Aeon

{{Short description|Ancient Greek concept}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2016}} {{Other uses}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2009}}

The word '''''aeon''''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|ɒ|n}}, also spelled '''''eon''''' (in American and Australian English<ref>{{Cite web |title=aeon |url=https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/features/word/search/aeon/ |access-date=2022-01-28 |website=Macquarie Dictionary |archive-date=2022-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128111541/https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/features/word/search/aeon/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=eon |url=https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/features/word/search/eon/ |access-date=2022-01-28 |website=Macquarie Dictionary |archive-date=2023-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319031158/https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/features/word/search/eon/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timeless" or "for eternity". It is a Latin transliteration from the ancient Greek word {{lang|grc|ὁ αἰών}} (''{{Lang|grc-latn|ho aion}}''), from the archaic {{lang|grc|αἰϝών}} (''{{Lang|grc-latn|aiwōn}}'') meaning "century". In Greek, it literally refers to the timespan of one hundred years. A cognate Latin word ''{{lang|la|aevum}}'' (cf. {{lang|grc|αἰϝών}}) for "age" is present in words such as ''eternal'', ''longevity'' and ''mediaeval''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Math words page 16 |url=http://www.pballew.net/arithm16.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618055137/http://pballew.net/arithm16.html |archive-date=2010-06-18 |access-date=2006-09-15 |website=pballew.net}}</ref>

Although the term aeon may be used in reference to a period of a billion years (especially in geology, cosmology and astronomy), its more common usage is for any long, indefinite period. Aeon can also refer to the four aeons on the geologic time scale that make up the Earth's history, the Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and the current aeon, Phanerozoic.

==Astronomy and cosmology== In astronomy, an aeon is defined as a billion years (10⁹ years, abbreviated AE).<ref name=Keel>{{cite book |title=Astrophysical Concepts |edition=2nd |author=Martin Harweit |isbn=3-540-96683-8 |year=1991 |publisher=Springer-Verlag}} p. 4.</ref> Roger Penrose uses the word ''aeon'' to describe the period between successive and cyclic Big Bangs within the context of conformal cyclic cosmology.<ref>{{cite arXiv |eprint=1011.3706 |author1=Gurzadyan VG |author2=Penrose R |title=Concentric circles in WMAP data may provide evidence of violent pre-Big-Bang activity |date=2010-11-16|class=astro-ph.CO }}</ref>

==Philosophy and mysticism== {{More citations needed section|date=May 2021}} In Buddhism, and Hinduism, aeon may be used as a translation of the term kalpa or ''{{Lang|sa-latn|mahakalpa}}'' (Sanskrit: {{Lang|sa-deva|महाकल्प|italic=no}}). A mahakalpa is often said to be 1,334,240,000 years, the life cycle of the world. Yet, these numbers are symbolic, not literal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mahakalpa |url=https://glorian.org/learn/glossary/m/mahakalpa |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=Glorian |language=en-gb}}</ref>

Christianity's idea of "eternal life" comes from the word for life, ''{{Lang|grc-latn|zōḗ}}'' ({{Lang|grc|ζωή|italic=no}}), and a form of ''{{Lang|grc-latn|aión}}'' ({{Lang|grc|αἰών|italic=no}}),<ref>{{citation |last=Strong |first=James |title=The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible |date=1890 |url=https://archive.org/stream/exhaustiveconcor1890stro#page/n11/mode/2up |location=Cincinnati |publisher=Jennings & Graham |author-link=James Strong (theologian)}}, 166.</ref> which has been translated to mean immortality in the majority text, but is argued by some<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=Rob |title=Love wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived |date=2011 |publisher=HarperOne |isbn=978-0-06-204964-3 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>Hanson, J. W. (1878). Aiōn-aiōnios: The Greek Word Translated Everlasting, Eternal in the Holy Bible, Shown to Denote Limited Duration. United States: Hanson.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hart |first=David Bentley |title=The New Testament: a translation |date=2023 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26570-5 |edition=2nd |location=New Haven |pages=537–544}}</ref> to mean life in the next aeon, the Kingdom of God, or Heaven, instead.

