List of people reported to have lived beyond 120

This is a list of people who have been reported to have lived beyond 130 years. The oldest person whose age was verified by modern standards was Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122. The cases in this list include both semi-legendary personages and people whose existence is not doubted.

Algeria

Mubarak Rahmani Messe (b.1873 - d.January 2014)^[1]

Argentina

The London Chronicle reported in September 5, 1785, the history of Louisa Truxo, who supposedly lived until 175 years old (1610?-1785).^[2]

British Isles

Cases of extreme longevity were listed by James Easton in 1799;^[3] his list was reprinted by James Cowles Prichard in 1813. Kirby's wonderful and eccentric museum, of 1820, reports many of the same cases, some referenced to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Charles Hulbert edited a book containing a list of cases in 1825. Sharon Turner in The Sacred History of The World, Vol. III, 1839, included many cases cited to Easton, to Haller, or to a "Mr Whitehurst".

William Thoms, an antiquarian, published a sceptical work on longevity in 1879.

• Chesten Marchant, who is said to have been the last monolingual speaker of Cornish, died in 1676 at Gwithian, Cornwall. She is reported to have reached the age of 164 by one source (the claim apparently going back to William Scawen).^[4]

• 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."^[5]

• Mrs. Eckleston of Philipstown, King's County, was stated to be 143 (1548–1691).^[6]

• Margaret Patten reportedly died in 1739 age 137.^[7]

• Robert Taylor (1764-1898) died shortly after Queen Victoria congratulated him on his 134th birthday, on July 25, 1898.^[8][9]

Easton cases

Welsh bard Llywarch Hen (Heroic Elegies) died c. 500 in the parish of Llanvor, traditionally about age 150.^[10]

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.^[11] 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.^[12] He was born in Bolton-on-Swale,^[10] and the date given, 17 May 1500,^[13] results in only a 1-year discrepancy with the age of 169 on his monument (he died 8 December 1670).^[14]

Thomas Parr is recorded by Easton as having died in 1635 at 152, the case having been recorded in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. William Harvey carried out a postmortem on him, according to Easton.

Hulbert cases

• The Shoreditch burial register for 28 January 1588 reads "Aged 207 years. Holywell Street. Thomas Cam"^[15] or "Carn", which supplied a traditional birth year of 1381.^[10] According to Old and New London, "the 2 should probably be 1".^[15]
• 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".^[10]
• Joseph Surrington was reported as 160 (1637–1797).^[10]
• 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.^[10]

Hulbert also includes the cases of Lywerch Hen and Thomas Parr.

France

• Jean Terrell (1684-1827) from Dijon, France served in the French army during three centuries, in 17th, 18th and 19th and lived to be 144. In 1699 he joined French army in Turenne, and fought in War of the Austrian Succession and War of the Spanish Succession. In 1777 King Luis XV made him Captain at the age 93. In 1802 Napoleon gave him state pension of 1500 francs, when he was 118.

• Pierre Defournel fathered three sons, in three different centuries - first son was born in 1699, the second one in 1738, and the third one in 1801.

• On 31 July 1564, Cardinal d'Armagnac met an old man, age 80, who was beaten by his father, aged 113, for disrespecting his grandfather, aged 143.

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.^[10]
• Charles Hulbert, who reported Czartan's case in an 1825 collection, added that John (172) and his wife Sara^[16] (164) both died in Hungary in 1741 after 148 years of marriage.^[10] Their son was 116 years old at the moment of their death. The Book Validation of Exceptional Longevity has the old couples last name as Rowin,^[16] while The Virgin Birth And The Incarnation puts John and Sara's married name as Rovin.^[10] Easton in 1799 described the case as "Peter Torton, of Temeswar in Hungary, a peasant", with the date of death in 1724.

Indonesia

Turinah Masih Sehat (b. 7 June 1853 - d. 7 June 2012?)^[17]

Nepal

Bir Narayan Chaudhary (1856-1998) reportedly lived to age 141, though he had no birth certificate to authenticate this because such documents did not exist in rural Nepal at the time of his reported birth.^[18] However, in 1998 King Birendra of Nepal recognized and honored the elderly resident of the small Tharu village of Aamjhoki in Nepal's Tarai region as the oldest man in the kingdom.^[19] His age of 141 was meticulously verified by Nepal's Ministry of Archaeology based on astrological charts made at the time of his birth.

