An epoch cannot think of itself as archaic or ancient, or even the middle. If it has a conception of historical time at all, it will see itself as coming at the end of something, since literally this will be true: any moment in time is the last one so far. It's hard to think that the medieval period thought of itself as sandwiched between two other periods.
People can think of themselves as starting something new, at the beginning of something, but this consciousness will be one of being modern.
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