Some ancient Greeks believed that the human race had passed through various "ages", the first was the Golden Age, in which humans were noble and just beings, almost gods. However they fell from this state of near perfection and entered a Silver Age, then a Bronze Age, then an Iron Age, in which the Greek writer lived, in which men were warlike and always seeking ways to harm other men. These legends may be hints of some actual earlier cultures which had already passed away, such as the Minoans, which the Greeks admired. The use of the term by the WTBTS is in agreement with their teaching of the once perfect state of the human race.