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.^[20]

Feroz-ud-Din Mir (10 March 1872 - 29 August 2014).^[21]

Philippines

Felix Bocobo (b.3 October 1833 - d.16 October 1963)^[22]

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).^[10] Time magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult".^[23] 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^[24] and 100 citizens of Russia alone ages 120 to 156 in March 1960.^[25] Such later claims were fostered by Georgian-born Joseph Stalin's apparent hope that he would live long past 70.^[23] Zhores Medvedev, who demonstrated that all 500-plus claims failed birth-record validation and other tests,^[23] said Stalin "liked the idea that [other] Georgians lived to be 100".^[25] However, longevity claims from Caucasus continued well after Stalin's death, and longevity has been explained by specific lifestyle and health effects of kefir.

• An early 1812 Russian Petersburgh Gazette reports a man between ages 200 and 225 in the diocese of Ekaterinoslaw.^[10]
• 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.^[20]
• Sarhat Rashidova (1875- 2007) claimed to be 131.
• Mahmut Eyvazov (1808-1960), worked for 133 years. He rode horse at the age 150, and was awarded by Soviet Union on 27 March 1956, age 148, with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.
• Ivan Efimovich Chernishev (1808) lived into his 150s and died in 1964.

Saudi Arabia

Mohammed bin Zarei (b.1858/1859 - d.2013)^[26]

South Africa

• Emily Muntengwa (26 September 1874) – aged 139^[27]
• Moloko Temo claimed to be almost 135 at her death.

Sweden

Anna Persdotter died in 1689 in Leksand at a reported 105 years.^[28]

Switzerland

In the 18th century, Swiss anatomist Albrecht von Haller collected examples of 62 people ages 110–120, 29 ages 120–130, and 15 ages 130–140.^[29]

Turkey

• Halime Olcay (1 July 1874)^[30][31]
• Zaro Aga

United States of America

A periodical The Aesculapian Register, written by physicians and published in Philadelphia in 1824, listed a number of cases, including several purported to have lived over 130. The authors said the list was taken from the Dublin Magazine.^[32]

Charlie Smith, who died October 5, 1979, claimed to have been born in 1842, which would have made him the oldest person in the United States.^[33] Prior 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.^[34]

Uzbekistan

Tuti Yusupova was allegedly born July 1, 1880, and died on March 28, 2015, at 134 years and 274 days.^[35]

Yemen

Abdel Wali Numan is said to have lived 142 years (1865–2007).^[36]

Myths and religious texts

These people are often reported to have lived for centuries. Some interpreters of religious texts claim that the years actually refer to months, but there is no consensus about this.

Ancient 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.^[37]

In the only ten-king tablet recension of this list two kings (Alalngar, [...]kidunnu, and En-men-dur-ana) are recorded as having reigned 72,000 years in total.^[38][39] 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.^[37]

• En-men-lu-ana 43,200
• Alalngar 36,000
• Dumuzid the Shepherd 36,000
• Alulim 28,800
• En-men-gal-ana 28,800
• En-sipad-zid-ana 28,800
• En-men-dur-ana 21,000
• Ubara-Tutu 18,600
• Etana 1500
• Jushur 1200
• Barsal-nuna 1200
• Iltasadum 1200
• Lugalbanda 1200
• Kullassina-bel 960
• Kalibum 960
• Zuqaqip 900
• Melem-Kish 900
• Ilku 900
• Enmebaragesi 900
• Puannum 840
• Kalumum 840
• Mashda 840
• Arwium 720
• Nangishlishma 670
• En-me-nuna 660
• Aga of Kish 625
• Atab 600
• Utu-hengal 427
• En-tarah-ana 420
• Enmerkar 420
• Balih 400
• Ur-Zababa 400
• Mamagal 360
• Tuge 360
• Lugalngu 360
• Hadanish 360
• Mesh-ki-ang-gasher 324
• Tizqar 305
• Babum 300
• Enbi-Ishtar 290
• Susuda 201
• Kalbum 195
• Men-nuna
• Zamug 140
• Awan dynasty 356 (3 kings)

China

In Chinese legend, Peng Zu was believed to have lived for over 800 years^[40] during the Yin Dynasty (殷朝, 16th to 11th centuries BC).

Fu Xi (伏羲) was supposed to have lived for 197 years in the mid 29th century BC.

A New York Times story announced the death on 5 May 1933 in Kaihsien, Szechwan, of the Republic of China's Li Ching-Yuen (李清雲, Lǐ Qīngyún), who claimed to be born in 1736, age 197.^[41] 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.^[42]

Christianity

Saint Servatius, bishop of Tongeren in continental Europe, died 13 May 384 according to consistent tradition.^[43] He was consecrated at the alleged age of 297, and is said to have lived for 375 years (birth 8/9 AD).

