Most ancient cultures believed that human civilization and consciousness moves in grand cycles, slowly declining from Golden Ages of illumination and harmony to Dark Ages of ignorance and strife. In India, this cycle was called the Yuga Cycle. Other cultures knew it by different names.
The Greeks referred to it as the Cycle of the Ages of Man, the Supreme Year, or the Great Year. The Persians called it the World Cycle. The Hopi refer to the four previous ages as the Four Worlds, while the Aztecs knew them as the Four Suns. The Egyptians were also aware of the Yuga Cycle, as did many other cultures; for this understanding was encoded into the ancient tales and sacred wisdom that had been orally transmitted for generations.
