Longevity myths explained

Longevity myths are traditions about long-lived people (generally supercentenarians), either as individuals or groups of people, and practices that have been believed to confer longevity, but which current scientific evidence does not support, nor the reasons for the claims. While literal interpretations of such myths may appear to indicate extraordinarily long lifespans, experts believe such figures may be the result of incorrect translations of number systems through various languages, coupled along with the cultural and symbolic significance of certain numbers.[1]

The phrase "longevity tradition" may include "purifications, rituals, longevity practices, meditations, and alchemy"[2] that have been believed to confer greater human longevity, especially in Chinese Culture.[3] [4]

Modern science indicates various ways in which genetics, diet, and lifestyle affect human longevity. It also allows us to determine the age of human remains with a fair degree of precision.

The record for the maximum verified lifespan in the modern world is years for women (Jeanne Calment) and 116 years for men (Jiroemon Kimura). Some scientists estimate that in case of the most ideal conditions people can live up to 127 years.[5] [6] This does not exclude the theoretical possibility that in the case of a fortunate combination of mutations there could be a person who lives longer. Though the lifespan of humans is one of the longest in nature, there are animals that live longer. For example, some individuals of the Galapagos tortoise live more than 175 years,[7] and some individuals of the bowhead whale more than 200 years.[8] Some scientists cautiously suggest that the human body can have sufficient resources to live up to 150 years.[9] [10]

Extreme longevity claims in religion

Abrahamic religions

Biblical longevity! Name !! Masoretic
Age !! Septuagint
Age
969 969
962 962
950 950
930 930
912 912
910 910
905 905
895 895
777 753
600 600
464 404
460
438 465
433 466
365 365
239 339
239 339
230 330
210? 210?
205 205
180 180
175 175
148 304
147 147
147? 147?
137 137
137 137
137 137
133 133
130+ 130+
Deborah 130+ 130+
130 130
Sarah 127 127
Miriam 125+ 125+
123 123
Rebecca 120+ 120+
120 120
110 110
110 110

Judaism

Several parts of the Hebrew Bible, including the Torah, Joshua, Job, and Chronicles, mention individuals with very long lifespans, up to the 969 years of Methuselah.

The Sefer haYashar narrates that all of the long-lived people belonged to a special class and that Methusaleh was the last member.[11] Methusaleh also lived long enough to evangelize with his grandson Noah in the antediluvian world.[12]

Christianity

Some Christian apologists explain the extreme ages in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) as ancient mistranslations that converted the word "month" to "year", mistaking lunar cycles for solar ones: this would turn an age of 969 years into a more reasonable 969 lunar months, or about 78.3 solar years.[13] Donald Etz says that the Genesis 5 numbers were multiplied by ten by a later editor.[14]

Both these interpretations introduce an inconsistency: they would mean that the ages of the first nine patriarchs at fatherhood, ranging from 62 to 230 years in the manuscripts, would then be transformed into an implausible range such as 5 to years.[15] Others say that the first list, of only 10 names for 1,656 years, may contain generational gaps, which would have been represented by the lengthy lifetimes attributed to the patriarchs. Nineteenth-century critic Vincent Goehlert suggests the lifetimes "represented epochs merely, to which were given the names of the personages especially prominent in such epochs, who, in consequence of their comparatively long lives, were able to acquire an exalted influence".[16]

Those biblical scholars that teach literal interpretation give explanations for the advanced ages of the early patriarchs. In one view, man was originally to have everlasting life, but as sin was introduced into the world by Adam, its influence became greater with each generation and God progressively shortened man's life.[17] In a second view, before Noah's flood, a "firmament" over the earth (Genesis 1:6–8) contributed to people's advanced ages.[18] The Bible's own (brief) explanation for these ages approaches the question from a different angle, explaining instead the relative shortness of normal lives in Genesis 6:3 (CSB): "And the Lord said, 'My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.

Conservative apologist William Lane Craig believes that the longevity myths should be understood as 'mytho-history', where the ages of culturally significant figures were exaggerated to make a political or theological point. He points to similar practices found in neighboring cultures such as the Babylonians and argues that both Hebrews and Babylonians were aware that human longevity was biologically unfeasible.[19] Similar arguments were made by professor Robert Gnuse.

Here are some more modern examples of Christian longevity claims:

Islam

Ibrahim (إِبْرَاهِيم) was said to have lived to years. His wife Sarah is the only woman in the Old Testament whose age is given. She died at 127 (23:1 9).In the Quran, Noah allegedly lived for 950 years with his people.[22]

According to 19th-century scholars, Abdul Azziz al-Hafeed al-Habashi (عبد العزيز الحبشي) lived 673–674 Gregorian years, or Islamic years, between 581 and 1276 AH (equivalent to 1185–1859 AD).[23]

In Twelver Shia Islam, Hujjat-Allah al-Mahdi is believed to currently be in Occultation and still alive (age).[24]

Buddhism

Falun Gong

Chapter 2 of Falun Gong by Li Hongzhi (2001) states,

Hinduism

Jainism

Extreme lifespans are ascribed to the Tirthankaras, for instance:

Sikhism

Taoism

The term xian refers to deified persons who have achieved immortality. The Old Man of the South Pole is a common archetype and symbol for longevity.

