[a. L. æōn, a. Gr. αἰών age.]
1. An age of the universe, an immeasurable period of time; the whole duration of the world, or of the universe; eternity.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, Notes 136/1. For such is the nature of Æon or Eternity.
1765. Tucker, Lt. of Nat., I. 650. He shall endure, not simply to the aion, that is, ‘for ever,’ but to the aion of aions.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 157. The mysterious Course of Providence through Æons of Æons.
1857. H. Miller, Test. Rocks, iii. 147. The protracted eons of the Carboniferous period.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, I. 598. The last great æon of God’s dealing with mankind.
2. The personification of an age. In Platonic philosophy, A power existing from eternity; an emanation, generation or phase of the supreme deity, taking part in the creation and government of the universe.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, Notes 138/1. But Intellect or Æon hath in himself proper Intellectuall life.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 212. The next considerable appearance of a multitude of self-existent deities seems to be in the Valentinian Thirty Gods and Æons.
1865. Lecky, Rationalism, I. iii. 228. More commonly she was deemed a personification of a Divine attribute, an individual Æon.
