Longevity myths

For fully validated specific supercentenarian claims, see List of supercentenarians.

For specific supercentenarian claims not validated to Guinness World Records standards, see Longevity claims.

Longevity myths are traditions about longevity. The phrase "longevity tradition" may also refer to "diets, drugs, alchemy, physical practices, and certainly also mental states" that have been believed to confer greater human longevity, especially in Oriental culture.

Scientific status

There is insufficient evidence either to demonstrate or to refute centenarian longevity prior to the nineteenth century. Even today, no fixed theoretical limit to human longevity is apparent. "A fundamental question in aging research is whether humans and other species possess an immutable life-span limit." "The assumption that the maximum human life span is fixed has been justified [but] is invalid in a number of animal models and ... may become invalid for humans as well." Studies in the biodemography of human longevity indicate a late-life mortality deceleration law: that death rates level off at advanced ages to a late-life mortality plateau. That is, there is no fixed upper limit to human longevity, or fixed maximal human lifespan. This law was first quantified in 1939, when researchers found that the one-year probability of death at advanced age asymptotically approaches a limit of 44% for women and 54% for men.

The longest-living person whose dates of birth and death were verified to the modern norms of Guinness World Records and the Gerontology Research Group was Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years, 164 days.

Categorization

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 ...."

Guinness implies other (historical) categories of longevity traditions to exist as well. Actuary Walter G. Bowerman states that longevity assertions originate mainly in remote, underdeveloped regions, among illiterate peoples, evidenced by nothing more than family testimony. The correlation between the claimed density of centenarians in a country and its regional illiteracy is 0.83 ± 0.03.

Historical traditions

Testimonies

The patriarchal myths link humans to God or the gods. In many cases, the ages of these patriarchs are unrealistically exaggerated in order to extend a genealogy back into the past and bring it closer to the creation of the world or some other significant mythic landmark.

Sumerian

Age claims for the earliest eight 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.

• In the only ten-king tablet recension of this list, known as WB 62, three kings (Alalngar, [...]kidunnu, and En-men-dur-ana) are recorded as having reigned 72,000 years each.
• The major recension of the Sumerian King List assigns 43,200 years to the reign of En-men-lu-ana, and 36,000 years each to those of Alalngar and Dumuzid.

The reigns in the Sumerian king list change in their average value every time the kingship moved from one city-state to another, which has been explained by the fact each city-state of Mesopotamia had a different number system from its neighbors and there were usually multiple number systems used for different purposes within each city-state. These various number systems were later standarized in a common sexagesimal system.Template:Biblical longevity

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

Biblical

The Biblical upper limit of longevity has been categorized by Bible scholar Witness Lee as having four successive plateaus of 1,000, 500, 250, and finally 120 years. The Torah and Book of Job claim several individuals with long lifespans.

Biblical apologists that assert literal translation give explanations for the advanced ages of the early patriarchs: in this view, first, 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; "four falls of mankind" (according to Witness Lee) correspond to four observable plateaus in longevity upper limits. Second, before Noah's flood, a "firmament" over the earth (Genesis 1:6–8) could have greatly contributed to man's advanced age. Third, biological DNA damage may cause genetically accelerated aging; experimentation with lengthening telomeres on worms has yielded increased worm life spans by about 20% and this may slow aging at the cost of increasing cancer vulnerability.

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. This introduces 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 the implausible range of 5 to 18½ years. 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."

Persian

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

Emperor Jimmu.

• Zahhak, 1000 years.
• Jamshid, 700 years.
• Fereydun, 500 years.
• Askani, 200 years.
• Kay Kāvus, 150 years.
• Manuchehr, 120 years.
• Lohrasp, 120 years.
• Goshtasp, 120 years.

Chinese

• In Chinese legend (cf. Carefree Travel of Zhuang Zi), Peng Zu was believed to have lived for over 800 years during the the Yin Dynasty (殷朝, 16th to 11th centuries BC).
• Lucian wrote about the "Seres" (a Chinese people), claiming they lived for over 300 years.

Japanese

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), or possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled into the Kojiki.

Korean

• Taejo of Goguryeo (~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.

Roman

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).
• Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries BC) is said to have lived 154, 157, or 290 years.