Theosophy/New Age

Ancient extreme longevity claims

These include claims prior to, before the fall of the Roman empire.

China

Emperors

Egypt

The Egyptian historian Manetho, drawing upon earlier sources, begins his Egyptian king list with the Graeco-Egyptian god Hephaestus (Ptah) who "was king for 9,000 years".[49]

Greece

A book Macrobii ("Long-Livers") is a work devoted to longevity. It was attributed to the ancient Greek author Lucian, although it is now accepted that he could not have written it.[50] Most examples given in it are lifespans of 80 to 100 years, but some are much longer:

According to one tradition, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries BC) lived nearly 300 years.[51]

Japan

Some early emperors of Japan are said to have ruled for more than a century, according to the tradition documented in the Kojiki, viz., Emperor Jimmu and Emperor Kōan.

Korea

Persian empire

The reigns of several shahs in the Shahnameh, an epic poem by Ferdowsi, are given as longer than a century:

Ancient Rome

In Roman times, Pliny wrote about longevity records from the census carried out in 74 AD under Vespasian. In one region of Italy many people allegedly lived past 100; four were said to be 130, others up to 140.

Sumer

Age claims for the earliest eight Sumerian kings in the major recension of the Sumerian King List were in units and fractions of shar (3,600 years) and totaled 67 shar or 241,200 years.[55]

In the only ten-king tablet recension of this list three kings (Alalngar, [...], kidunnu, and En-men-dur-ana) are recorded as having reigned 72,000 years together.[56] [57] The major recension assigns 43,200 years to the reign of En-men-lu-ana, and 36,000 years each to those of Alalngar and Dumuzid.[55]

Vietnam

Modern extreme longevity claims

See also: List of the verified oldest people.

This list includes claims of longevity of 130 and older from the 14th century onward. All birth year and age claims are alleged unless stated otherwise.

Documented

The following cases have been documented in detail over time.

