All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Abraham and Angels

Did Ancient People Really Have Lifespans Longer Than 200 Years?

Print

By Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times

It isn’t only biblical figures who lived to well-seasoned ages of 900 years or more. Ancient texts from many cultures have listed life spans most modern people find simply and literally unbelievable. Some say it’s due to misunderstandings in the translation process, or that the numbers have symbolic meaning—but against the many explanations are also counterarguments that leave the historian wondering whether the human lifespan has actually decreased so significantly over thousands of years.

For example, one explanation is that the ancient Near East understanding of a year could be different than our concept of a year today. Perhaps a year meant an orbit of the moon (a month) instead of an orbit of the sun (12 months).

But if we make the changes accordingly, while it brings the age of the biblical figure Adam down from 930 to a more reasonable 77 at the time of his death, it also means he would have fathered his son Seth at the age of 11. And Enoch would have only been 5 years old when he fathered Methuselah.

Similar inconsistencies arise when we adjust the year figures to represent seasons instead of solar orbits, noted Carol A. Hill in her article “Making Sense of the Numbers of Genesis,” published in the journal “Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith” in December 2003.

Similar problems have arisen when adjusting ages in ancient texts with the assumption that authors used a certain pattern for skewing the actual ages (such as multiplying them by a given number).

“Numbers [in Genesis] could have both real (numerical) and sacred (numerological or symbolic) meaning,” Hill wrote.

Mathematical Patterns?

In both Genesis and in the 4,000-year-old Sumerian King List—which lists the reigns of single kings in Sumer (ancient southern Iraq) as exceeding 30,000 years in some cases—analysts have noted the use of square numbers.

Much like the Bible, the King List shows a steady decline in lifespans. The list differentiates between pre-flood and post-flood reigns. The pre-flood reigns are significantly longer than the post-flood, though even post-flood lifespans are shown to be several hundred years or more than 1,000 years. In the Bible, we see a progressive decline over the generations from Adam’s 930-year life, to Noah’s 500 years, to Abraham’s 175.

Dwight Young of Brandeis University wrote of the post-flood lifespans in the Sumerian King List: “It is not merely because of their largeness that some of these numbers appear artificial. Etana’s 1560 years, to cite the longest, is but the sum of the two preceding reigns. … Certain spans seem simply to have arisen as multiples of 60. Other large numbers may be recognized as squares: 900, the square of 30; 625, the square of 25; 400, the square of 20 … even among smaller figures, the square of six appears more frequently than one might expect.” Young’s article, titled “A Mathematical Approach to Certain Dynastic Spans in the Sumerian King List,” was published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies in 1988. Paul Y. Hoskisson, director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies wrote along a similar vein of the patriarch ages in the Bible in a short article for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.

On the other hand, looking at patterns, co-founder of the Church of God in South Texas Arthur Mendez thinks the rate of decline in longevity from pre-flood times as recorded in ancient texts to today matches the rate of decay observed in organisms when they are exposed to radiation or toxins.

Accounts in Many Cultures, Including Chinese and Persian

In ancient China, super-centenarians were also commonplace, according to many texts. Joseph P. Hou, Ph.D., acupuncturist, wrote in his book “Healthy Longevity Techniques”: “According to Chinese medical records, a doctor named Cuie Wenze of the Qin dynasty lived to be 300 years old. Gee Yule of the later Han dynasty lived to be 280 years old. A high ranking Taoist master monk, Hui Zhao, lived to be 290 years old and Lo Zichange lived to be 180 years old. As recorded in the The Chinese Encyclopedia of Materia Medica, He Nengci of the Tang dynasty lived to be 168 years old. A Taoist master, Li Qingyuan, lived to be 250 years old. In modern times, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, Lo Mingshan of Sichuan province, lived to be 124 years old.”

Dr. Hou said the Eastern key to longevity is “nourishing life,” including not only physical nourishment, but also mental and spiritual nourishment.

The Shahnameh or Shahnama (“The Book of Kings”) is a Persian epic poem written by Ferdowsi around the end of the 10th century A.D. It tells of kings reigning 1,000 years, several hundred years, down to 150 years, and so on.

Depiction of Laozi in E.T.C. Werner's Myths and Legends of China

Depiction of Laozi in E.T.C. Werner's Myths and Legends of China (Public Domain). Laozi was said to have gone to live as a hermit at the age of 160.

Modern Claims of Longevity

Even today, people report lifespans of some 150 or more years. These reports often come from rural areas, however, where documentation is scant. Documentation was probably even less valued in rural communities more than a century ago, making it harder to prove such claims.

One example is that of Bir Narayan Chaudhary in Nepal. In 1996, Vijay Jung Thapa visited Chaudhary in Tharu village of Aamjhoki in the Tarai region. Chaudhary told him he was 141 years old,  Thapa wrote in an article for India Today. If this claim was true, Chaudhary trumped the Guinness World Record holder for the longest life ever recorded by almost 20 years.

A photograph of Bir Narayan Chaudhary

A photograph of Bir Narayan Chaudhary. Image source: thedogintheclouds.com

But Chaudhary didn’t have the papers to prove it. He did, however, have collective village memory.

“Almost all the elders around remember their youth when Chaudhary (already an elder) would talk about working in the first Nepal survey of 1888,” Thapa wrote. “Village logic goes that he must have been more than 21 then, since the survey was a responsible job. Chaudhary claims to have been 33 and still a stubborn bachelor.”

