There was something in the air, a new spirit, inspiring new ideas. It’s fair to talk about a creative new age across the ancient world, extending from the 800s to the 200s B.C.E., known as the Axial Age. To the west, it was the age of the great Greek philosophers, including the likes of Socrates and Plato. Far to the east, there was the Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tsu. In Israel it's the age of one of history's first great social justice warriors – Hosea.