NameBirthDeathAgewidth=110pxCountrySummary
Thomas Parr1482–14831635-11-13[61] 152EnglandThe case was recorded in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. William Harvey carried out a postmortem on him, according to Easton. Parr is buried in Westminster Abbey with his alleged age on the gravestone.
Henry Jenkins1501[62] 1670[63] 169EnglandA brief biography of Henry Jenkins, of Ellerton-on-Swale, Yorkshire, was written by Anne Saville in 1663 based on Jenkins's description, stating birth in 1501; he also claimed to recall the 1513 Battle of Flodden Field. However, Jenkins also testified in 1667, in favor of Charles Anthony in a court case against Calvert Smythson, that he was then only 157 or thereabouts.[64] He was born in Bolton-on-Swale, and the date given, 17 May 1500,[65] results in only a 1-year discrepancy with the age of 169 on his monument (he died 8 December 1670).
Peter Czartan15391724184RomaniaCharles Hulbert, who reported Czartan's case in an 1825 collection, added that John (172) and his wife Sara[66] (164) both died in Hungary in 1741 after 148 years of marriage. The Book Validation of Exceptional Longevity has the old couples last name as Rowin, while The Virgin Birth and the Incarnation puts John and Sara's married name as Rovin.
Li Ching-Yuen1933-05-05Qing Dynasty,
Republic of China
A New York Times story announced the death on 5 May 1933 in Kai County, Sichuan, at the age of 197, of Li Qingyun (李青云), who claimed to be born in 1736. A Time article noted that "respectful Chinese preferred to think" Li was 150 in 1827 (birth 1677), based on a government congratulatory message, and died at age 256. Tai chi master Da Liu stated that Li learned qigong from a hermit over age 500.
Zaro Aga1764-02-16[67] 1934-06-29170Ottoman EmpireKurdish man who claimed birth on February 16, 1764, and died on June 29, 1934, in Istanbul, Turkey at the alleged age of 170.
Javier Pereira1789[68] 1955–58165–169ColombiaA Zenú Indian from Colombia who was reputedly over 160 years old at the time of his death. Although his death is variously said to have been in 1955, 1956, and 1958, sources all claim that he was born in 1789.
1804-06-121952-03-15147[69] [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] RomaniaA man from Transylvania, who was claimed to be 148 years old when he died in 1952. The mayor of Recea Cristur in Cluj, Rus Laurian Alexandru, confirms that there are documents attesting that this man lived 148 years.
Shirali Muslimov1805-03-261973-09-02168Russian Empire,
Soviet Union,
Azerbaijan
An Azerbaijani shepherd of Talysh ethnicity from the village of Barzavu in the Lerik region of Azerbaijan, a mountainous area near the Iranian border. He claimed to be the oldest person who ever lived when he died on September 2, 1973, at the alleged age of 168 years and 162 days, based solely on a passport. National Geographic carried the claim. Some sources claimed him to be the oldest centenarian in the USSR. It was reported that at the moment of Muslimov's death, his wife was still living at 120 years of age.[76]
Sylvester Magee1841-05-29[77] 1971-10-15130United StatesAlthough much documentation is lost or possibly never existed, some sources suggest that Magee may have served in both the Confederate and Union armies. Alfred P. Andrews, founder of the Jackson Civil War Round Table and its president elect for 1965-66, helped Magee be classified as a Civil War veteran although no service records for him could be found.
Charlie Smith18421979-10-05137United StatesPrior to Smith's death, the Guinness Book of World Records had called his claim into question, noting that Smith's marriage certificate from 1910 stated that he was 35 years old at the time, which would make him 104 years old at the time of his death.[78] [79]
Bir Narayan Chaudhary 18561998141–142NepalBir claimed he was born in 1856, the son of a landowner.[80] [81] A cattle rancher in the village of Khanar, near Biratnagar, he was purportedly a leader of the first land survey team in the area, conducted in 1888.[82] He was a smoker throughout his later life. Bir rose to prominence in the mid-1990s when Nepalese television and press began reporting on his claimed age. In 1997, he was honored by Nepal's King Birendra for his claimed longevity.
1869-05-202008-08-19139IndiaRahim "Habib Miyan" Khan of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, holds the Guinness World record for the longest retirement pension.[83] [84] Miyan's claimed birth date derives from a family tree listing a Rahim Khan born in 1869, although his pension book listed his birth date as May 20, 1878.[85] [86] He said he had been using these documents since he was discharged from the army in 1938 to claim a pension, making him the world's longest-registered old-age pensioner.[87] The Limca Book of Records lists him as the oldest man of Jaipur, describing him in its 2005 edition as "over 120 years".[88] [89] [90] In 2004 two unidentified people donated money for Miyan to go on Hajj, making him purportedly the oldest Hajj pilgrim in history.[91] [92] He was named as the Aab-e-Jaipur ('Lustre of Jaipur') by the mayor of Jaipur.
Mbah Gotho 1870-12-312017-04-30146Dutch East Indies,
Indonesia
In May 2010, Solopos reported that census enumerators recorded that Saparman Sodimejo, known more commonly as Mbah Gotho, was 142 years old.[93] [94] [95] Liputan 6 reported that his estimated age was 140, and that he could not remember his date of birth but claimed to remember the construction of a sugar factory in Sragen in 1880.[96] [97] [98] His ID card, issued in 2014, displays his claimed birth date of 31 December 1870.[99] A heavy smoker throughout his life, he allegedly outlived ten siblings, four wives, and all five of his children.[100] On 28 April 2017, he was admitted to Dr. Soehadi Prijonegoro Regional General Hospital, Sragen, where he died on 30 April.[101] [102] [103]
Mubarak Rahmani Messe18742014140AlgeriaDied in 2014, allegedly at 140 years of age, in El Oued Province, Algeria, and was survived by 100 grandsons. According to family members, Rahmani had spent much of his early life in the Algerian Desert and later held various challenging occupations, including in construction, farming, and herding. He was hospitalised for the first time in 2012, with a stomach complaint. His diet, referred to as "natural", consisted largely of dates, wheat flour, sheep's milk, and green tea.[104]
Tuti Yusupova1880-07-01[105] 2015-03-28134Russian Empire,
Soviet Union,
Uzbekistan
Reuters reported that her age was uncovered in 2009 by Safar Hakimov, the ruling Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party's local chairman in Tortkol, Karakalpakstan when researching centenarians as part of the plans for the country's independence anniversary. After her funeral, her birth certificate and passport were declared conclusive evidence by Baxadir Yangibayev, Chairman of the Council of Ministers in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, where she lived and died.
Maria Lucimar Pereira[106] [107] [108] 1890-09-032022-05-21131BrazilA member of the Kaxinawa tribe, an indigenous people of Brazil and Peru. Indigenous name: Parã Banu Bake Huni Kui. Staff for Brazil's National Institute of Social Security found that Pereira had a birth certificate stating her year of birth as 1890. However, this certificate was only approved in 1985, late in her life. Exaggerated longevity claims may be common in Pereira's village, as four out of the 80 inhabitants in the village are over 90 years old.

Other

Medieval era

Poland

Wales

England

Practices

Diets

According to a 2021 review, there is no clinical evidence that any dietary practice contributes to longevity.[121]

Alchemy

Traditions that have been believed to confer greater human longevity include alchemy.

Fountain of Youth

Bibliography

Notes and References

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