Meaning of Axial Age | Babel Free

Definitions

The age from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE, during which broad changes in religious and philosophical thought occurred in a variety of locations.

Equivalents

Examples

“This rather speculative explanation of a most important characteristic feature of Axial Age civilizations might be questioned. But it remains a fact that these tensions and the social Freiraum existed in all these societies.”

“According to the philosopher Karl Jaspers, the Axial Age encompassed 800-200 B.C.E., with a center at approximately 500.²⁵ Jaspers used the epithet "Axial" because this epoch heralded fundamental and revolutionary changes in human social, religious, and intellectual history.”

“What then of the theory's relevance to the Axial Age? Because Norenzayan is interested in pre-Axial Age gods as well as those of the Axial Age, this makes the theory of limited use in explaining the kinds of gods that arose during the Axial Age.”

CEFR level