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Golden Ages

21 important questions on Golden Ages

How can Hesiod's five ages be linked to the East?

Daniel had a dream about which he told Nebuchadnezzar, about a statue with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. This statue was smashed with a stone. The metals referred to successive kingdoms, which would eventually be destroyed by God.

How can the tales of Daniel and Hesiod be so alike?

Because they probably had a common source found in Mesopotamia.

Which two of Hesiod's ages were most important?

Gold and iron, because of the big difference between them (and because the iron age was set in the present).
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What is Virgil's Fourth Eclogue?

The fourth of a series of ten pastoral poems (about singing shepherds). In this, a shepherd reports a prophecy from the Sibyl of Cumae. She prophesizes that the Virgin and Cronus will return and with them, the Golden Age.
When a certain child is miraculously born, the animals will live together in peace. However, as it grows up, it will do so in an era of war. Eventually, however, when the child is fully grown up, the Golden Age will return.

How can the Fourth Eclogue be linked to Christianity?

Because the child that will herald the Golden Age is seen as Christ, and Virgil was seen as a proto-Christian. Emperor Constantine the Great actually used this poem as one of his Christian orations.

Who was the child from Virgil's prophecy originally?

Octavian/Augustus and Marcus Antonius were at war. Pollio, another leader after who the Fourth Eclogue was sometimes named, wanted Marcus Antonius and Octavia (Ocatvian's sister) to get married and have children. If this child was a boy, he would lead the country and civil war would be over. (It was, however, a girl who died, and civil war went on.)

Who was later seen as the child from Virgil's prophecy?

Augustus, as he was the son of a god (the deified Julius Caesar) and would reestablish the golden age in Rome. Augustus was the current ruler at that time, so praising him might have seemed right. Many emperors had before been lauded as the bringer of the Golden Age, after all, such as Nero.

What was the Golden Age of the Renaissance?

The Golden Age of Art, in which the De' Medici family/Lorenzo de'Medici brought the Golden Age upon Italy.

Which people were all seen as Astraea/her child?

- Augustus
- Nero
- Queen Elizabeth/the Virgin Queen
- Lorenzo de'Medici
- Charles V

What did Sir John Davies do?

He wrote Hymns to Astraea as a panegyrical topos (a letter poem) with the letters of Elisabetha Regina, as to say she was the Virgin. However, she was born in winter, whereas Virgin was an autumnal sign.

Which ages did Ovid describe in his Metamorphoses?

Golden Age: reign of Saturn. Justice, yet no laws. Eternal spring. Earth spontaneously produced whatever mankind needed.
Silver Age: reign of Jupiter. No eternal spring, but seasons. Agriculture necessary.
Bronze Age: warfare
Iron Age: crime, seafaring, private property. Warfare. Justice/Astraea has left the Earth.

What can be said about this Renaissance picture of Ovid's Golden Age?

The nudity was a Christian idea, referring to Paradise. Love was untroubled (not told in Ovid!). This is some kind of pastoral scene.

Why did the Golden Age become something pastoral?

Because that's how Virgil pictured it, as Donatus mentioned. Classical eclogues were not set in the Golden Age, yet Virgil's was, and it contained happy, singing shepherds.

What did Torquato Tasso do?

He wrote the epic Gerusalemme liberata, set in the Italian countryside, about the love between Aminta and Silvia. It was about a fruitful Earth and eternal spring, in a time where Honour had no power yet and erotic freedom was still allowed. Honour is actually driven away from the pastoral world.

What did Giovanni Battista Guarini do?

He wrote the Il Pastor Fido, set in Arcadia, which was a double love story between two couples. It used the same song as Torquato Tasso's play. Here, the Earth was also fruitful and seafaring did not yet exist. However, it was about happy MARRIED love. In that case, one could do as they pleased. In this play, True Honour is invited back into the Pastoral Arcadia.

What can be said about the difference between Torquato Tasso's and Giovanni Battista Guarini's plays?

They use the Golden Ages for a moral debate regarding sexuality; Tasso was for free love, whereas Guarini believed that it was only meant for married couples.

What is the link between the Golden Age and the discovery of the Americas?

The Native Americans did not yet practice agriculture, so they were first thought of to still be living in the Golden Age. However, later on it was realised that they were constantly at war with one another, undermining that idea.

What did Michel de Montaigne do?

In 1580, he wrote an essay about "happy cannibals" or people from Africa, who he considered noble sauvage as he thought of them as still living in the Golden Age, where everything was perfect. It even made him rationalize their cannibalism.

How does Shakespeare use the Golden Age?

In The Tempest, a group of Italian aristocrats strands on an island. They then dream of colonizing it, turning it into their own Golden Age. However, Ganzago wants to be King when a Golden Age can't have a king, so he gets mocked. Also, it turns out there's a cannibal living on the island who isn't exactly a Noble sauvage. In other words, Shakespeare used Michel de Montaigne's essay on the Golden Age to start a discussion on politics.

What is the difference between a Utopia and a Golden Age?

A utopia is both a no-place and a good-place, but it is still structured, even though it is perfect. A Golden Age knows no structure and is perfect all the same.

To which three concepts can the Golden Age be linked?

- Paradise (lost and regained, with the Virgin returning)
- Arcadia (an idyllic and pastoral world, also known as "The Garden")
- Utopia (despite the contradictions)

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Ancient Mythology

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