Motif family
World Ages and Cosmic Decline
The recurring schema of successive world ages, yugas, golden ages, metallic ages, and cosmic decline, where a primordial or divine order decays across time.
26 traditions
97 occurrences
95 mapped motifs
- ainu
- arctic inuit
- buddhist
- christian
- christian apocrypha
- confucian
- daoist
- egyptian
- greek
- greek roman
- hawaiian
- hindu
- inuit
- islamic
- jewish christian
- jewish pseudepigrapha
- nahua maya inca
- native american plains
- native american southeast
- norse
- persian
- roman
- sikh
- slavic
- sufi
- zoroastrian
Conserved neighbors: sacred time · cosmic origin · duality · divine judgment · flood and renewal
This family has not yet been binned into sub-families; its mapped motifs are listed directly, most widespread first.
Mapped motifs
95 motifs, showing the 60 most attested
- Four ages of the world 2 occurrences · 2 traditions
- greek
- sikh
- future renewal of settlements 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- zoroastrian
- Ages of decline from primeval innocence 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Aging and weakening world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- agricultural disease as image of religious decline 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- Ancient austerity contrasted with contemporary excess 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Awakening for the last battle 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- bloodless Golden Age abundance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Calculated end of world history 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- jewish pseudepigrapha
- celestial bodies swallowed by beasts 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Communal spouses and property in imagined early society 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Constitutional decline from an ideal order 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Creation and downfall of humanity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua maya inca
- Cyclical change and decline of states 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Dangerous monster bound until final destruction 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- decline from an earlier era of abundance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hawaiian
- Decline from ideal polity into warrior-honor type 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- decline from primordial non-injury to warfare and coercion 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- Decline from Tao to external propriety 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- decline through successive metallic ages 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Declining ages of humankind 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- declining ages of metals and morality 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Degenerate age marked by aged newborns 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- degenerative cultural genealogy 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- distant edge-of-world land preserves golden-age customs 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- distinct heroic age of demi-gods 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Divine peace-stead and Golden Age 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- divine structure broken by future attackers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- divine withdrawal from earth 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- earlier giant race displaced by humans 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- earth as kin or source of a metal race 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- end-time deception and moral inversion 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- christian
- Former age of greater vitality and perception 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- Former existence of mankind 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Former greatness and decline 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southeast
- four-age decline of the world period 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- four world ages 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- golden-age abundance under a blessed reign 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- golden age after first works 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Golden age of divine abundance later lost 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Golden age of ease and abundance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Golden Age of natural virtue without moral names 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- Golden Age of simple self-sufficient life 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- Golden Age once existing and possibly returning 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Golden Age or primitive age contrast 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Graded metal kingdoms sequence 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- heavenly object corrupted by the decaying world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- heroic age as a divine race of demi-gods 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Heroic race destroyed by great wars 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- hidden metals as source of vice and war 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- ill-timed union produces decline 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- late-civilization pessimism and heart-sickness 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- persian
- Longing for distant or imagined simplicity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Loss of effortless game and beginning of difficult hunting 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southeast
- Loss of sovereignty and cultural decline 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Lost age of divine-human nearness and earthly Justice 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- lost age of magic and decline of the world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- ainu
- Lost magical age and decrepit present world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- ainu
- metallic races and degeneration through mixture 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Moral decline from rustic simplicity to greed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.