Religious

Some Taoists claimed to have lived to over 200 years; these claims were related to Taoist practice.

Christian

• Saint Servatius, bishop of Tongeren in continental Europe, died 13 May 384 according to consistent tradition. He was consecrated at the alleged age of 297, and is said to have lived for 375 years (birth ~9 AD).
• 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.
• Saint Kentigern or Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow in Britain in the Middle Ages, died shortly after 600 at the alleged age of 185.
• Welsh bard Llywarch Hen (Heroic Elegies) died c. 500 in the parish of Llanvor, traditionally aged about 150.
• Scolastica Oliveri is said to have lived in Bivona, Italy, 1448–1578 (age 129+), according to the archive of Monastero di San Paolo in Bivona located in Palermo.
• St. Coempene reportedly died in 618 aged 120 (birth ~498).
• Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, a Coptic saint, is said to have lived 348–466 (age 117+).

Islamic

• 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+ Gregorian years or 694+ Islamic years, according to 19th-century scholars.
• Amm Atwa el Ais (العم عطوة العيص), nicknamed Abu Hamdi Abu Ahmed, claimed to recall the French entering Egypt in 1798, and died in 1998 according to a Japanese website (age over 200).

Hindu

• Devraha Baba (d. 1989) was rumored to be over 700 years old.
• Trailanga Swami reportedly lived in Kashi since 1737; the journal Prabuddha Bharata puts his birth around 1607 and his age 279 (almost 280), upon his death in 1887 on 26 December. His birth is also given as 1529 (age 357+).
• The sadhaka Loknath Brahmacari reportedly lived 1730–1890 (age 159+).

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] who lived to be 290 [288+] 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."

Diets

The Okinawa diet has some reputation of linkage to exceptionally high ages. The tradition of Okinawan lifestyle being suitable to longevity has been lost lately, as demonstrated by comparison of 1995 and 2000 statistics; in a journal article, this tradition of lifestyle was called both "myth" (a colloquialism) and "fact".

Alchemy

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 drink 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 believed 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. By another account, Gualdus left Venice due to religious accusations and died in 1724. The "Compass der Weisen" alludes to him as still alive in 1782 and nearly 600 years old.

Fountains

Main article: 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. Herodotus attributes exceptional longevity to a fountain in the land of the Ethiopians. 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.

Potions

Some traditions describe some natural source, potion, or other secret that provides healing and particularly longevity and youthful health (eternal youth). The desire to avoid death was exploited by charlatans and snake oil salesmen who sold potions that promised longevity. It was common to locate a very old person and then to claim that person as an example of successful use of the potion.

Village elders

The village elder myth reflects a preliterate societal respect for aging, patriarchy, etc., that leads to exceptional age claims intended to venerate the oldest person in the village.

Village elder stories suggest an understanding that persons in the immediate era do not generally attain the ages of the ancients, but that an exceptional claim on behalf of one village elder is culturally appropriate.

The stories originally centered on the tribal chieftain, but in locations of distributed societal power, an elderly woman began to be substituted as the central figure. The village elder represented a source of pride and of oral tradition, and a person to commemorate.

Recent traditions

Overadvancements

Guinness estimates that very old people tend to advance their ages by about 17 years per decade, as corroborated by the 1901 and 1911 British censuses. The 1970 U.S. census listed 106,000 people claiming to be 100 years old or older, some over 130. In 2000, the Social Security death master file contained 23 records with birth year 1800 and death year 1975 or later; a monograph by K. Faig suggests that coding of "1800" might represent unknown year of birth, or an error for 1900.

• Walter Williams (died 20 December 1959) claimed to be a Confederate soldier aged 117; research that year by New York Times reporter Lowell K. Bridwell indicated that Williams was really 104 that year, born 14 November 1854 (age 105 at death).
• Charlie Smith, featured by Time, claimed a 4 July 1842 birth in Liberia and was reportedly 137 when he died 7 October 1979, but a county marriage record stated he was only 35 on 8 January 1910. Supercentenarian researcher A. Ross Eckler, Jr., stated the U.S. census indicated Smith lived only to 99 years, 9+ months (birth ~1880).

Double lives

Old Tom Parr.

Several supercentenarian claims are believed to constitute double lives, conflating father and son, relations with the same names, or successive bearers of a title.

