Hesiod and Empedocles in 100 Words

[sdi]

(A very brief restatement of my interpretation of Hesiod's "Ages of Man" (from the Works and Days) and Empedocles on Nature:)

Above all are the eternal gods: bright Spirit, clear Heaven, the dark Abyss, and twilit Earth. Spirit pervades all, but the others are inhabited by five races: the immortal, good Golden, native inhabitants of Heaven; the long-lived, ambivalent Silver, native inhabitants of the Abyss; the wicked Bronze, guests of the Abyss; the righteous Heroic, guests of Heaven; and us, the weary Iron, native inhabitants of Earth. When one of the Iron race dies, if they too are righteous, they join the Heroes in Heaven; otherwise, they join the Bronze in the Abyss for a time before being reborn to Earth.