Longevity myths
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 for which scientific evidence does not support the ages claimed or the reasons for the claims.[1][2]
The phrase "longevity tradition" may include "purifications, rituals, longevity practices, meditations, and alchemy"[3] that have been believed to confer greater human longevity, especially in Chinese culture.[1][2]
Modern science indicates that genetics may exert a more powerful influence than diet or life style. Research into longevity suggests that it tends to run in families, and so may be linked to specific inherited genes.
Categorization
In fall 1955, Guinness World Records began maintaining a list of the verified oldest people that developed into a list of all supercentenarians that had been verified with three documents in a standard process. Unverified cases ("claims" or "traditions") that have not been controverted by reliable sources vary widely in their plausibility as determined by reliable demographic data. While no firm distinction exists, cases with complete birthdates and deathdates, or with last updates within the Guinness era, are easier to present in tabular format, while incomplete cases last updated prior to fall 1955 are easier to present in narrative format (below).
An essay appearing in many editions of Guinness World Records in the 1980s lists four categories of recent claims: "In late life, very old people often tend to advance their ages at the rate of about 17 years per decade .... Several celebrated super-centenarians (over 110 years) are believed to have been double lives (father and son, relations with the same names or successive bearers of a title) .... A number of instances have been commercially sponsored, while a fourth category of recent claims are those made for political ends ...."[4] Guinness implies other (historical) categories of longevity traditions to exist as well; this distinction is elaborated in more detail in Lucian Boia's 2004 book Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity from Antiquity to the Present. Both Arthur Custance[5] and demographers Jacques Vallin and France Meslé[6] make this distinction explicit, drawing a direct comparison and contrast of "longevity in antiquity" (the genealogies of Genesis) with "longevity in historical times" (common-era cases through twentieth-century news reports), though with differing conclusions. Actuary Walter G. Bowerman states that longevity assertions originate mainly in remote, underdeveloped regions, among illiterate peoples, evidenced by nothing more than family testimony.[7] Longevity traditions may also include "purifications, rituals, longevity practices, meditations, and alchemy"[3] that have been believed to confer greater human longevity, especially in Chinese culture.[1][2]
Cases in mythology, religion and literature
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.[8]
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 each.[9][10] 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.[8]
Hebrew Bible
In the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, Joshua, Job, and 2 Chronicles claim several individuals with long lifespans.
Some literary critics explain these extreme ages 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 78½ years of the Metonic cycle.[11] However, the text says that Arpachshad (son of Shem) fathered Shelah at 35 years of age. If that is taken to mean 35 months, then Arpachshad was a father before turning three years of age — which is clearly impossible. In addition, the first chapters of Genesis distinguish solar cycles of years from lunar cycles of months. (Genesis 1:14-16; 7:11)[12]
Donald Etz says that the Genesis 5 numbers were multiplied by ten by a later editor.[13] These interpretations introduce an inconsistency as 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 18½ years.[14] 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.[10] 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."[15]
Biblical scholars that assert literal translation 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 and Eve, its influence became greater with each generation and God progressively shortened man's life. The Biblical upper limit of longevity was categorized by the Bible scholar Witness Lee as having four successive plateaus of 1,000, 500, 250, and finally 120 years,[16] and "four falls of mankind" correspond to these four plateaus.[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]
Persian empire
The reigns of several shahs in the Shahnameh, an epic poem by Ferdowsi, are given as longer than a century:
China
Lucian wrote about the "Seres" (a Chinese people), claiming they lived for over 300 years.
Japan
Some early emperors of Japan ruled for more than a century, according to the tradition documented in the Kojiki, viz., Emperor Jimmu and Emperor Kōan.
- Emperor Jimmu (traditionally, 13 February 711 BC – 11 March 585 BC) lived 126 years according to the Kojiki. These dates correspond to 126 years, 27 days, on the proleptic Julian and Gregorian calendars. However, the form of his posthumous name suggests that it was invented in the reign of Kammu (782–806),[20] or possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled into the Kojiki.