• A National Geographic article in 1973 treated with respect some longevity traditions like those of the high mountain valley of Vilcabamba, Ecuador. In February and March 1978, Mazess and Forman published their discovery that inhabitants used their fathers' and grandfathers' baptismal entries.
• Thomas Parr (February 1483? – 15 November 1635) was allegedly 152. According to P. Lüth, the results of Parr's autopsy by William Harvey (who believed the claim) suggest that Parr was probably under 70 years of age. It is possible that Parr's records were confused with those of his grandfather. The editor of Notes and Queries remarked that "his epitaph probably contains nearly as many untruths as there are statements in it."
• Christian Jakobsen Drackenberg's birth in Stavanger, Norway, 18 November 1626, and a death under the same name in Aarhus, Denmark, 9 October 1772 (145 years, 326 days), are believed to have been a double life.
• Pierre Joubert lived in Canada 113 years, 124 days (15 July 1701 – 16 November 1814), according to editions of Guinness. In reality, he died at 65 and his son and namesake died in 1814.

Political claims

The nationalist outgrowth idea became widespread in the rise of nationalism in the 20th century. As popular ideas became focused on one nation versus another, extreme age claims became a source of national pride.

File:Li chingYuen.jpg

Li Ching-Yuen, photographed in 1927 at the residence of General Yang Sen.

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. 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 chuan master Da Liu stated that Li learned qigong from a hermit aged over 500.

Colombia

• Javier Pereira, an aboriginal resident of Colombia, claimed to have been born in 1789. Time Magazine stated he was "generally considered the oldest man on earth". In 1956, in his only departure from Colombia, Pereira was examined by New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center physicians, who described him as "possibly ... more than 150 years old"; Ripley's Believe It or Not! also was associated with his claim. He died 30 March 1958, in Montería, Colombia (age 168+), and was honored by a local postage stamp with the motto, "Don't worry. Drink coffee and smoke a good cigar."

France

• A pensioner in Goust (a hamlet in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of France) was reported in 1605 to have reached the age of 123.

Great Britain

• The Shoreditch burial register for 28 January 1588 reads "Aged 207 years. Holywell Street. Thomas Cam" or "Carn", which supplied a traditional birth year of 1381. According to Old and New London, "the 2 should probably be 1". 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."
• Peter Torton reportedly died in 1724 aged 185.
• 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. 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. He was born in Bolton-on-Swale, but the only date given, 17 May 1500, does not agree with the age of 169 on his monument (he died 8 December 1670).
• 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" (aged 167+).
• Joseph Surrington was reported as 160 (1637–1797).
• 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.
• 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."
• Margaret Patten reportedly died in 1739 aged 137.
• Old Henry Francisco (31 May 1686? – 25 October 1820) was reportedly 134 years.
• Mary Yates of Lizard Common, Shifnal, reportedly died in 1776 aged 127.
• William Wakley was baptized at Idsal in 1590 and was buried at Adbaston 28 November 1714 aged 124 according to the register of St. Andrew's church, Shifnal, Salop.
• Old Tom Parr's great-grandson Robert Parr reportedly died in 1757 at age 124.
• Geoffrey N. Wright in Discovering Epitaphs says of grave inscriptions, "Isaac Ingall, butler of Battle Abbey, East Sussex, reached a mere 120 years. Stoke-on-Trent churchyard has the graves of Henry and Sibil Clarke, who both died in 1684 aged 112. The epitaph of Matthew Peat at Wirksworth, Derbyshire, who died in 1751 aged 112, poses the question: 'Few live so long: who lives well?' ... William Billinge, of Longnor, Staffordshire, was born in a cornfield, served at Gibraltar and Ramillies and died in 1791 aged 112."

Hungary

• Netherlands envoy Hamelbraning reported in 1724 of the death in Rofrosh, Hungary, on January 5 of Peter Czartan, reportedly born 1539 and aged 184. Charles Hulbert, who reported Czartan's case in an 1825 collection, added that John Rovin (172) and his wife (164) both died in Hungary in 1741 after 148 years of marriage, with a youngest son aged 116.

Nathaniel Grogan's 1806 engraving of Lord Kerry's portrait of Katherine FitzGerald, Countess of Desmond.