According to some proponents of Christian universalism, the Greek New Testament scriptures use the word ''{{Lang|grc-latn|aión}}'' ({{Lang|grc|αἰών|italic=no}}) to mean a long period (or age-long) and the word ''{{lang|grc-Latn|aiṓnion}}'' ({{lang|grc|αἰώνιον}}) to mean "during a long period" (or similarly, age-during); thus, there was a time before the aeons, and the aeonian period is finite. After each person's mortal life ends, they are judged worthy of aeonian life or aeonian punishment. That is, after the period of the aeons, all punishment will cease and death is overcome and then God becomes the all in each one (1 Cor 15:28). Another universalist reading, prevalent among neoplatonists due to its similarity to views expressed in Plato's ''Timaeus'',<ref>{{cite SEP|url-id=plato-timaeus|title=Plato's ''Timaeus''|last=Zeyl|first=Donald|page=37c-e}}</ref> is that the "aeon" does not refer to a time, finite or infinite, but instead a Greek parallel of a Judaic view of distinct natures of time, between the χρόνος (chronos) of the present "age", or עולם הזה ('olam ha-zeh) and the αιώνιος (aionios) of the "age to come", or הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא ('olam ha-ba). Therefore, "aeonian life" and "aeonian punishment" would mean "life of the Age to Come" and "punishment of the Age to Come"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hart |first=David Bentley |title=That all shall be saved: heaven, hell, and universal salvation |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24622-3 |location=New Haven [Connecticut] ; London [England] |pages=121–129}}</ref>, and thus not necessarily "eternal life" and "eternal punishment".

Occultists of the Thelema and Ordo Templi Orientis (English: "Order of the Temple of the East") traditions sometimes speak of a "magical Aeon" that may last for perhaps as little as 2,000 years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DuQuette |first=Lon Milo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-07yFC31j6wC&pg=PA15 |title=The magick of Aleister Crowley : a handbook of the rituals of Thelema |date=2003 |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=1-57863-299-4 |location=Boston, MA |pages=15 |oclc=52621460}}</ref>

===Gnosticism=== {{Main|Aeon (Gnosticism)}}

In many Gnostic systems, the various emanations of God, who is also known by such names as the ''One'', the ''Monad'', ''Aion teleos'' ("The Broadest Aeon", Greek: {{lang|grc|αἰών τέλεος}}), ''Bythos'' ("depth or profundity", Greek: {{lang|grc|βυθός}}), ''Proarkhe'' ("before the beginning", Greek: {{lang|grc|προαρχή}}), ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Arkhe}}'' ("the beginning", Greek: {{lang|grc|ἀρχή}}), ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Sophia}}'' ("wisdom"), and ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Christos}}'' ("the Anointed One"), are called ''Aeons''. In the different systems these emanations are differently named, classified, and described, but the emanation theory itself is common to all forms of Gnosticism.

In the Basilidian Gnosis they are called sonships ({{lang|grc|υἱότητες}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|huiotetes}}''; singular: {{lang|grc|υἱότης}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|huiotes}}''); according to Marcus, they are numbers and sounds; in Valentinianism they form male/female pairs called "{{lang|grc-Latn|syzygies}}" (Greek {{lang|grc|συζυγίαι}}, from {{lang|grc|σύζυγοι}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|syzygoi}}'').

==See also== {{Wiktionary|eon}} * Aion (deity) * {{annotated link|Century}} * Kalpa (aeon) * {{annotated link|Millennium}} * Saeculum – comparable Latin concept * Aeon (company) * Aeon (greek rapper) * {{section link|Young's Literal Translation#Eternity or age}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

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Category:New Testament Greek words and phrases Category:Time Category:Units of time