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Good well sourced video on the myth of the burning of the library of alexandria and how it didn't happen maybe
You touched on something really important. Greeks always seemed to have had this sense of decay. The Hellenic world was born out of the ruins and refugees of the Bronze Age, left among monuments and languages they couldn't read. But beyond that, Greek mythology emphasizes a decay with each generation. Each age's rulers are killed by their children but the children live shorter lives and are less powerful. Zeus is weaker than Kronos, Kronos is less encompassing than Uranus
The Ages of Man was at the forefront of a lot of Greek and Roman philosopher's minds , Hesiod describing his age as
O! would I had my hours of life began
Before this fifth, this sinful race of man;
Or had I not been call'd to breathe the day,
Till the rough iron age had pass'd away:
For now, the times are such, the gods ordain,
That ev'ry moment shall be wing'd with pain;
Condemn'd to sorrows, and to toil, we live;
Rest to our labour death alone can give;
And yet, amid the cares our lives annoy,
The gods will grant some intervals of joy:
But how degen'rate is the human state!
Virtue no more distinguishes the great;
No safe reception shall the stranger find;
Nor shall the ties of blood or friendship bind;
Nor shall the parent, when his sons are nigh,
Look with the fondness of a parent's eye;
Nor to the sire the son obedience pay,
Nor look with rev'rence on the locks of gray,
But, O! regardless of the pow'rs divine,
With bitter taunts shall load his life's decline:
Revenge and rapine shall respect command,
The pious, just, and good, neglected stand.
The wicked shall the better man distress,
The righteous suffer, and without redress;
Strict honesty, and naked truth, shall fail,
The perjured villain in his arts prevail:
Hoarse Envy shall, unseen, exert her voice,
Attend the wretched, and in ill rejoice.
At last fair Modesty and Justice fly,
Robed their pure limbs in white, and gain the sky;
From the wide earth they reach the bless'd abodes,
And join the grand assembly of the gods;
While mortal men, abandon'd to their grief,
Sink in their sorrows, hopeless of relief.
the Bible, even. Lots of whining about how the failure of Moral Virtue cause the collapse of empires and the wrath of god.
And of course the Illiad/Odyssey are probably constructed from either Greek Dark Age or retold fragments of Late Bronze Age morality tales, about how a good leader should act (Not Angry, Not overly clever just for the sake of a cool Just As Planned, but especially, absolutely, Not Horny, ever. Especially not for women.). The old leaders acted properly, and the moral failings of Troy lead to the devastation of the modern age.
I don't know, but I'd be interested if any sci-fi historians could speak to that. I do know that a lot of lost golden age stuff in sci-fi comes from Cold War anxiety about nuclear armegeddon
You touched on something really important. Greeks always seemed to have had this sense of decay. The Hellenic world was born out of the ruins and refugees of the Bronze Age, left among monuments and languages they couldn't read. But beyond that, Greek mythology emphasizes a decay with each generation. Each age's rulers are killed by their children but the children live shorter lives and are less powerful. Zeus is weaker than Kronos, Kronos is less encompassing than Uranus
The Ages of Man was at the forefront of a lot of Greek and Roman philosopher's minds , Hesiod describing his age as
https://www.john-uebersax.com/pdf/Hesiod-Ages-of-Man-tr-Cooke.pdf
it really goes all the way back to ancient Greece lmao
the Bible, even. Lots of whining about how the failure of Moral Virtue cause the collapse of empires and the wrath of god.
And of course the Illiad/Odyssey are probably constructed from either Greek Dark Age or retold fragments of Late Bronze Age morality tales, about how a good leader should act (Not Angry, Not overly clever just for the sake of a cool Just As Planned, but especially, absolutely, Not Horny, ever. Especially not for women.). The old leaders acted properly, and the moral failings of Troy lead to the devastation of the modern age.
Did that feed into a lot of sci-fi and fantasy having a lost golden age?
Yes
I don't know, but I'd be interested if any sci-fi historians could speak to that. I do know that a lot of lost golden age stuff in sci-fi comes from Cold War anxiety about nuclear armegeddon
:bottom-speak: Why you gotta call me out like that?
I.....I really wish that was on purpose
Wow, the guy could really have done with an editor.
Copy-editors only got invented in 1857 sadly.