Korea
- Taejo of Goguryeo (46/47 – 165) is generally accepted as having reigned in Korea for 93 years beginning at age 7. After his retirement, the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa give his age at death as 118.[21]
Roman empire
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 even older. The ancient Greek author Lucian is the presumed author of Macrobii (long-livers), a work devoted to longevity. Most of the examples Lucian gives are what would be regarded as normal long lifespans (80–100 years).
- Tiresias, the blind seer of Thebes, was alive for over 600 years (Lucian).
- Nestor lived over 300 years (Lucian).
- According to one tradition, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries BC) lived nearly three hundred years.[22]
Poland
Christianity
- Welsh bard Llywarch Hen (Heroic Elegies) died c. 500 in the parish of Llanvor, traditionally about age 150.[27]
- Around 1912, the Maharishi of Kailas was said by missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh to be a over-300-year-old Christian hermit in a Himalayan mountain cave with whom he spent some time in deep fellowship. Singh said the Maharishi was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and baptized by the nephew of St. Francis Xavier.[28]
- Scolastica Oliveri is said to have lived in Bivona, Italy, 1448–1578 (age 129/130), according to the archive of Monastero di San Paolo in Bivona located in Palermo.[29]
Islam
- Abdul Azziz al-Hafeed al-Habashi (عبد العزيزالحبشي) lived 581–1276 of the Hijra (11 June 1185 – 19 September 1859, 674 years, 100 days), i.e., 673/674 Gregorian years or 694/695 Islamic years, according to 19th-century scholars.[30]
- Amm Atwa el Ais (العم عطوة العيص), nicknamed Abu Hamdi Abu Ahmed, claimed to recall the French entering Egypt in 1798. He is still alive, according to a Japanese article
Hinduism
- Devraha Baba (1477-1989) was rumored to be over 700 years old.,[31] his wikipedia article, its age was recently estimated a 512 years at the time of his death, which fixed his date of birth in the last quarter of the 15th century.
- Trailanga Swami reportedly lived in Kashi since 1737;[32] the journal Prabuddha Bharata puts his birth around 1607 and his age 279 (almost 280),[33] upon his death in 1887[32] on 26 December. His birth is also given as 1529 (age 357/358).[34]
- The sadhaka Loknath Brahmacari reportedly lived 1730–1890 (age 159/160).[32]
- Shivapuri Baba, also known as Swami Govindanath Bharati, was a Hindu saint who purportedly lived from 1826 to 1963, making him allegedly 137 years old at the time of his death. He had 18 audiences with Queen Victoria.
Buddhist saints
- LP Suwang(d.1995),He was a holy Buddhist entered Thailand in the 1920s, he was capable of miracles, and no one knows his exact age even those closest disciples he died in 1995 aged 200 years officially, but There's some rumors who say that he was actually older than 500 years, the subject of his age remains a mystery (see link:http://www.magiedubouddha.com/p_thai-suwang1.php).
Falun Gong
- Chapter 2 of Falun Gong by Li Hongzhi (2001) states, "A person in Japan named Mitsu Taira lived to be 242 years old. During the Tang Dynasty in our country, there was a monk called Hui Zhao [慧昭, 526–815[35]] who lived to be 290 [288/289] years old. According to the county annals of Yong Tai in Fujian Province, Chen Jun [陈俊] was born in the first year of Zhong He time (881 AD) under the reign of Emperor Xi Zong during the Tang Dynasty. He died in the Tai Ding time of the Yuan Dynasty (1325 AD), after living for 444 years."[36]
Theosophy/New Age
Political claims
- China
- A New York Times story announced the death on 5 May 1933 in Kaihsien, Szechwan, of the Republic of China's Li Ching-Yuen (李青云, Li Qing Yun), who claimed to be born in 1736, age 197.[38] 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.[39] T'ai chi ch'uan master Da Liu stated that Li learned qigong from a hermit over age 500.[40]
- United Kingdom
- The Shoreditch burial register for 28 January 1588 reads "Aged 207 years. Holywell Street. Thomas Cam"[41] or "Carn", which supplied a traditional birth year of 1381.[27] According to Old and New London, "the 2 should probably be 1".[41] Chapter 2 of Falun Gong by Li Hongzhi (2001) states, "According to records, there was a person in Britain named Femcath who lived for 207 years."[36]
- Peter Torton reportedly died in 1724 age 185.[23]
- A 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.[42] 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.[43] He was born in Bolton-on-Swale,[27] and the date given, 17 May 1500,[44] results in only a 1 year discrepancy with the age of 169 on his monument (he died 8 December 1670).[45]
