Greece and Rome · Hesiod, Works and Days 109–201
The five races of men
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What this means
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First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men… a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race before our own.
Translation: Evelyn-White, 1914 · About the translator
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Read it literally
Golden, silver and bronze races were each made and removed. Then came demigods, then us. Humanity as the fifth version of a product.
What scholars say
Greek poem about the decline of humanity.
