ABSTRACT
Tolkien was writing in the aftermath of the redefinition of planetary historic time rendered by the biological, geological, and archaeological discoveries of the nineteenth century. The breadth of time in his fictional legendarium, stretching well beyond the six thousand years usually allotted by believing Christians for the history of the world, reflects these discoveries. Using the term “forehistory” to describe the space between prehistory and recorded history, this chapter compares the roles of Númenor and the Second Age in Tolkien’s legendarium to the ancient histories of the Near East and the Mediterranean.