- A tombstone in Cachen churchyard near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, read, "Heare lieth the body of WILLIAM EDWARDS, of the Cairey, who departed this life the 24th of February, Anno Domini 1668, anno aetatis suae one hundred and sixty-eight".[27]
- Joseph Surrington was reported as 160 (1637–1797).[27]
- The parish registers of Church Minshull, in the county of Chester, state, "1649 Thomas Damme of Leighton. Buried the 20th of February, being of the age of Seven-score and fourteen" (154 years), signed by vicar T. Holford and wardens T. Kennerly and John Warburton.[27]
- A tombstone in Brislington, Bristol, reads, "1542 THOMAS NEWMAN AGED 153 This Stone was new faced in the Year 1771 to Perpetuate the Great Age of the Deceased."[46]
- Mrs. Eckleston of Philipstown, King's-county, was stated to be 143 (1548–1691).[47]
- Margaret Patten reportedly died in 1739 age 137.[23]
- United States of America
Social Security: In the Social Security Death Index, the extreme age claim is of Anne Feinseth from New Jersey. She claimed to have been born February 12, 1809 and died February 24, 2004 at the alleged age of 195 years (ssn:135-42-7235). Elizabeth M. Mahony of California claimed birth on October 28, 1808, and died March 13, 2000 at the claimed age of 191 years, according to her death certificate.[48]
- According to the July 20, 1876 New York Times,[49] a man arrested in Newark, NJ named Colestein Veglin claimed to be 615 years old and to have 6 wives, all living at 21 William Street. Following this proclamation, he was taken to an insane asylum for two days.[50]
- Hungary
- Netherlands envoy Hamelbraning reported in 1724 of the death in Rofrosh, Hungary, on January 5 of Peter Czartan, reportedly born 1539 and age 184.[27] Charles Hulbert, who reported Czartan's case in an 1825 collection, added that John (172) and his wife Sara[51] (164) both died in Hungary in 1741 after 148 years of marriage.[27] The Book Validation of Exceptional Longevity has the old couples last name as Rowin,[51] while The Virgin Birth And The Incarnation puts John and Sara's married name as Rovin.[27]
- Pakistan
The 1973 National Geographic article on longevity also reported, as a very aged people, the Burusho or Hunza people in the Hunza Valley of the mountains of Pakistan.[52]
- Russia (Soviet Union)
Deaths officially reported in Russia in 1815 listed 1068 centenarians, including 246 supercentenarians (50 at age 120–155 and one even older).[27] Time magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult".[7] The USSR insisted on its citizens' unrivaled longevity by claiming 592 people (224 male, 368 female) over age 120 in a 15 January 1959 census[53] and 100 citizens of Russia alone ages 120 to 156 in March 1960.[4] Such later claims were fostered by Georgian-born Joseph Stalin's apparent hope that he would live long past 70.[7] Zhores A. Medvedev, who demonstrated that all 500-plus claims failed birth-record validation and other tests,[7] said Stalin "liked the idea that [other] Georgians lived to be 100".[4]
- An early 1812 Russian Petersburgh Gazette reports a man between ages 200 and 225 in the diocese of Ekaterinoslaw.[27]
- Shirali Muslimov (26 March 1805? – 4 September 1973), of Barzavu, Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus mountains, was allegedly age 168 years, 162 days, based solely on a passport. National Geographic carried the claim.[52] The oldest woman in the USSR according to the Novosti Press Agency was supposed to have been Ashura Omarova from Daghestan, aged 195.[54][55]
- South Africa
- Emily Muntengwa of Njelele, Venda, South Africa is reported to be now 137 (26 September 1874)[56]
- Sweden
Swedish death registers contain detailed information on thousands of centenarians going back to 1749; the maximum age at death reported between 1751 and 1800 was 127.[57]
- In 1689, Anna Persdotter in Leksand was said to have died at the age of 1024 years.[58]
- Switzerland
Swiss anatomist Albrecht von Haller collected examples of 62 people ages 110–120, 29 ages 120–130, and 15 ages 130–140.[59]
- Turkey
Practices
Diets
The Okinawa diet has some reputation of linkage to exceptionally high ages.[62] The traditional Okinawan lifestyle that may have promoted longevity has now been lost, and men from Okinawa are no longer the longest-lived in Japan, although women from the region still are.[63]
Alchemy
Traditions that have been believed to confer greater human longevity include alchemy.[3] Nicolas Flamel (early 1330s – 1418?) was a 14th-century scrivener who developed a reputation as alchemist and creator of an "elixir of life" that conferred immortality upon himself and his wife Perenelle. His arcanely inscribed tombstone is preserved at the Musée de Cluny in Paris.
