# "The past was much more glorious" in fiction. What is this called?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-was-much-more-glorious-in-fiction-what-is-this-called/1017454>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 24, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-was-much-more-glorious-in-fiction-what-is-this-called/1017454 "2025-04-24T19:40:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-was-much-more-glorious-in-fiction-what-is-this-called/1017454/41 "2025-04-25T22:09:01Z")

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> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> The golden age idea is huge in western civilization because of the belief in the Garden of Eden and Man as a Fallen Being due to our sin.

I’m not sure how that follows. I’ve never understood the type of “golden age” that we’re talking about here to refer to an unspoiled paradise, particularly one inhabited only by two people. I think the “glorious past” is more of a Greco-Roman idea than a Judeo-Christian one.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-was-much-more-glorious-in-fiction-what-is-this-called/1017454/42 "2025-04-25T22:13:47Z")

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I think nostalgia is pretty universal. When we are children, our parents tell us stories about how heroic our grandparents were during whatever crisis happened back then. When we grow up, our own lives are full of dust and sweat, and it is never as glamorous as we imagined our ancestors had it.

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-was-much-more-glorious-in-fiction-what-is-this-called/1017454/43 "2025-04-25T23:06:49Z")

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There are certainly people who believe that the Dark Ages (a.k.a. the Early Middle Ages) weren’t really that bad:

> **[6 Reasons the Dark Ages Weren’t So Dark | HISTORY](https://www.history.com/articles/6-reasons-the-dark-ages-werent-so-dark)**
>
> The centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. are often referred to as the Dark Ages—but were they really?

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