Reading Over My Shoulder

• From Susan Wise Bauer, History of the Ancient World

EGYPT: Narmer himself reigned for 64 years and then went out on a hippo hunt, a quest traditionally undertaken by the king as a display of his power over civilization-threatening enemies. According to Manetho, he was cornered by the hippopotamus and killed on the spot.
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INDIA: Manu Vaivaswata was washing his hands one morning when a tiny fish came wriggling up to him, begging for protection from the stronger and larger fish. ... Many had pity and saved the fish. Past danger of being eaten, the fish repaid his kindness by warning him of a coming flood that could sweep away the heavens and the earth. So Manu built a wooden ark and went on board with seven wise sages, known as the Rishis. When the flood subsided, Manu anchored his ship to a far northern mountain, disembarked, and became the first king of historical India. The seven Rishis, meanwhile, became the seven stars of the big dipper. The year was 3102.
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Despite the growing prosperity and reach of the Indus towns, the epics of India tell not of advance, but of decline. The flood had washed away the previous age and begun a new one; the age of towns was the Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron. It began when Manu descended from the mountain and it was an age of wealth and industry. It was also an age in which truthfulness, compassion, charity, and devotion dwindled to a quarter of their previous strength.
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In the Indian cosmology, the previous three ages of Gold, Silver, and Copper ... had each seen spiritual awareness diminish by one quarter. The Iron Age, being the fourth, is the most wicked of all.