Over the course of human history, certain time periods will be remembered for the huge changes that occurred to civilization. The Axel Age is no different. It was the first age where man began to discover himself and the world around him. Starting with the Greeks, and later followed by the Indians and Chinese, conceptual undertaking of some of the biggest questions, such as “human nature” and reason over took the myth as the way of understand why things happened. Increases in weapons technology and warfare allowed to more civilized countries the ability to overtake weaker ones. The Axel Age can best be understood as an overhaul of all-Religious, political and social structure of many civilizations. A vortex where traditional substance still possessed vitality and reality, but became clarified and transmuted. The key to understanding the success of the Axel age is why it happened. Between 600 to 200 B.C.E, and storm of intellectual revolutions and speculative thought began to descend upon Europe. These revelations dethroned traditional myths as a solid form of understanding. Karl Jaspers argues that the arrival of philosophers in all cultures changed the traditional form, and Humans dared to rely on themselves as individuals, and discover within themselves the origin which to raise himself above his own self and the world1 While to the contrary, Arnaldo Momiglano argues that it was the position of these cultures that helped push them towards advanced thinking. All of these civilizations display literacy, a complex political organization combining central government and local authorities, elaborate town-planning, advanced metal technology and the practice of international diplomacy. With out these, a transformation to thought would not have had the profound impact that it did. The most revolution of all people during the Axel Age was Plato. Brought up during the Peloponnesian wars in Greece, he was largely influenced by Athens collapse after the war. His teacher, an outspoken man named Socrates was later executed for proposing advanced ideas about political thought. Following the death of Socrates, Plato began a quest to change the modern political thought in Greece. His analysis on human form, by understanding a person’s Telos was key into understanding the person they would become. For example, if a person were born into a family of philosopher kings, that person would contain wisdom and understanding and therefore was destined to become a leader. These kinds of ideas had never been seen before, and changed the way people thought about a their own life. His study of a person’s amorality and human nature made people more impressionable to extreme thought.
Out of the ashes of mythology came more advanced forms of religion. Specifically Confuciusm, born in East Asia. Confucius, who lived between (551-479