- Fridericus (Ludovicus) Gualdus, author of "Revelation of the True Chemical Wisdom", lived in Venice in the 1680s. His age was reported in a letter in a contemporary Dutch newspaper to be over 400. By some accounts, when asked about a portrait he carried, he said it was of himself, painted by Titian (who died in 1576), but gave no explanation and left Venice the following morning.[64][65] By another account, Gualdus left Venice due to religious accusations and died in 1724.[66] The "Compass der Weisen" alludes to him as still alive in 1782 and nearly 600 years old.[64]
Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. The New Testament, following older Jewish tradition, attributes healing to the Pool of Bethesda when the waters are "stirred" by an angel.[67] Herodotus attributes exceptional longevity to a fountain in the land of the Ethiopians.[68] The lore of the Alexander Romance and of Al-Khidr describes such a fountain, and stories about the philosopher's stone, universal panaceas, and the elixir of life are widespread.
After the death of Juan Ponce de León, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo wrote in Historia General y Natural de las Indias (1535) that Ponce de León was looking for the waters of Bimini to cure his aging.[69]
See also
Gallery
References
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- ^ a b c Fulder, Stephen (1983). An End to Ageing: Remedies for Life. Destiny Books. ISBN 9780892810444. http://books.google.com/?id=ABTO93imwQwC&pg=PA27&dq=%22longevity+tradition%22. "Taoist devotion to immortality is important to us for two reasons. The techniques may be of considerable value to our goal of a healthy old age, if we can understand and adapt them. Secondly, the Taoist longevity tradition has brought us many interesting remedies."
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- ^ BBC.co.uk
- ^ Willcox, Willcox, and Suzuki. The Okinawa program: Learn the secrets to healthy longevity. p. 3.
- ^ Oya Yusuke, University Ryukyus; Fukiyama Koshiro, Japan Seaman Relief Association (2004). "Longevity myth in Okinawa–the Past and Present". Clinic All-round 53 (8): pp. 2245–8. ISSN 0371-1900. http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200421/000020042104A0614779.php.
- ^ a b Ferguson, John (1906). Bibliotheca chemica. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons. p. 351. http://books.google.com/?id=RXzQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA351&lpg=PA351&dq=Friederich+GUALDUS. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
- ^ Gualdus, Friederich (1989) [1720]. Revelation of the True Chemical Wisdom (Alchemy). Muller, Leone, trans. Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society. http://www.rexresearch.com/alchemy3/gualdus.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
- ^ Hally, René. "Tschoudy, Théodore Henry de Metz". http://sog1.free.fr/ArtHally200Tschoudy.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
- ^ John 5:4.
- ^ Herodotus, Book III: 22–4.
- ^ Fernández de Oviedo, Gonzalo. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, book 16, chapter XI.
Bibliography
- Boia, Lucian (2004). Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity from Antiquity to the Present. ISBN 1861891547.
- Thoms, William J. (1879). The Longevity of Man. Its Facts and Its Fictions. With a prefatory letter to Prof. Owen, C.B., F.R.S. on the limits and frequency of exceptional cases. London: F. Norgate.
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