• The yearning for paradise
• The fear of a world-destroying catastrophe

Curiously, these two themes appear to be inseparably connected. Numerous accounts imply that the world-destroying catastrophe brought a golden age, or paradise on earth, to a violent conclusion.

In the general tradition, the age of the gods began with a period of cosmic harmony, a timeless epoch, or eternal spring—an age of peace and plenty, marked by the absence of human labor or suffering.

Examples include the Greek Golden Age of Kronos, the Chinese Age of Perfect Virtue, the Hindu Krita Yuga, the Scandinavian Peace of Frodhi, the Egyptian Tep Zepi, the first time or golden age of Ra, and the Sumerian days of An, the days of abundance.

In virtually all of the general traditions, the paradisal epoch ends in sweeping disaster as the heavens fall out of control.