<P> In classical Greek mythology the Golden Age was presided over by the leading Titan Cronus . In some version of the myth Astraea also ruled . She lived with men until the end of the Silver Age, but in the Bronze Age, when men became violent and greedy, fled to the stars, where she appears as the constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, or Libra . </P> <P> European pastoral literary tradition often depicted nymphs and shepherds as living a life of rustic innocence and peace, set in Arcadia, a region of Greece that was the abode and center of worship of their tutelary deity, goat - footed Pan, who dwelt among them . </P> <P> The earliest attested reference to the European myth of the Ages of Man 500 BC - 350 BC appears in the late 6th century BC works of the Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days (109 - 126). Hesiod, a deteriorationist, identifies the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age . With the exception of the Heroic Age, each succeeding age was worse than the one that went before . Hesiod maintains that during the Golden Age, before the invention of the arts, the earth produced food in such abundance that there was no need for agriculture: </P> <P> (Men) lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all devils . When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint . They dwelt in ease and peace . </P>

What is another name for the golden age