Indonesia

• Turinah Masih Sehat is an Indonesian woman claimed to be born in 1853 and 157 years as of 1 June 2010.

Ireland

• Katherine FitzGerald (1464?–1604), allegedly 140, had significant evidence of being at least centenarian.

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.

Russia (Soviet Union)

Deaths officially reported in Russia in 1815 listed 1068 centenarians, including 246 supercentenarians (50 aged 120–155 and one even older). An early 1812 Russian Petersburgh Gazette reports a man aged between 200 and 225 in the diocese of Ekaterinoslaw. Time magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult". The USSR insisted on its citizens' unrivaled longevity by claiming 592 people (224 male, 368 female) aged over 120 in a 15 January 1959 census and 100 citizens of Russia alone aged 120 to 156 in March 1960. Such later claims were fostered by Georgian-born Joseph Stalin's apparent hope that he would live long past 70. Zhores A. Medvedev, who demonstrated that all 500-plus claims failed birth-record validation and other tests, said Stalin "liked the idea that [other] Georgians lived to be 100".

• Shirali Muslimov (26 March 1805? – 4 September 1973), of Barzavu, Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus mountains, was allegedly aged 168 years, 162 days, based solely on a passport. National Geographic carried the claim.
• Sarhat Rashidova (1875? – 16 January 2007) died in Russia at the alleged age of 131.

South Africa

• Moloko Temo (4 July 1874? – 2 or 3 June 2009) died in South Africa at the alleged age of 134.

Turkey

• Halime Olcay has a birth certificate dated 1 July 1874 and was reportedly 135 years, 147 days, on 25 November 2009.
• Zaro Aga (1774? – 29 June 1934) died in Istanbul, Turkey, at the alleged age of 160 years. His age was also reported as 164.

Regional extension

An extension and adaptation of the fountain of youth concept is the idea that a person seeking extreme longevity needs to move to a special district that carries what is needed to attain extreme age. This story differs from the Fountain of Youth in that it focuses on an entire village, a mountain region, or a national treasure. Such a location can also be called a Shangri-La.

Ascribing unique longevity to a particular "village of centenarians" is common across many cultures. Many populations have reputations of producing unusual number of individuals with exceptionally high ages.

Familial extension

Other longevity myths are race-based or family-based, proposing unproven beliefs that a certain race or tribe tends to live longer than others.

Commercial sponsors

Barnum

• P. T. Barnum exhibited Joice Heth as 161 until her death 19 February 1836; her autopsy indicated she was "probably not over eighty".

Ripley

Robert L. Ripley regularly reported supercentenarian claims in Ripley's Believe It or Not!, usually citing his own reputation as a fact-checker to claim reliability. Ripley reported that:

• Yaupa (~1769–1899) of Futuna Island, Vanuatu, continued to work his farm at the age of 130.
• Horoz Ali, gatekeeper in Nicosia, Cyprus, before Turkish defeat in 1878, lived to 120.
• Francisco Huppazoli (1587–1702) of Italy lived 114 years and fathered four children after age 98.

Wire correspondents

The odd wire correspondent looking for a captivating filler reports extreme undocumented claims to this day: in early 2000, a Nepalese man claimed to have been born in 1832, citing as evidence a card issued in 1988. In December 2003, a Chinese news service claimed incorrectly that Guinness had recognized a woman in Saudi Arabia as being 131.

Other testimonies

The following additional cases were cited by Arthur Custance in 1976 (most collected by James Prichard in 1836):

Name	Death	Alleged age
unknown (Frederic Town, U.S.)	1797	180
Elizabeth Yorath	1668	177
Baba Harainsingh	fl. 1952	176
Robert Lynch	1830	160
Iwan Yorath	1621	156
Catherine Hiatt	1821	150
Joseph Bam	1821	146
Rebecca Tury	1827	140
Juan Moroygota	fl. 1828	138
Catherine Lopez	1807	134
Margaret Darby	1821	130
Statira	1823	130
Francis Peat	1830	130
Charles Layne	1821	121
May Innes	1830	120
Annie Firlotte	fl. 1954	113

Controverted traditions

See also overadvanced ages and double lives above.

See also

• Biodemography of human longevity
• Hayflick limit
• Human nature
• Genealogies of Genesis
• William Thoms
• Elixir of life

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.