On the possible Egyptian references of Hesiod’s Myth of the Ages. Some documents for the study of its genesis and structure

Abstract

This article explores the possibility that the main foreign references of Hesiod’s Myth of the five Ages-Races came from Egypt ‒though filtered through the Minoan-Mycenaean culture‒, and not, as it is generally assumed, from Mesopotamia. It is not claimed that this myth, as presented by Hesiod, had a previous counterpart in Egypt; it is only proposed that some of the main elements that coordinate it could come from Egyptian traditions: namely, the idea of the five original tribes (which Hesiod historicizes) and the distinction of the four types of beings that characterize them. Similar Egyptian contents are found in Manetho (3^rd century BC), whose Αἰγυπτιακά was based on the mythical-historical records transmitted by the ancient dynastic lists, of which the Turin Royal Canon (ca. XIII century BC) is the best preserved. Guided by this parallelism and supported by the relics that confirm the secular dialogue between Greece, Crete and the Nile region, we investigate other Egyptian traditions that could influence the elaboration of the Myth of the Ages.