 Boukatios
The Deluge Recedes
Era beginning/endThe land, washed clean of men, transitions from the Age of Bronze to the Age of Stone, the Third and Fourth Ages of Mankind in Hesiod's Theogony.
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516 α4
Abduction of Europa
Life, RelocationThe Tyrian princess, sister to Kadmos, was abducted by Kretans. She brought the worship of bulls and would be mother to a line of Minoan kings.
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521 α4
The Founding of Thebai
FoundingKadmos the Founder defeats the Ismenian Dragon, the Spartoi come into existence, and construction is started on the Old Wall of Kadmaia.
Location
City of Thebai -
1121 α4
The Fall of King Oidipous
Political eventLocation
City of Thebai -
1123 α4
Journey of the Argo
Expedition -
1125 α4
The Kentauromachy
Military actionThe reason nobody invites the half-human, half-horse Kentauros to a wedding anymore, especially when there's an open bar.
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1127 α4
The Kalydonian Hunt
ExpeditionA great hunt with Atalanta.
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1151 α4
1161 α4
The Trojan War
Military action -
1161 α4
The Anger of Achilleus
Military actionThe focus events of The Illiad by Homer.
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1171 α4
30 Dionusios
Nostos of Odysseus
Era beginning/endThe end of a long journey home, as depicted in The Odyssey by Homer. Athene declares an end to the Age of Stone.
Age of History
1200 BCE to Today
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1200 - 800 BCE
The Greek Dark Ages
Era beginning/end