brazen age

the brazen age (singulare tantum)

1. (mythology) The third of the four mythological ages of mankind, said to come between the silver and the iron age.
   • 1841, Elphinstone, Hist. India, volume I, page 257:

     These last bear some resemblance to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks.

2. (Greek linguistics) The middle Koine chronolect of the Greek language, C.E. c. 1–c. 300.
   • 1855, Evangelinos Apostolides Sophocles, A Greek Grammar, for the Use of Schools and Colleges, a new edition, Hartford: William James Hamersley, Introduction, pages 5–6:

     With respect to purity, the Greek, like any other dead language, may be said to have seen four different ages; the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages. The writers of the silver and brazen ages are often called the later Greek writers, and their language the later Greek.

   • 〃, page 7:

     Brazen Age. — From A. D. 1 to about A. D. 300.

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Brazen, a. 4. Phrases. Brazen age”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1066, column 1.