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The Sixth Age of Arda refers to the last of the "legendary" eras of Ambar, which is identified with the ancient era of our modern world. It is measured from the history of the first Middle-Mannish empires, through the Christian era into the Industrial Revolution until the Second World War (referred to as "the Six Years War" in The Notion Club Papers). The early years of the Sixth Age are marked by the spread of Middle-Mannish proto-Indo-Europeans multiplying and spreading about the Westlands (whose ancestors before had largely been subject-peoples under the Dúnedain) and forming empires of their own based upon what little they remembeted on myths about Dúnadan culture, causing in turn the migration of the Elves northwards and westwards, relegated to the myths of Men, and the assimilation or retreat of Dwarves and Hobbits from Mannish cultures.

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Notable events of the Sixth Age[]

  • 2340 BC - The Great Flood. A series of apocalyptic floods wreak havoc upon Middle-earth, shrinking its coasts and reducing the Westlands to a series of disconnected peninsulas; this is possibly a result of apostasy and corruption among the later Dúnedain, and an example of intervention on behalf of Eru. Remnants of the Dúnedain linger as nomad tribes on the isle of Luthany, allied with the remnants of Eldar, eventually evolving into the early pre-celtic ancestors of the Britons. Meanwhile, in the wake of the floods, descendants of Third Age Daen, Baradhrim relatives, and other peoples formerly subject to Edainic empires such as Arnor and Gondor, spread and form their own tribal realms in western and southern europe; also proto-Indo-European tribes migrate south and west out of Near-Rhun (or Central Asia) and former Gondor (the Mediterranean) and begin displacing or absorbing the ancient Edainic peoples.Eventually only the Northrons remain, giving rise to pre-Germanic and pre-baltic peoples. (N)
  • 2340 BC - Irish legend of Tuatha-de-Danaan and Tuan Mac Cairill the oldest man in the world
  • Approximately 2000 BC - A majority of the Dwarves of Durin's Folk migrate southwards to the Levant, where they mingle with ancient Mannish peoples out of Africa.They are later remembered as the Cabeiri, Dactyls or Telchines. (N)
  • 2070 BC - The realm of Xia is formed, a successor to the lost realm of Ôn, the Fourth Age successors to the Wômawas Drûs. (N)
  • 2055 BC - A Haradaic people formerly subject to Gondor forges a new civilization along the banks of the Nile River. They employ Dúnadan and black númenórean traditions and crafts under a pagan religion, and build vast temples and cities of sandstone, revering their double-crowned kings as deities. These will later become known as the Egyptians, and they rise to the chief power in the early Sixth Age, enslaving and conquering nearby peoples. (N)
  • 2000-1500 BC - The Hobbit-race begins to withdraw from interaction with Mannish peoples, as members of their species begin to suffer oppression in the forms of slavery and genocide. They remain allies with the pre-Celts and Elves of Luthany, but largely withdraw to hidden forests and deep places, and interact little with Men save in extraordinary circumstances.Later tales confuse their genuine nature with that of the Fairy peoples. (N)
  • c. Late 13th century BC - After years of slavery and oppresion on behalf of the Men of Egypt, the Judaic peoples, also remote descendants of the Númenóreans, unite behind the legendary Mosis ("Möumsy") (guided himself by visions from Eru) and they migrate across the Red Sea to colonize a fertile land in the Levant. There a number of Kings rule for the following centuries, maintaining a shrine to Eru Iluvatar and the traditions of ancient Eruism, in the midst of their great city of Jerusalem. (N)
  • 1190 BC - The Fall of Troy. Aeneas flees to Italy and builds a village alongside the Tiber River.
  • 753 BC - The twins Romulus and Remus (themselves of Etruscan-Dúnadan blood) build a fortified town at the site of Aeneas's settlement, Rome (known to the Elves as Rum). Peoples of Daen descend (chiefly the descendants of ancient Tarkils from Gondor) travel thither and expand the settlement to a kingdom. (N)
  • 660 BC - A man named Jimmu, descendant of the ancient Wômaw, receives a vision from Arien. He becomes the first Heavenly Sovereign of Nihon. (N)
  • 428-347 BC - The Philospher Platon of the Hellenic people documents ancient tales and legends, among them the misinterpreted history of Numenor in the form of the legend of Atlantis.
  • 221 BC - The realm of Zhou (previously Shang and Xia) is reformed as the realm of Qin. It shall be known as Qin or China to the Westlands for the rest of the Age. (N)
  • 60 BC - The rise of a "Rumhoth" politician by the name of Julius Caesar causes rapid expansion of that realm, which becomes an empire in itself after the fashion of legendary Númenor. For ten years, Caesars descendants conquer much of the Mediterranean, including Egypt, and even subjugating the now-sundered Judaic peoples, demanding from them tribute.
  • 55 BC - The Rumhoth begin to besiege and conquer Luthany. The last Elves of the land flee to Tol Eressea. Ing is driven east over the sea by Ossë and becomes a ruler among the Germanic and Celtic tribes. Possible inspiration of the legend of King Sheave.
  • 1 AD - Illuvatar enters his own creation according to an Ancient Prophecy and incarnates in the Hroa of a Hildo, among the Judaic peoples. He rises in his mortal life to great influence as a prophet, and instructs Men in the ancient ways of the Ainur, instructing them in the ways of proper and noble philosophy. His incarnation marks the end of the Sixth Age, as mentioned in a letter by J.R.R. Tolkien in the year 1960 of the Seventh Age.

Middle-Earth and modern Day Europe[]

Middleeartheurope

The Westlands of Middle-Earth in comparison to modern Europe

Tolkien intended Middle-Earth, or the Westlands, to correspond to Europe but set in a fictional prehistoric Age. He even gave hints that he intended Minas Tirith to be set on the same degree of latitude as Florence and Hobbiton and Rivendell to lay on the same latitude as Oxford. However he never gave informations on any degree of longitude, but these could eventually be guessed by taking his early maps of Beleriand into account. His sketches in the Shaping of Middle-Earth show the northwestern Coasts of Beleriand to be parallel with the west coast of North Africa, taking into account that Beleriand measured roughly 600 miles in longitude, this would set the Nenuial approximately on the same degree of longitude as Dublin. On the other hand, in his early writings, Tolkien had concipated Great Britain and Ireland to be remnants of eastern Tol Eressëa which had broken off the greater part of the island and remained in the east after Ulmo had transferred the rest of the Island into the Bay of Eldamar. Concerning this, the progenitor of the later British Isles must have been part of an archipelago which lay west of the Ered Luin close to the remains of the Bay of Balar and ancient Beleriand, which would place the coast of Lindon at least between the 0 and 10 degree of longitude.

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