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^[44]] 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 (1324 AD), after living for 443 years."^[45]

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible, the Torah, Joshua, Job, and 2 Chronicles mention individuals with lifespans up to the 969 years of Methuselah.

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.^[46]

Donald Etz says that the Genesis 5 numbers were multiplied by ten by a later editor.^[47] 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.^[48] 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.^[39] 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."^[49]

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,^[50] 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,^[51] and "four falls of mankind" correspond to these four plateaus.^[52] In a second view, before Noah's flood, a "firmament" over the earth (Genesis 1:6–8) contributed to people's advanced ages.^[53]

The Sacrifice of Noah, Jacopo Bassano (c. 1515–1592), Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Potsdam-Sanssouci, c. 1574. Noah was traditionally age 601 at the time.

Abraham's wife Sarah is the only woman in the Old Testament whose age is given. She was 127. Genesis 23:1

Hinduism

Like Methuselah in Judaism, Bhishma among the Hindus is believed to have lived to a very advanced age and is a metaphor for immortality. His life spans four generations and considering that he fought for his great-nephews in the Mahabharata War who were themselves in 70s and 80s, it is estimated that Bhishma must have been between 130 and 370 years old at the time of his death.

Devraha Baba (d. 1990) was rumored to be over 700 or even over 750 years old.^[56]

Trailanga Swami reportedly lived in Kashi since 1737;^[57] the journal Prabuddha Bharata puts his birth around 1607 and his age 279 (almost 280).^[58] upon his death in 1887^[57] His birth is also given as 1529 (age 357/358).^[59]

The sadhaka Loknath Brahmacari reportedly lived 1730–1890 (age 159/160).^[57]

• Shivapuri Baba
• Mahashta Murasi (born 5 January 1835)

Islam

According to 19th-century scholars, Abdul Azziz al-Hafeed al-Habashi (عبد العزيزالحبشي) lived 673/674 Gregorian years or 694/695 Islamic years, from 581–1276 of the Hijra.^[60]

Japan

According to the tradition documented in the Kojiki, some early emperors of Japan ruled for more than a century. The same source says Emperor Kōan reigned from 392 to 291 BC, although he is regarded as legendary and may have lived in the early 1st century. His posthumous name was not given until centuries later.

Macrobii

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. Most examples given in it are lifespans of 80 to 100 years, but some are much longer:

• Tiresias, the blind seer of Thebes, over 600 years.
• Nestor lived over 300 years.
• Members of the "Seres" over 300 years.

Persian empire

The reigns of several shahs in the Shahnameh, an epic poem by Ferdowsi of around 1000 AD, are given as longer than a century:

• Zahhak, 1000 years.
• Jamshid, 700 years.
• Fereydun, 500 years.
• Askani, 200 years.
• Kay Kāvus, 150 years.

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.

• According to one tradition, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries BC) lived nearly three hundred years.^[61]

Vietnam

The first 18 Hùng kings of Vietnam were reported to live at least over 200 years each. Their reigns lasted from 2879 BC to 258 BC.

1. Kinh Dương Vương – 260 years old – Reign: 215 years.
2. Lạc Long Quân (Hùng Hiền Vương) – 506 years old – Reign: 400 years.
3. Hùng Quốc Vương – 260 years old – Reign: 221 years.
4. Hùng Diệp Vương  – 646 years old – Reign: 300 years.
5. Hùng Hy Vương – 599 years old – Reign: 200 years.
6. Hùng Huy Vương – 500 years old – Reign: 87 years.
7. Hùng Chiêu Vương – 692 years old -Reign: 200 years.
8. Hùng Vi Vương – 642 years old – Reign: 100 năm.
9. Hùng Định Vương – 602 years old – Reign: 80 years.
10. Hùng Uý Vương – 512 years old – Reign: 90 years.
11. Hùng Chinh Vương – 514 years old -Reign:107 years.
12. Hùng Vũ Vương – 456 years old – Reign: 96 years.
13. Hùng Việt Vương – 502 years old – Reign: 105 years.
14. Hùng Ánh Vương – 386 years old – Reign: 99 years.
15. Hùng Triều Vương – 286 years old -Reign: 94 years.
16. Hùng Tạo Vương – 273 years old – Reign: 92 years.
17. Hùng Nghị Vương – 217 years old – Reign: 160 years.
18. Hùng Duệ Vương – 221 years old – Reign: 150 years.

References

Further reading

• Robert D. Young, Bertrand Desjardins, Kirsten McLaughlin, Michel Poulain, and Thomas T. Perls. "Typologies of Extreme Longevity Myths". Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research Volume 2010 (2010).