ANCIENT VIEWS OF PRE-CIVILIZED HUMANS & THE CONCEPT OF TIME

The provided sources discuss how ancient cultures conceived of early humanity, a concept distinct from the modern understanding of "prehistoric man." While ancients did not have a scientific framework for evolution or different hominid species, they expressed ideas of primitive or pre-civilized stages through mythological narratives, such as Hesiod's Ages of Man, and philosophical observations like those of Lucretius and Diodorus Siculus, who described early humans living in a wild, untamed state before developing language and society. Biblical and Near Eastern traditions also contain allegorical figures like Enkidu, representing a transition from savagery to civilization. The texts further contrast these ancient perspectives with the development of modern historical consciousness, explaining that the idea of "deep time" and "prehistory" is a relatively recent invention, distinct from the mythopoeic thinking of ancient peoples who viewed time cyclically or within moralized frameworks.