The Three Eras is a Judeo-Christian scheme of periodization in historiography, called also Vaticinium Eliae (prophecy of Elijah or Elias).
This scheme was later adapted to Christian use, with three periods corresponding to the persons of the Trinity.
[2] After the Protestant Reformation the scheme of the "prophecy of Elias" was popularised by Philip Melanchthon and his Lutheran collaborators, using Carion's Chronicle as a vehicle, heavily edited into due form.
[3] With each period attributed a length of two millennia, the scheme was applied to predict the end of time (or at least the commencement of a final seventh millennium).
[4] The scheme was widely influential in its tripartite structure, seen also in the chronology of Achilles Pirmin Gasser.