Many people in the Caucasus region of Russia similarly claim ages reaching even over 170 years without the documentation to back their claims.

Dr. Hou wrote: “These exceptionally long-lived people have invariably lived humble lives, doing hard physical work or exercise, often outdoors, from youth well into old age. Their diet is simple, as is their social life involving families. One example is Shisali Mislinlow who lived to be 170 years old and gardened in the Azerbaijan region in Russia. Mislinlow’s life was never hurried. He said, ‘I am never in a hurry, so don’t be in a hurry to live, this is the main idea. I have been doing physical labor for 150 years.’”

A photo of Shisali Mislinlow

A photo of Shisali Mislinlow taken in 1970. (Wikipedia)

A Matter of Faith?

The issue of longevity in ancient times has long been connected to Taoist practices of internal alchemy, or mind-body cultivation, in China. Here, longevity was connected with virtue. Likewise it is intertwined with Western spiritual beliefs as part of the Bible.

Mendez quoted first century Roman-Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus: “Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood … But let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument, that neither did they attain to so long a duration of life, for those ancients were beloved of God, and [lately] made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of years: and besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it.”

For now, modern scientists are left either to believe what ancient records and village memory have to say about seemingly unbelievable lifespans, or to consider the accounts exaggerations, symbolism, or misunderstandings. For many, it’s simply a matter of faith.

The article ‘Did Ancient People Really Have Lifespans Longer Than 200 Years?’ was originally published on The Epoch Times and has been republished with permission.

Featured image: ‘Abraham and the Angels’ by Aert de Gelder (Wikipedia). Abraham was said to have lived to the age of 175.

 

Comments

Pete Wagner's picture

Question is, if somebody DID figure out how to live RIGHT and extend their life well beyond the norm, would that person be promoted, or would that person be silenced?

Nobody gets paid to tell the truth.

To me it seems very logical that they lived longer lives, they lived mostly of the land so always ate fresh unpolluted food , had lots of exercise in open air due to labour on the land, the air was clean as was the water, they were their own masters, enjoyed uncomplicated family life, no stress from theit jobs, life was at a calmer pace.Maybe instead of looking in every nook and cranny we should make up the bill and accept that our way of living is very unhealthy and that so called science and progress only harmed us and was more curse than blessing we have devoluted of that i am sure also look at article on this website, they had more DNA than we have, a sure sign of devolution.Lastly thank god for our shorter lifespans, look at the massive pollution footprint we leave behind for the next generations to solve and suffer from. Most people spend their lives walking dead anyway, doing useless things having no personal and spiritual progress at all, why would they live longer lives... it would only disturb and diminish the life of other species, who have just as much right to live as we do., something we totally seem to forget.

AintGottaClue's picture

You are correct, one alternative theory to "alien contact/intervention," is the theory there have been MANY civilizations over MILLIONS of years, with a few survivors of global disaster handing their knowledge down to future populations. There is a considerable amount of evidence in favor of this view.

It is also possible that BOTH theories are true, as there is much evidence accumulating that supports both theories, and there is no good reason that both could not be true. History is MUCH more complex than we are led to believe.

History is nowhere near as well known as we think it is.

Tsurugi's picture

Paleocontact is not the only way to explain the sudden appearance of advanced civilizations at the dawn of history. It could also be explained as a dissemination of advanced knowledge to primitive peoples by the surviving members of an ice age civilization that had been destroyed in the upheavals during the Younger Dryas period at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary.

I'm not dismissing the idea of Paleocontact at all, just pointing out that there is another possibility.

AintGottaClue's picture

Modern medical science has pretty well established that our lifespan is encoded in our genes. Crossbreeding with long-lived aliens thousands of years ago, and then the gradual decline in life spans in succeeding, genetically diluted, generations could explain this very easily. I do not at all find it hard to believe in ancient life spans of 800 - 1,000 years, and a gradual decline to modern 100+ year figures. What I do find hard to believe is that so-called "scientists" completely ignore the fact that ALL ancient civilizations left records of interacting with the "gods (aliens)," and that it was these "gods (aliens)," that taught them everything they knew. Such interaction is pretty much the ONLY way to explain the sudden. literally overnight, rise of "advanced civilization" in various locations around the world, with zero "prehistoric" evidence of development. A civilization with everything from "A - Z," bakers, jewelers, schools, construction engineering, sophisticated government, legal systems and courts, religion, advanced agriculture and animal husbandry, knowledge of astronomy,chemistry, etc., etc., does not just suddenly "sprout" from a formerly stone age, primitive existence without assistance from SOMEWHERE, or SOMEBODY. And cross-breeding with "aliens" could well explain the Rh Negative blood factor controversy as well. There are just too many indications of ancient contact with "aliens" to ignore.....yet "conventional science" seems to take great joy in sweeping the whole issue under the rug and out of sight, so avoiding the embarrassment of having to admit they have misread history all along.

History is nowhere near as well known as we think it is.

Pages

ancient-origins's picture

Ancient-Origins

This is the Ancient Origins team, and here is our mission: “To inspire open-minded learning about our past for the betterment of our future through the sharing of research, education, and knowledge”.

At Ancient Origins we believe that one of... Read More

Next article