Greek Heroic Age

The Greek Heroic Age, in mythology, is the period between the coming of the Greeks to Thessaly and the Greek warriors' return from Troy.^[1] The poet Hesiod (fl. c. 700 BCE) identified this mythological era as one of his five Ages of Man.^[2]^[3] The period spans roughly six generations; the heroes denoted by the term are superhuman, though not divine, and are celebrated in the literature of Homer^[1] and of others, such as Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.

The Greek heroes can be grouped into an approximate mythic chronology, based on the stories of events such as the Argonautic expedition and the Trojan War. Over the course of time, many heroes, such as Heracles, Achilles, Hector and Perseus, came to figure prominently in Greek mythology.

^ ^a ^b Thirlwall, Connop (1845). A history of Greece. Vol. 1. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans. p. 139. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
^ Hesiod, Works and Days 156–73.
^ Hesiod (24 January 1997). Works and Days: A Translation and Commentary for the Social Sciences. Translated by Tandy, David W.; Neale, Walter C. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 74 ff. ISBN 9780520917354. Retrieved 1 May 2023. But when also this race the earth covered over, in turn Zeus, the son of Cronus, made another one, the fourth, on the much-nourishing ground, more just and so superior, a godly race of hero men, who are called demigods [...].

[thirlwall-1] Thirlwall, Connop (1845). A history of Greece. Vol. 1. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans. p. 139. Retrieved 25 March 2010.

[2] Hesiod, Works and Days 156–73.

[3] Hesiod (24 January 1997). Works and Days: A Translation and Commentary for the Social Sciences. Translated by Tandy, David W.; Neale, Walter C. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 74 ff. ISBN 9780520917354. Retrieved 1 May 2023. But when also this race the earth covered over, in turn Zeus, the son of Cronus, made another one, the fourth, on the much-nourishing ground, more just and so superior, a godly race of hero men, who are called demigods [...].

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