In more recent times , our visions of the remnant of the world have ranged from the quite drastic menace of the climate crisis and nuclear war to imagining unreal intelligence absorbing and supersede us .

Before that , there were biblical tales of holy person teem their bowels upon the Earth , turning the sea to origin , and the NorseRagnarök . But before that , what did the Ancient Greeks think about the closing of the human beings ?

For a lot of Ancient Greeks , including philosophers Plato and Aristotle , the earth did n’t stop but was cyclic , with Plato conceive that survivors would always reconstruct after a catastrophe . Many of the stoic believe in Ekpyrosis , the periodic death of the cosmos – every 36,000 eld , according to Plato – before a new cycle commence again .

Rather than focusingon an closing to humanityand the world , Greek mythology and philosophy spokemore of the gods and catastrophes of the past . Nevertheless , there are some accounts of apocalypses past tense and succeeding in ancient writing .

Grecian poet , economic philosopher , contemporaneous of Homer , and occasional chronicler of story , Hesiod , did drop a line of a sort of apocalypse study place , where the God destroy humanity .

The Five Ages of Man according to greek mythology

In Hesiod ’s epic poemWorks and Days(700 BCE ) he separated the five periods of human chronicle into different ages . The five full point – The Golden , Silver , Bronze , Heroic , and Iron Ages – trace the progression of humankind through the lense of Grecian mythology .

First was the Golden Age , just after the " deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a gilded airstream of deadly men " . Then came a " 2d generation which was of silver and less noble by far " . Then came the Bronze Age , a third generation that was " unspeakable and strong " , and keen on violence .

" These were demolish by their own hand and passed to the dank house of iciness Hades , and left no name,“he compose . " Terrible though they were , black Death seized them , and they go out the bright light of the sun . "

In some versions of the narration , Zeussends a floodto kill the Bronze Age humans .

After that , Zeus made a " god - like race of hero sandwich - men " , when most Greek mythic heroes including Perseus , Odysseus , and Achilles purportedly lived . Hesiod lamented that he had n’t been born in the age of hoagy , but in the next historic period .

" For now truly is a raceway of iron , and man never perch from confinement and sorrow by mean solar day , and from buy the farm by night ; and the graven image shall lay sore hassle upon them . "

Hesiod believed this " bitter " and " firmly - hearted " eld would be the last .

" But , notwithstanding , even these shall have some honorable mingle with their evils . And Zeus will destroy this slipstream of mortal man also when they come to have grey tomentum on the tabernacle at their birth . "

Hesiod goes into more detail about this age , see it as a fourth dimension when evil - actor get congratulations for their tearing deeds , and humanity delight in evil .

" And then Aidos and Nemesis , with their angelic shape roll in white robes , will go from the widely - pathed earth and forsake man to link the caller of the undying gods : and biting sorrows will be left for mortal men , and there will be no help against evil . "

We well hope the world is cyclical because that does not vocalise like a good way to end .